Health care and housing key issues for candidates running in Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte riding

The incumbent Doug Downey is seeking re-election for his third straight term as Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte MPP faces competition on the topic of health care

The incumbent Doug Downey is seeking re-election for his third straight term as Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte MPP but he faces competition on the topic of health care.

The current Progressive Conservative MPP says affordability and tariff threats have been the biggest concerns raised in his conversations with locals throughout his campaign.

“I’m going to make sure that as the government reinvests in the communities, that it goes to infrastructure, jobs, economy, making sure that people are protected” said Downey.

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Downey has also served as attorney general since 2019 and highlighted his party’s more-than $70 million investments into local infrastructure when asked about housing and health care.

“We’ve put 99 more hospital beds in, we got the first pet-CT scanner, we’ve expanded MRI,” added Downey. “We are investing in health care right here in Barrie.”

Downey’s Liberal competition comes from candidate Rose Zacharias, who has served as a family doctor in the riding for the last two decades. She says she wants to make health care a top priority if elected.

“Fifty-five-thousand people in the City of Barrie do not have a family doctor, and we know the wait times in emergency departments are too long,” said Zacharias, who also served a one-year term as president of the Ontario Medical Association.

“Government can act to put people’s health care needs first,” she added. “A vote for Ontario’s Liberals is a guarantee that, over the next four years, everyone in Ontario will have a family doctor.”

Affordable housing is a top priority for the Ontario’s New Democrats candidate Tracey Lapham.

“People are worried about losing their homes to rent-evictions, ‘demo-victions,’” said Lapham. “They can’t afford to move because they know that if they do, their rent will double or even triple in price.”

Lapham runs a local non-profit food program and is strongly advocating for affordabiltiy.

“Talk, educate, listen, fight, if it takes protests, fine. But I think that, at the provincial level, there’s a lot we can do,” added Lapham. “It’s not about band-aid solutions, it’s about longevity.”

A spokesperson for Green Party candidate Tim Grant said he is not available for media responses or appearances in this election.

Rounding out the ballot for the riding of Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte are Alex Della Ventura for the Blue Party, and Erin Patterson for the Libertarian party.

Election day is Feb. 27.

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