In focus continued...

"There’s a bridging program at UofT that allows people to ‘Canadianize’ their medical skills over one or two years.

"But it has 100 positions available and that’s the problem. If you have a drastic shortage of doctors and you have hundreds – some would say thousands – of doctors who with a little bit of extra education can be ready, then why would you not use them? It’s a no-brainer. I know there’s been some expansion of this program under the present government but it’s not good enough.

"We have in our platform a total physician recruitment strtegy. Not only are you going to try and keep physicians from re-tiring early by offering them flexibility, you’re going to try to make sure physicians don’t leave Ontario after they graduate. We’re going to launch an intensive crusade to get as many of the foreign-trained physicians qualified as quickly as we can. We have to rapidly expand these bridging programs to get those people qualified. That doesn’t mean we would compromise our standards. So there may be some who can’t get themselves qualified, but there will be an awful lot who will qualifiy very quickly."

"I want to break down the credentials barrier for new Canadians; expand job internship and language training programs; provide stable funded bridging programs; career mentorship; employment training; and ensure esl programs help those who need it.

"Our wide-ranging package of proposals includes guaranteed expansion of healthcare funding to $8.5 billion over present levels."

• Increase the number of doctors.

• Modernize and build new healthcare facilities.

• Bring 35,000 below-standard long-term care spaces for seniors up to standard.

• Expand investment in home care.

• Comprehensive long-term physician recruitment strategy to secure enough doctors.

• Give each person a private lifetime secure medical record.

• Fix the education funding formula.

• Open up schools to the community for evening and weekend activities.

• Expand standardized testing and measure school performance.

• Reduce the burden of home-work on young children to 10 minutes per grade level.

• Bring faith-based schools into the public school system.

• Mandatory minimum sentences for drug growers and processors.

• Create a new court for white collar crime.

• House the homeless.

• Set a realistic minimum wage.

• Start building Ontario infra-structure again.

• Fix northern rural roads and bridges.

• Provide high speed internet access for rural areas.

• Build a new economic foundation for the North.

• Make three-year funding commitments to arts groups and cultural attractions.

• Phase out the health tax.

• Cap property tax increases at 5 per cent.

• Create a risk management plan for Ontario farmers.

• Make it a priority to resolve Aboriginal land claims.

• Reduce the regulatory burden on small businesses.

• Remove the capital tax.

• Set strong targets for reducing greenhouse gases.

• Protect Ontario’s clean water.

* * *

New Democratic Party leader Howard Hampton shared highlights of his party’s vision with Desi News as the Ontario election campaign entered the final phase.

"Our priorities should be to properly fund our public schools. Right now, those schools are not being properly funded. We think the public school system has enough flexibility for all students. If a parent wants to send his child to a private school, I respect that decision, but we should not be funding private schools in any way."

"Under the McGuinty government, initiatives like esl or special education are not being adequately funded and children are not receiving the quality of education they deserve. If we don’t adequately fund esl, special education, music and library teachers, we are not doing justice to those children who are from new Canadian families or who do not speak English well or do not speak English at all."

"The McGuinty government is increasing university fees so much and so rapidly that colleges and university education is for many families just financially impossible. Tuition fees are already too high and constitute a roadblock for many young people who want to go on to university or college but can’t because they do not have the financial re-sources. Fees should not be increased, they should be reduced.

"There are countries in Europe where they focus on making university and college education very affordable and we think that is the direction we should be moving in Ontario. Affordability is a priority for New Democrats."

"New Democrats would follow the lead of ndp provinces like Saskatchewan and Manitoba where it’s a government priority that regulatory and professional bodies have processes that are fair and open. Where someone who has obtained an education in another country is found not to have the equivalent of Canadian credentials they provide quick access to upgrading courses or development programs so some-one can have their skills and credentials recognized very quickly. I know a physician who has practiced in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, yet is told he is not qualified to practice in Ontario. This tells you how far things are wrong in Ontario."

"In Brandon, Manitoba, most of the physicians were actually trained in South Africa. They all went directly to Manitoba and did not look at Ontario at all. I would follow the lead of the ndp government in Manitoba, which has led the way in speedy evaluation of doctors’ and nurses’ credentials. Where someone’s credentials are found not to be up to standard they have a very quick qualifying program. The system is very open, very transparent and very effective. Manitoba is probably ten years ahead of Ontario in these things, and I think their way of doing things would make a huge difference in Ontario within about 18 months."

"We would reverse the down-loading by the provincial governments to ensure greater financial fairness for municipalities and for municipal property taxpayers and ensure the services we need are properly funded. The McGuinty government has been a deadbeat government in that they have not been paying their own bills and they have been forcing those bills on municipalities like Toronto or Hamilton and putting them in a very difficult financial position. The solution for that is to pay its own bills, so municipalities are not forced to put these important services on the property tax. Ontario has the highest property taxes in Canada now in Ontario and that has created an affordability problem for people. Even with with these high taxes we’re not able to cover the cost of transit systems or other valuable community initiatives."

"This is becoming a crisis and we have literally tens of thou-sands of families on a waiting list for affordable housing. The waiting is five or six years now. If we’re going to say to new Canadians come here and settle here the promises Dalton McGuinty has failed to keep on affordable housing must be met."

"Farmers do not have a reliable income. We need to have an insurance system for Ontario’s farmers that at least covers the cost of production. So they know that when they are growing food for us, at least the cost of production will be covered. With that income security you will see more farmers stay on the land and produce the safe, clean food we all need."

"We’ve been on a two-year struggle to have the minimum wage increased to $10 an hour. People cannot live on $8 an hour. It doesn’t matter how resourceful you are or how hard you work, $8 is simply not a living wage."

"We’re seeing too many seniors living in long-term care homes and nursing homes where they are not receiving sufficient care. Nurses are being run off their feet. We need to ensure a minimum standard of care. We have set that at two-and-a-quarter hours of nursing care per patient per day. This would also be the guideline for home care. One of the disasters under the McGuinty government has been the privatization of home care. Much of the money that should be going to provide nursing care for elderly people living at home is being siphoned off for the profits of the private companies.

"We would move in the direction of Manitoba where home care is provided by community agencies on a not-for-profit basis."

"We should implement what Quebec and a number of Atlantic provinces have done to regulate their gas prices. It ensures that – especially on long weekends – gasoline companies are not able to gouge the public by increasing the price of gas. It also requires oil companies to justify their price increases.

"The evidence is overwhelming that the consumers are being gouged in Ontario.

"I recognize that, in the longer term, the price of gas and the price of heating oil may go up, but what we’ve seen over the last few years is simply manipulation of the market and gouging of consumers.

"I am also advocating that Ontario build no more nuclear power plants in Ontario.

• Build affordable housing.

• Create more child care spaces.

• Provide treatment to every autistic child who needs it.

• Stop the clawback of the National Child Benefit Supplement – which robs $1,500 a year from our poorest children."

• Ramdath Jagessar is a special correspondent for Desi News and is the editor of The Indo-Caribbean Times.
 

"We have at least seven South Asian candidates representing the Liberal Party in the coming elections, and 16 visible minority candidates in all.

"We’re very proud of that. We’ve worked hard to ensure that the party represents the face of Ontario through its workers, volunteers and candidates.

"I’ve had the opportunity to develop a stronger relationship with the South Asian community as a result of travelling in India and Pakistan, as well as participating in so many different events over the past four years. There’s always some kind of festival or celebration or opportunity that gives me a chance to say hello and to thank the South Asian community and to celebrate everything that they bring to all of us.

"I’ve really come to enjoy the spicy food I get at the functions. For dessert, gulab jamun is one of my favourites!"

I recognize the fact that our party didn’t reach out to the South Asian community in the way we should have.

"When a party has been in power for 42 consecutive years, I think you get a bit complacent. But when you see changes taking place, you have an obligation to keep up and invite people to come and sit at the table and be part of your party.

"When I became the leader, I knew we had lost a lot of time. We hadn’t gone out and said to people we want you to manage the campaign, we want you to run as candidates. But I knew one thing I had going for me were the values of the Progressive Conservatives – free enterprise, opportunity for everybody, and good, solid family values were things South Asians really believed in. When I realized the values matched, I began the process of personally reaching out to the South Asian community.

"I have tried to make more contacts in the South Asian community. I took a trip to India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to have a better understanding of where hundreds of thousands of citizens had come from.

"We’ve started to convey the message to South Asians that you are welcome, that your values are our values and that you can play a role. I’m very happy we have people like Pam Hundal, Nina Tangri and others who have sought nominations."

We will have a number of candidates from the South Asian community in this election.

"Both federally and provincially, we are seeing more and more people from the South Asian community turn towards the ndp. We will have a number of candidates from the Tamil community, we will have candidates with ancestral origin in Pakistan or India. Especially across southern Ontario, in places like Windsor, in Mississauga, in Scarborough, and in Toronto, we’re going to have candidates who are leaders in the South Asian community. We are going to surprise a lot of people in terms of results in ridings in Mississauga, Windsor, Scarborough..."