The Sault’s New Blue candidate Shane Pankhurst has arrived just in time for this week’s provincial election.
The Brampton restaurant owner hosted a meet-and-greet at Bellevue Park on Sunday to speak with voters and supporters.
Pankhurst said the other local candidates received an invitation to take part in the event as well, but none of them were in attendance.
Pankhurst noted his conversations with some of the area residents have been productive, and he’s happy with how his visit is going so far.
“It’s all positive,” he said. “The people I’ve talked to have a lot of hope, and they’re really excited for what could happen.”
The New Blue Party of Ontario is a socially conservative party. Founded in 2020, it is currently led by Jim Karahalios.
Pankhurst says his main mission in holding Sunday's event at Bellevue is to provide education for voters before they head to the polls.
“The main thing I really want to leave with people is that it’s time to hold your leaders accountable,” he said. “I’m not here for votes; I’m here to educate. You can vote for whoever you want but hold them accountable. Make sure they’re listening to you and doing what they’re supposed to do. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.”
Pankhurst will be in Sault until the day after the election. Although he doesn’t currently reside here, Pankhurst isn’t concerned that would affect his work if elected.
“It’s not a big deal,” he said. “I’ll be here as much as I need to be and will gladly be here. I will not be ignoring any emails or calls, and it’ll be me that replies to you, not some secretary who doesn’t know what’s going on.”
When it comes to the pandemic, Pankhurst is fully supportive of removing the remaining restrictions in place and insists there will be no lockdowns under a New Blue government.
“We will not lock anybody down,” he said. “It’s not a solution, and it obviously didn’t work before. We’re still teasing the idea of being locked down again after so many people lost their jobs over the last three years. We definitely won’t be going about it that way. We have a plan to work with the healthcare system to get early treatment out and make it available for everybody.”
Meanwhile, local Progressive Conservative incumbent Ross Romano is proud of the way the provincial government handled the pandemic, specifically in their efforts to stockpile necessary supplies to help protect one another.
“The premier said never again will Ontario be beholden to any other jurisdiction in the world when it comes to ensuring that we have the critical supplies and personal protective equipment that we need to keep Ontarians safe,” Romano said. “Now, that has come to fruition. We now have a stockpile of masks and safety goggles, all being made in Ontario. We went from 37 per cent of all of our critical supplies being purchased from Ontario to now being at 94 per cent.”
Romano adds the PCs are the only party that has a plan to ensure the province will not face another lockdown.
“When we’re buying masks, nitrile gloves, or personal protective equipment – we’re not calling China anymore,” he said. “We’re calling places within Ontario, and that has allowed us to ensure we will never again be in another lockdown.”
NDP candidate Michele McCleave-Kennedy says there were several procedures that could have been done differently during COVID, and she’s hopeful her plan will help avoid another shutdown.
“It could have been done better for sure,” she said. “We need to put money back into fixing schools. Locally, not all the schools have proper ventilation. Across the province, there’s a huge backlog that we haven’t fixed in a very long time, and that needs to be taken care of.”
In addition to supporting schools, McCleave-Kennedy wants to see Bill 124 overturned, which she believes will give public sector workers like nurses the incentive to work and be valued for what they do.
“We’ll be putting money back into long-term care and healthcare,” she said. “We had seen a lot of nurses let go prior to the pandemic, which resulted in the burnout of a lot of doctors and nurses, not to mention long-term care. For the army to be called into for-profit long-term care homes is shameful.”
Meanwhile, Independent candidate Naomi Sayers says there were several groups of people who were marginalized during the pandemic, and she’s ready to defend them as MPP if elected.
“The government really stigmatized against certain groups like sex workers,” she says. “Some time in October 2020, they arbitrarily shut down all the strip clubs in Ontario because of outbreaks that happened in Toronto. Ford made comments like, ‘well, I feel sorry for the men who have to go home at night.’ What does that say about the women who were working in those clubs? It’s indicative of his attitude towards certain groups.”
Sayers also wants to see a more localized approach when handling COVID-related issues rather than following suit with Toronto’s responses. Despite her frustrations with the current government, Sayers was happy with how they implemented updates.
“As we went longer into the global pandemic, government leaders saw the importance of regular updates,” she said. “Everybody turned on the news at a certain time and listened in. That was really helpful, and that’s what’s important during a public health concern and the issues impacting different communities.”
Local Liberal candidate Liam Hancock and local Green candidate Keagan Gilfillan were unavailable for comment.
Voters will head to the polls on Thursday, June 2.
