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Ontario gives Tecumseh 15 million for housing related infrastructure · Kvetch & Release

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  Speaker 1: Town a Tacomsy is receiving provincial funding to help expand
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  Speaker 1: critical infrastructure to support the construction of homes in the town.
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  Speaker 1: The town was selected by the Ministry of Infrastructure to
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  Speaker 1: receive funding through the Housing Enabling Water Systems Fund to
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  Speaker 1: help municipalities develop, prepare, rehabilitate and expand critical drinking water,
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  Speaker 1: waste water and stormwater infrastructure. The province is kicking in
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  Speaker 1: seventy three percent of the total eligible cost for this project,
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  Speaker 1: or fifteen point one million dollars. The town will be
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  Speaker 1: covering the rest of the cost of the near twenty
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  Speaker 1: two million dollar project. Joining me right now in studio
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  Speaker 1: Windsor to come see MPP Andrew Dowie, fifteen point one
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  Speaker 1: million dollars is nothing to shake a fistat. That's a
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  Speaker 1: lot of money.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, John. I'm just delayed to have this investment
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  Speaker 2: in the town. To come see. The town to Compsie
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  Speaker 2: is about twenty four thousand people and for such a
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  Speaker 2: first municipality of that size, this is a substantial investment,
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  Speaker 2: and it's in a project that I think it's universally
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  Speaker 2: needed and asked for by the people who live into
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  Speaker 2: GUMSI because you're landlocked in many ways. But you know,
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  Speaker 2: seniors want to downsize, young people want to leave mom
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  Speaker 2: and Dad's house, but still have a house in the neighborhood,
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  Speaker 2: and the supply isn't there. There are enough houses, and
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  Speaker 2: so having this investment allows lands that have been earmarked
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  Speaker 2: for development for decades. I'll say around the Compsy Visa
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  Speaker 2: School area and Saint Peter's that's the area that is
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  Speaker 2: next to grow. That's where the infrastructure investment is going
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  Speaker 2: to be put, will open up servicing and the housing
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  Speaker 2: saw starts will be almost four thousand units in that area.
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  Speaker 1: Which is really staggering. So yeah, we're talking four fifty
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  Speaker 1: nine homes to be serviced and that's going to provide
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  Speaker 1: a forty one percent increase in overall housing units within
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  Speaker 1: the town. If you're looking to get more homes built,
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  Speaker 1: this enables that.
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  Speaker 2: It's an obvious project and unfortunately that unfortunately for the
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  Speaker 2: circumstances is that you have a lot of different landowners
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  Speaker 2: and they're not independently wealthy. They're just you know, it's
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  Speaker 2: sometimes it's tourreditary, sometimes it's it's a farmer and they're
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  Speaker 2: but they're they're looking to to exit but at the
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  Speaker 2: end of the day, you don't have you have fragmented ownership,
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  Speaker 2: and no one person can afford all the infrastructure. So
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  Speaker 2: having the infrastructure built first means that we can actually
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  Speaker 2: accelerate the development of these lands and have homes built
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  Speaker 2: for people. The government Vounteers commitment was one point five
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  Speaker 2: million homes by twenty thirty one, in addition to the
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  Speaker 2: inventory that existed. These are the tools that we have
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  Speaker 2: to try and get those homes built and offer young
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  Speaker 2: people and opportunity to have a place of their own.
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  Speaker 1: You know, one point five million homes is a lot
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  Speaker 1: of homes. Four thousand is not, you know, it's it's
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  Speaker 1: a drop in the bucket to get to one point
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  Speaker 1: five million. But that's not at all criticism coming from me,
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  Speaker 1: because when you take all the different announcements and you
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  Speaker 1: add them all up, that's how you get to the
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  Speaker 1: one point five right, it's not about dropping one and
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  Speaker 1: a half million homes and windsor correct.
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  Speaker 2: I think if I've learned anything in this role is
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  Speaker 2: that there's no single solution. You have to use a
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  Speaker 2: multitude of tools that are in the toolbox to achieve
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  Speaker 2: your goal. You do things in parallel do. You try
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  Speaker 2: different things, but ultimately you measure what you've done and
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  Speaker 2: build upon the successes and stop doing the things that
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  Speaker 2: don't work out. So well, it.
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  Speaker 1: Must be fun to do a funding announcement showing up,
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  Speaker 1: you've got a big check, everyone's happy.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you know what this one was particularly particularly hash
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  Speaker 2: I's heartwarming for me. I spent eight years onto Comcy
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  Speaker 2: Town Council and then eight years for then on the
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  Speaker 2: Community Adjustment looking at developments. So knowing of the issues
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  Speaker 2: in developing housing in the community have been so long
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  Speaker 2: standing and this is going to this is going to
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  Speaker 2: resolve many of them. Is South of Caron twenty two.
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  Speaker 2: So it's just to actually fix a problem that's been
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  Speaker 2: long standing. By being able to work within government to
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  Speaker 2: get this funding has been just such a such a delight.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, let's shift gears here a little bit. We know
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  Speaker 1: that there's not going to be an election this year.
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  Speaker 1: We've heard that it's been ruled out. Now could there
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  Speaker 1: be one next year? It's looking like probably maybe I'm
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  Speaker 1: speculating here, but you know, sometimes my speculation works and
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  Speaker 1: if it doesn't work out, well, nobody paid for it,
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  Speaker 1: so it's not that big a deal quite frankly, But
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  Speaker 1: you've also got this caucus retreat coming up and calling.
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  Speaker 1: Would I imagine that there's going to be some talk
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  Speaker 1: about what an election might look like or what are
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  Speaker 1: you expecting this caucus retreat to be?
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  Speaker 2: Like I've done a few of these. Now, ultimately you
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  Speaker 2: get called the pulse of the province. We we get
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  Speaker 2: knowledge vibe check, yeah, we we we get knowledge of
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  Speaker 2: what what what people are telling us. You know, the
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  Speaker 2: different members have a chance to share what their constituents
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  Speaker 2: are telling them. We also get you know, we do
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  Speaker 2: polling and and try to get an understanding understanding of
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  Speaker 2: the mood of the public. So it'll be an opportunity
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  Speaker 2: to hear that here here the big picture as well
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  Speaker 2: as the local and how it all dovetails U. And
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  Speaker 2: it's optuate to give feedback too. Do we like what
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  Speaker 2: we've been doing or are we not liking what we've
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  Speaker 2: been doing? And are there gaps? For example, if we've
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  Speaker 2: passed these legislations not doing what it's intended to do,
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  Speaker 2: then how do we fix that? How do we go
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  Speaker 2: and get some deliverables for it? So well, we're gonna
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  Speaker 2: be there three days Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and looking
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  Speaker 2: forward to seeing it first time. I'll see my colleagues
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  Speaker 2: since the month of basically early June, so that it's
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  Speaker 2: a great opportunity for that and to reconnect with some
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  Speaker 2: of those that I serve with.
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  Speaker 1: Well. I still argue with people about when summer actually ends,
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: but you know, Labor Day weekend and well, summer will
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  Speaker 1: go on for a number of weeks. Things have shifted.
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  Speaker 1: We're now back into the swing of normal things. Back
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  Speaker 1: to school, back to work. When you're not doing your
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  Speaker 1: constituency work anymore, you're going to be heading the caucus
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  Speaker 1: retreat and then back up to Queen's Park. But with
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  Speaker 1: back to the school. I don't know if you heard
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  Speaker 1: all of the interview, but we just had on the
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  Speaker 1: president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation, Karen Littlewood,
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  Speaker 1: and I'm not going to put you in a spot
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  Speaker 1: where you are going to comment about what she said
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  Speaker 1: if you didn't hear the whole interview, but I will
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  Speaker 1: just say that the release that we received was that
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  Speaker 1: she thinks Premier Ford's government is continuing to gamble with
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  Speaker 1: the future of our students in the broader education system.
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  Speaker 1: In the conversation, she said don't let this government fool
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  Speaker 1: you into thinking they're actually investing into this. They're not
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  Speaker 1: keeping up with inflation, so they're actually cutting. There's a
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  Speaker 1: lot of concerns. People are more stressed out than they've
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  Speaker 1: ever been. She painted a picture of bathrooms that sound uncontrollable,
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  Speaker 1: and I thought initially it had to do with maybe
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  Speaker 1: potentially transgender policies, but she said, no, there's kids just
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  Speaker 1: vaping in bathrooms. Sometimes there's fights, there's bullying, she said,
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  Speaker 1: the vandalism, they're just tearing things off the wall. So
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  Speaker 1: I'll just give you an opportunity to respond, because I
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  Speaker 1: got to tell you it was a pretty dire picture
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  Speaker 1: that was painted.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know what those are actually the similar concerns
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  Speaker 2: what the students have been bringing for. And I remember
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  Speaker 2: a couple of years ago, shortly after I was elected,
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  Speaker 2: mister Letchik came down and we invited all the student
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  Speaker 2: trustees for the area to share their experiences, what they like,
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  Speaker 2: the problems to work on, and those issues actually came up.
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  Speaker 2: What what happens in the washroom, to the vaping, bullying,
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  Speaker 2: and especially with technology and using phones to to really
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  Speaker 2: go after one another. So you've seen some policy changes
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  Speaker 2: already on this, both on the vaping and on on
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  Speaker 2: on bullying. Uh. And you know students, students always have
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  Speaker 2: great things to say. I know mister Dunlop will continue
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  Speaker 2: to meet with students as well as the school boards
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  Speaker 2: and the unions. But you know what, I think your
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  Speaker 2: listeners have heard refrain that that's pretty common and it's
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  Speaker 2: rare you'll here in OSSTF president support a government, let
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  Speaker 2: alone a conservative government.
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  Speaker 1: You know, I listen, it's complex when it comes to
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  Speaker 1: funding and you've got different sides on the issue, and
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  Speaker 1: of course, representing the union, their job is not to
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  Speaker 1: be overly support of Their job is to try to
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  Speaker 1: get more money and funding to support the things that
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  Speaker 1: they're pushing. So you guys, you had Minister Leche when
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  Speaker 1: he was in the role for Ministry of Education, he
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  Speaker 1: met directly with the student trustees.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, and that's he actually had such a great
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  Speaker 2: experience he adopted as policy someone would be heard, but
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  Speaker 2: also meeting with trustees sotonent trustees themselves, because having a
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  Speaker 2: middleman means you're a bit more cautious with what you say.
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  Speaker 2: And miraculously, what students shared was what was really on
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  Speaker 2: their mind, and which was their own health and safety.
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  Speaker 1: I think that's really unique to be offering the students
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  Speaker 1: an opportunity to talk directly with not only a member
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  Speaker 1: of government, but with the minister himself. And I'm glad
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  Speaker 1: to hear that that is implemented formally moving forward, because listen,
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  Speaker 1: everyone has a stake when it comes to the education
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  Speaker 1: of students, whether or not you have a kid or not.
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  Speaker 1: This is the future of our province and I think
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  Speaker 1: hearing from the kids themselves makes a lot of sense.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and the investments continue. If I've heard this argument
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  Speaker 2: about the you we should conflation, and I'll give a
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  Speaker 2: bit of an economics perspective on this. Eighty percent of
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  Speaker 2: the education budget is on salaries, so those are fixed.
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  Speaker 2: They're not. They don't go up and down with the
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  Speaker 2: economy as it is, so the impact of inflation is
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  Speaker 2: fairly limited on education funding. But education funding is at
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  Speaker 2: the highest level it's ever been and it keeps on
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  Speaker 2: going up. There's never been a cut to education, and
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  Speaker 2: so you know, I guess you can use this fuzzy
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  Speaker 2: math to try and make a case, but it's absolutely
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  Speaker 2: not supported by the facts.
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  Speaker 1: She also said that educators are leaving the public education
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  Speaker 1: system on mass because of the conditions that they're dealing
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  Speaker 1: with right now. I'm wondering, have you heard anything about
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  Speaker 1: a mass exodus of teachers? And then with that, she
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  Speaker 1: also said that she's one hundred percent confident that there
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  Speaker 1: will be unqualified educators in schools today as a result
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  Speaker 1: of government decisions, And I just wonder what you'd say
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  Speaker 1: to that.
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  Speaker 2: I've not gotten wind of a mass exodus from the
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  Speaker 2: education system. I am aware that there have been a
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  Speaker 2: lot of retirements of those who came in the seventies
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  Speaker 2: and eighties who are retiring, and we don't have enough
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  Speaker 2: young people going into teachers college now and completing it.
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  Speaker 2: It's actually a lot more difficult to go to teachers college.
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  Speaker 2: The last government extended the duration of teachers college to
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  Speaker 2: two years, and then you have to get a four
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  Speaker 2: year degree on top of that, and previously you needed
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  Speaker 2: a three year degree and a single year in teachers college.
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  Speaker 2: So it's a lot Being a teacher is a lot
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  Speaker 2: less accessible than it used to be. So it's no
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  Speaker 2: surprise that there are fewer people willing to spend six
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  Speaker 2: years instead of four years going to school to really
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  Speaker 2: have a career ahead of them. So I think there's
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  Speaker 2: work to be done on this front to get more
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  Speaker 2: teachers into the system and having that education policy looked
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  Speaker 2: at for the teachers themselves. It is certainly part of that.
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  Speaker 1: Hey, I'm no math whiz, but last time I'm checked,
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  Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure that six is a bigger number than four,
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  Speaker 1: and I could see that being a barrier for some
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  Speaker 1: people to go six years to get into a profession
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  Speaker 1: versus get a four year degree and go do something else.
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  Speaker 1: That's not fuzzy math. No, that's very clear math.
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  Speaker 2: It's very clear math that six years of tuition, that
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  Speaker 2: you have to face six yers of living expenses without
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  Speaker 2: an income.
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  Speaker 1: And people are in a tough spate right now, so
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  Speaker 1: I come to appreciate that. I want to thank you
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  Speaker 1: for coming in and chatting about all of this. I
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  Speaker 1: knew I threw some curveballs at you. I hope you
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  Speaker 1: don't mind.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, not a problem, John, Thanks for having me on.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you so much. Andrew Dowie is our member of
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  Speaker 1: provincial Parliament for Windsor. To come see