The Algoma-Manitoulin riding spans more than 109,000 kilometres, from Manitouwadge in the West to Espanola in the East.
There are six people vying for the seat in the Feb. 27 election, from political newcomers to those with more than a decade of experience.
CTV News asked all six candidates to answer five questions, with only the Progressive Conservative and Green Party declining the opportunity.
Health-care access
Incumbent MPP Michael Mantha has served the riding since 2011. Initially elected as a New Democrat, he was expelled from caucus in 2023 due to misconduct.
Running as an independent, Mantha said the solution to health care is three-pronged.
“We have to make sure that our hospitals are properly funded so raising their base funding by a minimum of 10 per cent is absolutely needed,” he said.
“Number 2 is to really look at what we’re going to do with doctor recruitment. And it also means having a true northern Ontario homecare strategy that will deliver home care to the individuals that need it, instead of them being frustrated, being over-assessed and under-delivered with services.”
Running for the NDP is a newcomer to politics, life-long Elliot Lake resident David Timeriski.
Timeriski is a paramedic, retired volunteer firefighter and enforcement officer with the Ministry of the Attorney General.
Timeriski said his party has the right plan to address healthcare for northerners.
“Marit Stiles has a plan that if she is elected within the first 100 days, she’s going to have an emergency management team analyze and critically put in place infrastructure that’s required to support the health care system before it completely falls apart as we know it,” he said.
Liberal candidate Reg Niganobe is making his first foray into provincial politics, after almost 15 years in Indigenous politics.
Niganobe is chair of the North Shore Tribal Council, and is the former Grand Chief of the Anishinabek Nation, and Chief of Mississauga First Nation for a decade.
He said health-care access has been “what everybody’s talking about” within the Liberal Party lately.
“Securing more doctors. More funding towards health itself,” Niganobe said.
“Part of the budget for health has been underspent or not spent at all, so helping to take care of some of that, get some of that spending out the door.”
Affordable housing
Timeriski said affordable housing is a top priority for the NDP.
“We would definitely build housing in Northern Ontario, affordable housing,” he said.
“Part of the critical infrastructure for decades has been ignored and they haven’t been funding that part of it. And we need to make that come back. We need to have co-ops. We need to have geared-to-income housing. Those services are a necessity.”
A Liberal government will also build more housing and programs to help more people afford housing, Niganobe said.
“Looking to double ODSP, because it’s currently stagnant where it’s at right now. It’s hoping to help with that,” he said.
“Doubling the stock of supportive housing units, you know, with wraparound services to make rent more affordable by rent control, and even establish rental emergency support for tenants, on to help vulnerable renters.”
Mantha said that local Social Services Boards need to be “properly funded” and leaned on to guide solutions on housing.
“Looking at the available stocks that we have now with abandoned buildings and using those in order to make affordable housing, using the expertise that we have within these organizations to really make it affordable for people to stay here and have them not being priced out of their own communities,” he said.
Trump and tariffs
Mantha said tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump is the first topic people ask about when he’s knocking on doors.
His plan would include less divisiveness to deal with the American threats.
“We need to work with our federal partners in order to look at what we’re going to be implementing and imposing on our neighbours in the U.S.,” he said.
“It’s not a matter of us against them. We have to have a team approach. And whoever is going to be prime minister, whoever is going to be premier, it’s Team Ontario, and it’s all hands on deck.”
Niganobe said the response to Trump’s tariffs would have looked different under a Liberal government.
“The plan is to continue to support the other provinces… and working with the federal government,” he said.
“Of course, Bonnie Crombie has stated she wouldn’t have kept the liquor on a shelf during this time until the deal was reached, like American liquor.”
Timeriski said tariffs will hurt the economy and allyship is the solution for Ontario.
“We live in areas of northern Ontario that don’t have many industries left,” he said.
“If we start getting taxed by the United States, we are going to have to be creative in fighting this. We’re going to have to be creative at uniting ourselves within our province and inter-provincial. We have to reduce our provincial intra-tariffs. We have to encourage ‘Buy Canada.’”
Homelessness and addictions
On the addictions and homelessness crisis, Timeriski said Ontarians need more help from their government.
“There’s not enough mental health support out there to get these people off the street and divert them to care and treatment,” he said.
“We need to increase their visibility by stepping up and saying, you need care. You need mental health, you need addiction counseling, and we want to get you back on a healthy path.”
Mantha agreed that funding is needed but said that public education is equally important.
“Here in Algoma, we have the highest per capita suicides that are happening and deaths,” he said.
“That are happening from exposure to drugs. We need to make the investments to provide the centres that we do have now to full operation. We need to have better individuals that are trained within those fields. We need to be empathetic with people that are suffering from addictions and take away the stigma.”
Economy and daily expenses
“Things are getting out of hand” regarding affordability," Niganobe said.
His focus, should he be elected, will include food sovereignty and tax cuts for northerners.
“Creating more food and agriculture here in the north,” Niganobe said.
“Having those things a little bit more readily available here, rather than having to ship them from somewhere else, might be a little bit more of a better option. Helping cut the cost of, like, you know, heating your home, electricity in your home, looking to remove the HST portion, the provincial portion of the HST on home heating and electricity.”
Timeriski said education is the key to helping people find a better financial future.
“I encourage people, you know, find something you like doing, get educated,” he said.
“The Ford government has been ignoring the education system. They’ve been under-servicing the infrastructure. There’s a shortage of teachers. There’s a shortage of ideas … We need to develop these plans to make everything work together in harmony so that we can help each other through these financial difficulties that we’re facing.”
“We need to make sure that those individuals that are on programs like Ontario Works like ODSP, Ontario Disability Support Program … are provided with a proper level of funding,” he added.
