Candidates campaign for the Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte riding
Candidates in the riding of Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte aren't wasting any time with less than 10 days until voters head to the polls in the provincial election.
"We plan on going up to doors 10 minutes before the polls close," said Liberal candidate Jeff Lehman.
The long-time Barrie mayor said his top priorities include housing, the environment, protecting the health of Lake Simcoe and education, pointing to smaller class sizes.
"After 12 years of serving the community as mayor, I've started to see the impact of decisions from Queen's Park, and I had a great deal of concern around this government's direction," Lehman said.
To win a spot at Queen's Park, he will have to defeat several others, including incumbent Doug Downey.
Over the weekend, Lehman called out the Conservative candidate and other candidates in the Progressive Conservative party for skipping debates, saying the most basic test of leadership is showing up, being accountable, listening to the public and answering questions.
Downey, who was first elected in 2018 and served as Ontario's attorney general, said the focus should be on the issues.
"I'm at the doors every single day talking to people, and I think that's what matters most."
On election night, he's hoping to keep the tradition going and paint the riding blue.
"We are the only ones who have a real handle on affordability. We are the ones who are actually building long-term care. We are solving real problems for people," Downey said.
New Democrat Beverley Patchell hopes to take her first crack at office after retiring from the Canadian Union of Public Employees.
She wants to see changes to social assistance, affordable housing, and investing in long-term care and home care.
"I worked for years on the front line, and I saw the erosion of our social safety net, and I'm really passionate about being an advocate and getting things fixed."
Green Party candidate Elyse Robinson said her passion for preserving the past and protecting the future inspired her to run.
"My grandparents lived in this area, and I know they wouldn't want to see things like gravel pits destroy the water that is here or just unnecessary sprawl," said Robinson.
Other candidates vying for votes on June 2 include Darren Roskam with None of the Above, Gerry Auger with the Ontario Party and Hayden Hughes with New Blue.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
OPP's mandatory alcohol screening during traffic stops 'not acceptable': CCLA
A spike in impaired driving-related collisions has caused Ontario’s provincial police to begin enforcing mandatory alcohol screening (MAS) at all traffic stops in the Greater Toronto Area -- a move one civil rights group says is ‘not acceptable.’
Maple Leafs down Bruins 2-1 to force Game 7
William Nylander scored twice and Joseph Woll made 22 saves as the Toronto Maple Leafs downed the Boston Bruins 2-1 on Thursday to force Game 7 in their first-round series.
Jurors in Trump hush money trial hear recording of pivotal call on plan to buy affair story
Jurors in the hush money trial of Donald Trump heard a recording Thursday of him discussing with his then-lawyer and personal fixer a plan to purchase the silence of a Playboy model who has said she had an affair with the former president.
Southern Alberta store broken into by burly black bear
Staff at a small southern Alberta office supply store were shocked to find someone had broken into the business last week, but they were even more confused when they discovered the culprit was a bear.
Captain sentenced to 4 years for criminal negligence in fiery deaths of 34 aboard scuba boat
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a scuba dive boat captain to four years in custody and three years supervised release for criminal negligence after 34 people died in a fire aboard the vessel.
New scam targets Canada Carbon Rebate recipients
Fake text message and email campaigns trying to get money and information out of unsuspecting Canadian taxpayers have started circulating, just months after the federal government rebranded the carbon tax rebate the Canada Carbon Rebate.