Provincial Election 2025: Housing, environment and tariffs among issues discussed at pair of Beaches-East York candidates meetings this week

By MATTHEW STEPHENS

Three of the provincial election candidates in the Beaches–East York riding gathered at Kingston Road United Church last night meet with local voters and answer questions

Kate Dupuis of the NDP, Mary-Margaret McMahon of the Liberal Party, and Jack Pennings of the Green Party of Ontario attended the Wednesday, Feb. 19, candidates meeting at the church with members of the community to discuss their respective party’s plans leading up to election day next week.

Progressive Conservative candidate Anna Michaelidis (though invited) did not attend.

“While this election was called by Mr. Doug Ford to save one job, his own; we are seeing this as an opportunity,” said Dupuis in her opening speech. “We can now build for a progressive, positive vision for Ontario. Yes, of course, this election is about stopping conservative cuts, deals in reckless spending. You’ll notice our conservative colleague didn’t even come to be with us here tonight.” 

Presented by the Balmy Beach Residents Association and Beach Metro Community News, the meeting  was a cordial one in which candidates responded to questions from the moderator (a number of them submitted by Beach Metro readers) in turn. Moderator for the meeting was John Cameron of the Balmy Beach Residents Association. A crowd of about 80 people attended the meeting on what was a cold night with lots of snow still on the ground. The meeting was also streamed for residents to watch from home.

The questions grouped into categories covered issues regarding housing and affordability, school system funding, access to sustainable healthcare, environmental conservation, development project planning, and protecting employment in light of threatened trade tariffs.

The topic of housing concerns was the first issue addressed by the candidates.

Dupuis spoke about the NDP’s Homes Ontario Plan which aims to “double the supply of permanently affordable homes, legalize fourplexes, increase density around transit, and provide funding for non-profit and co-op housing providers.” She also emphasized the importance of focusing on renters as much as homeowners in the city.

“So, first and foremost, to address the housing crisis, we must build homes. Our plan includes building 1.5 million homes within the first decade upon taking government. But that’s not good enough. We also have to make sure that we are providing focus on those who rent,” she said.

Dupuis said the NDP will provide rent-control policies such as “vacancy control” which aim to ensure rent control stays with the unit and not the tenant, so landlords can’t extensively increase rents when old tenants leave and new tenants move in.

Pennings agreed there is much community concern regarding housing. He said that development planning should be done at a “human scale” to ensure densification is mitigated within the community.

“It does not surprise me at all that housing was the number one issue in the last election, because it certainly hasn’t changed. It’s the number one issue in this election.” said Pennings. “I think if we can get the cost of housing under control, everyone’s boats are going to rise”

He said the Green Party will help address the housing crisis by building an estimated “2 million homes” within existing urban boundaries, manage growth and development, and protect natural and agricultural land.

The Green Party also plans to build and permit more fourplex buildings within the province, work with nonprofits to build “250,000 affordable homes,” and implement a “multiple homes speculation tax,” applied to new purchases of homes for domestic individual or corporate buyers who already own two or more homes or condominium units.

Liberal candidate and riding incumbent McMahon said cutting development charges is a critical step towards establishing affordable housing across Ontario.

She also mentioned that during her time as a city councillor (from 2010 to 2018), she worked with community members and developers to establish a six-storey building where the Lick’s restaurant used to be on Queen Street East in the Beach; in a development she described as the kind of “gentle density” needed to ensure “healthy foot traffic for “mom-and-pop businesses.”

“The Ontario Liberal Party will be cutting development charges. We need to enable developers to start building affordable, sustainable, livable homes,” said McMahon. “We’re going to eliminate the provincial land transfer tax for first time home buyers, for seniors who are downsizing, and for not-for-profit organizations.”

When narrowed down to the East Toronto area, environmental concerns regarding advocacy to shut down the Portlands Energy Centre at 470 Unwin Ave. were brought into question by members of the community.

Dupuis said the NDP plans to work with both the community and grassroots organizations in East Toronto to protect the air and water quality.

“It’s really important for us to make sure that we’re protecting not only our air here in the city, the pollution that’s coming out of this Port Lands gas plant, as well as the water,” said Dupuis.

She also mentioned she recently attended a webinar meeting organized by the Ontario Place which discussed a “horrible” plan involving the “re-divestment of sewage water into the lake.”

“When it comes to the Port Land gas plant; when it comes to the disastrous plans for Ontario Place, we must act quickly to protect not only the air above our city and above our beautiful community, but also the water within our great lake as well.”

Pennings said the Green Party have pledged to work with grassroots organizations to phase out natural gas plants such as the Portlands Energy Centre by 2035 by shifting focus to newer, more sustainable forms of renewable energy.

“We need to phase out fossil fuel gas plants by 2035. We aim to protect wetlands and species,” said Pennings. “We are going to focus on renewables like wind, solar, and storage, which are becoming cheaper with each passing month. We recognize that nuclear has to stay for now, but we’ll contain the toxic waste of nuclear to the site itself.”

On the issue of preserving the environment, McMahon called out Doug Ford’s past decisions to cut renewable energy projects and the energy conservation programs offered to homeowners and businesses to improve energy efficiency.

“Doug Ford cut over 700 renewable energy projects when he first took office (in 2018). Cutting those projects killed jobs, killed the green economy on that front, and cost millions of dollars. We’ve lost seven years of conservation, and the opportunity for these projects would have come into fruition by now,” said McMahon.

“The Port Lands gas plant is meant to be a ‘peaker’ plant, just at peak times whenever it’s needed. It’s being used 21 hours a day. The East End air quality is the worst in the city.” 

To watch the entire meeting, please go to Kingston Road United Church’s YouTube channel, or follow the link at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4ydON4zS5Y

PARKVIEW HILLS COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION HOSTS BEACHES-EAST YORK CANDIDATE MEETING

A crowd of more than 80 residents braved the snowy conditions on the night of Tuesday, Feb. 18, to attend a meeting featuring three of the candidates running to represent the Beaches-East York riding in this month’s provincial election.

The meeting was held in the gym at Presteign Heights Elementary School in the Parkview Hills neighbourhood of East York, and featured the Green Party, Liberal and NDP candidates. The Progressive Conservative candidate had also been invited to attend but did not do so.

The meeting was moderated byJessica Smith Cross, Editor-in-Chief of The Trillium, and was organized by the Parkview Hills Community Association.

Much of the meeting focused on the past seven year’s of rule in Ontario by Premier Doug Ford and his Progressive Conservative party.

Ford’s reasoning for calling the election, which he was not required to do so until June of 2026 due to his second straight majority government having elected in 2022, was also severely criticized by the candidates at Tuesday’s meeting.

“There’s only one job trying to be saved in this election and it’s Doug Ford’s,” said Kate Dupuis, NDP candidate for Beaches-East York at the meeting.

Liberal candidate Mary-Margaret McMahon, who is also the incumbent in the riding as she was elected to the MPP position for Beaches-East York in the 2022 provincial vote, also had strong words regarding this month’s election.

“This is a ridiculous, expensive and unnecessary election,” said McMahon.

Green Party candidate Jack Pennings emphasized his party’s commitment to the environment during his opening remarks. He also criticized the Ford government’s record of obfuscation, watered-down programs and “outright sabotage” when it came to protecting the province’s environment.

Pennings also said that in his opinion there was no way the Progressive Conservatives were going to win in Beaches-East York so voters in the riding who don’t want Doug Ford back as Premier would be free to “vote with our hearts” as opposed to strategically.

Issues discussed at Tuesday’s meeting through questions presented by the moderator covered housing, homelessness, affordability, education, healthcare and how can Ontario stand up to the many threats being made against our economy and Canadian sovereignty as a whole by American President Donald Trump.

On the Trump issue, Pennings said he was not impressed with Ford’s “Captain Canada” routine as he seeks to make political points during this provincial election campaign.

“A lot of people in the riding who do not feel protected in Doug Ford’s Ontario,” said Pennings.

He said a task force across all party lines and levels of government is needed to help protect Ontarians against Trump.

McMahon was highly critical of the decision to call the election while the threat of Trump’s tariffs and other actions looms. This would have been the time to have all hands on deck working together instead of having an election in the dead of winter.

“He has used this tariff excuse when there are so many important issues to deal with,” said McMahon.

She also pointed out that in the past seven months, MPPs at Queen’s Park had only sat for seven weeks.

“Imagine if at your job you’d only worked seven weeks in the last seven months. We want to be back at Queen’s Park working for the public,” she said.

McMahon said Liberals will work together with other provinces to deal with Trump threats, and also strengthen the province’s procurement policies when it comes to buying locally and protecting jobs in Ontario. Part of that would also include strong supports for small businesses across the province, she said.

Dupuis said she is hearing a lot of fear and concern about Trump among the voters she is talking to while out canvassing during this election campaign.

“Let me tell you, people are scared. People are anxious. People are not sure how to pay for housing, how to find affordable housing, how to pay for groceries. Donald Trump’s threats against our sovereign nation of Canada; those threats are making this anxiety even more palpable,” she said.

Dupuis said an NDP government would immediately start working with other governments across the country to fight back against Trump. The Ontario NDP would also be working to support Ontario farmers, small businesses and manufacturing jobs in the province against tariff threats, she said.

With files by Alan Shackleton