Whether it is better infrastructure, job creation, or pushing for better quality healthcare and education, Michael is always working hard to ensure that Northern Ontario is well-represented at Queen’s Park.

Healthcare

Northern Ontario has never been given its fair share of healthcare resources. Our healthcare system is overworked, understaffed, and underfunded. Our hospitals and primary care teams are faced with unique challenges that the government refuses to acknowledge.

A one-size-fits-all approach to healthcare funding means that Northern hospitals are facing a budget crisis.

To fix Northern healthcare the government must:

1. Enact the dedicated healthcare strategy for Northern Ontario that was developed but never implemented.
2. Increase base funding for small hospitals in rural communities by at least 10%.
3. Introduce legislation to limit the use of for-profit staffing agencies and put controls on what they can charge for wages.

Housing

Since 2016, the number of people experiencing chronic homelessness in Northern Ontario has gone up by 204%, to over 5’000 people.

With Ontario’s current housing trends that could double or triple by 2035. Rural communities lack specialized support, public transportation, and public services which makes homelessness harder to escape.

We need a Northern Housing Strategy with short- and medium-term solutions:

1. Fund retaining and renovating housing stock.
2. Support converting vacant or underutilized buildings into affordable units.
3. Increase collaboration between municipalities and non-profit developers.
4. Coordinate services to decrease administrative burden and make it easier to access housing supports.

Highways

In Northern Ontario highways are our main means of transportation. We rely on them to get to work, sports, medical

appointments and more.

However, our highways are not maintained to the same standards as southern Ontario.

Even Highways 17 and 11, the gateways to western Canada, are less safe to drive on than the 400 series.

To make sure Northerners can travel safely on our highways:

1. Bring maintenance standards for 17 and 11 to the same level as the 400 series.
2. Improve contracts for secondary highway maintenance.
3. Refuse to renew contracts with providers who fail to meet standards.
4. Conduct ‘Road Safety Audits’ to find areas to improve.
5. End for-profit delivery of driver examinations to make sure all drivers, including commercial, are properly tested.