“This by-election is absolutely critical; Ontarians have a chance to fight back against Doug Ford’s agenda, and this is one of the ways we can do it.”
Following the resignation of conservative MPP Merrilee Fullerton in late March 2023, the Ontario provincial riding of Kanata-Carleton is heading to a by-election. Following an MPP’s resignation a by-election is called by the province’s Premier must take place within six months; on June 28, the byelection was called and a date of July 27 was set.
The leader of the Ontario NDP and official opposition leader, Marit Stiles, is campaigning with her party’s candidate, Melissa Coenraad, who also ran for the position in the last provincial election. In 2022 Coenraad earned 24.1 per cent of the vote, coming second to Fullerton who garnered 44 per cent of votes.
At the time of this interview, three of the province’s major parties had announced candidates: the Ontario Progressive Conservatives (PC) and Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP). The Ontario Liberal party named their candidate on May 29 and has scheduled an interview with the Fulcrum, to be published promptly. The Fulcrum is still waiting to hear back from the Ontario PC to speak with their candidate.
The Fulcrum spoke with Coenraad and Stiles to hear why they believe students living in Kanata-Carleton should vote for the NDP in this by-election.
The Fulcrum (F): First I’ll go to Melissa. What did you see in the Ontario NDP that made you want to put yourself forward as their candidate in 2022? And again in this by-election?
Melissa Coenraad (MC): Yeah, that is a great question. You know, I’m seeing for myself, my colleagues, my constituents in this area that life is getting harder. Life is not getting better; people are struggling to get by. Our healthcare system is in absolute crisis right now. Our education system has got its challenges, classroom sizes need to be smaller. And, you know, I was brought up with the mindset that if you want to complain about something and you see a problem, you need to do something about it. So that’s why I’m here. I’m here to advocate for change. I’m here to advocate for your average Ontarians and to try to make a difference in people’s lives.
F: Marit, what would having Melissa join you at Queen’s Park mean for the Ontario NDP, and what made her candidate you’re excited to support and campaign with?
Marit Stiles (MS): Well, first of all, very excited to have Melissa nominated as our candidate in Kanata-Carleton, this election is really important. This is a seat that was held previously by the Conservatives. And we have an opportunity in Kanata-Carleton and in the Ottawa region to send a really strong message to Doug Ford. That we demand and we believe there can be a better Ontario, a more affordable Ontario with a public strong public health care system, strong education system, and an Ontario where when people graduate from school, they’re not going to be facing the kind of affordability crisis they’re facing today. And Melissa sends a really strong message because [she] is a healthcare worker on the front lines. And I know also she’s been working really hard in this community for a long time. She knows the community and I think the Kanata-Carleton deserves a better kind of representation than they’ve had. They need somebody who’s actually bringing their concerns to Queen’s Park and providing the kind of service you know, that actually MPPs are supposed to provide in our communities.
F: And Melissa, can you tell me a bit more about the background that you’d be bringing to the role of MPP?
MC: So I’ve been a healthcare worker at The Ottawa Hospital for 21 years as a lab technician, and I’ve been on the Ontario Provincial Health Care Council for over four terms, an executive board member in this region representing about 40,000 members all in public service, from education workers to health care workers, correctional workers, Ontario services like child welfare. I’ve seen what their challenges are, and I am a mom and I see what the struggles are in our classrooms. I’ve been in this community and advocating for this community for many, many years. And I know the challenges that our urban and our rural residents have here so I think I’m well-rounded in what the concerns are and how really how to address them in Kanata-Carleton.
F: Marit, could you tell me a bit about how you believe students stand to benefit from the Ontario NDP platform and what your party advocates for provincially for post-secondary education, or education more broadly?
MS: Well, first of all, I should say, one of the things I think that is really tragic right now, is that students are graduating into a housing crisis, into a cost of living crisis, and into a climate crisis. And the conservative government under Doug Ford has one agenda only, and that is to put the interests of his wealthy developer friends over everybody else. He’s not fighting for those students who are graduating into those crises.
We can have nicer things in this province. And so I believe that the NDP is the only party that has the true vision and the ability to make that happen. Stronger public health care, affordable housing, and good jobs with salaries that you could actually live on, and also a government that really cares about protecting our farmland or green space and fighting and mitigating the worst impacts of climate change.
When it comes to students, particularly under the Conservatives, and frankly the Liberals before them, we have a system that really has been seriously damaged. I believe Ontario has provided the lowest funding of any province for post-secondary.
We see again, universities fighting over scarce resources, having to look at other solutions. What that means on the ground say at the University of Ottawa is all kinds of cuts that impact students and impact graduate students in particular, and prioritizing revenue over the learning experience. So what we want to see on the student side directly is to start to properly fund actual post-secondary education.
We want to make sure that students get the support they need in school, and that we reverse the cuts to Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) that we saw before. We believe in investing in OSAP funding for students who need it and increasing operating grants to institutions is absolutely crucial.
I want to point out that in addition to that what we cannot have is a situation where when students graduate, they graduate into poverty. They’re already living in poverty, they cannot graduate into poverty. We must provide opportunities. We must provide the support that people need to get going.
When I moved to Ontario from Newfoundland — I grew up born and raised in Newfoundland — it was to go to university. I went to Carleton University and came to Ottawa, and I wanted to go to school in Ontario but I stayed [here] because, at the time in my home province, the economy was really faltering. But here in Ontario, you could imagine getting a decent job [and] raising a family on a working-class salary. There was a decent public health care system, you’d get a family doctor, and you could rely on a public education system that was just fantastic.
This is not the Ontario of today. And Doug Ford has no intention of actually investing in that. His intention is to privatize the system away; to let the market handle everything. And we know that’s never worked before, [it’s] not the Ontario I believe in and it’s gonna leave people really really devastated. We can do so much better here. And so I want to say again, this by-election is absolutely critical; Ontarians have a chance to fight back against Doug Ford’s agenda, and this is one of the ways we can do it.
F: Thank you so much. And then to Melissa, why do you believe constituents in Kanata-Carleton should vote for you to represent them? Provincially, what are some of the issues you believe these residents would want you to be advocating and working for us as MPP?
MC: Yeah, that’s a great question. So like Marit has already stated, we are in a cost of living crisis, a housing crisis, [and] a climate crisis. And the constituents in Kanata-Carleton keep saying these things over and over again; that they don’t have family doctors. There are over 100,000 people right here in Ottawa that don’t have family physicians. I’m one of them and it shouldn’t be that way.
We shouldn’t have people concerned about when their children graduate, where are they going to live. They can’t afford the entry-level homes in Kanata-Carleton, [which] are the highest in the city. You know, we just heard [the other day] that the rent in Ottawa has gone down on average below $2,000 a month, but Canada was exempt from that list. We have the highest amount of rent out here.
We have these really…crippling situations for a lot of families, and they’re looking for a party and a person that will advocate for them. And the NDP knows that when resources are spent appropriately, we can have publicly funded health care. We can have fully-funded education with special education, we can have students that graduate into good-paying jobs with a good education. You know, we need to invest in secondary schools. We need to invest in post-secondary schools so that students graduate and are set up for success. So that they can then go and get good jobs, it is possible. And the residents of Kanata-Carleton are starting to see that with the NDP, it is possible that we’re advocating for the average Ontarian and not the wealthy among us.
And so I know that the residents here are ready for that change, and they know that I’m ready to advocate for them at Queen’s Park, and to continue to push back against this government for the things that are actually important and have an impact on Ontarians.
F: I’ll give you each an opportunity if there’s anything else you want to add to make sure it’s in an article that is for an audience of U of O students. I can start with Marit.
MS: I want to say to the University of Ottawa students: if you care about what’s happening in our province, if you care about the climate, if it matters to you that we’re fighting climate change, if it matters to you to have a government that’s gonna prioritizes the environment, to prioritize building truly affordable housing, attacking the affordability crisis and a government that actually really is fighting for students at all levels, then I need you to support the NDP.
If you haven’t ever helped out on a campaign, if you haven’t ever had a chance to knock on doors and make calls or help with anything, please. You know, get involved. This is a really important opportunity. You take on and learn lots of really important skills. And if a lot of fun, we know how to have fun. We know how to share and mentor and we really want a chance to bring more students into the NDP and into this byelection in Kanata-Carleton. By-elections can be magical there where we sometimes do really surprising and exciting things. In Kanata-Carleton, the NDP has come second in the last few elections. And we can win this and Melissa has been our candidate for now two elections. She’s known in the community, we could really flip this riding. So I want to really encourage anybody who is excited about trying to send a message to Doug Ford and elect a New Democrat, please get involved in the byelection. We’re going to win this one.
F: Great. Thank you so much. And Melissa, if you have any closing thoughts?
MC: I just want to say that for everyone who is frustrated with the government, for everyone who thinks that perhaps their vote doesn’t matter, or their voice isn’t being heard, this is really their chance to show this government that they want change. That the NDP is the one [party] advocating for the average Ontarian, the students ensuring that funding is there (confusing). And this is really their chance to have that voice.
This would send a really strong message to Queen’s Park that we want change in Ontario, that we’re going to fight for change in Ontario, and we’re going to stand up and have a voice and let it be known that what we’re seeing isn’t enough, that we expect more from our government. And so I’m here for that change. I’m here to advocate for people. And I’m looking forward to what this by-election is going to be and what it’s going to say, and it will be a lot of fun and the time is now.
F: Thank you guys both so much, really appreciate your time this morning.
MS: My pleasure. Thanks a lot.
MC: Okay, thank you.
Editors note (28/06/2023): This piece was updated when the date of he byelection was announced by Premier Ford’s office.
