Waterloo candidates discuss housing affordability, misinformation and university funding

There are 9 candidates moving successful Waterloo successful this national election.

The candidates are (in alphabetical bid by past name):

• Waseem Botros, Conservative.
• Bardish Chagger (incumbent), Liberal.
• Santa Claus Chatham, Rhinocéros Party.
• Héline Chow, NDP.
• Simon Guthrie, Green.
• Jamie Hari, Independent.
• Val Neekman, Independent.
• Hans Roach, Independent.
• Douglas Ross, PPC.

CBC K-W invited the candidates from the 4 large parties to instrumentality portion successful a sheet treatment on The Morning Edition with big Craig Norris.

The topics covered included housing affordability, misinformation and assemblage funding.

Guthrie said he's lived, worked and studied successful Waterloo portion for 32 years.

"[I] came present from Ottawa and ne'er truly near due to the fact that of everything that's here. When I was a student, I thought this is simply a large spot to beryllium a pupil raising a family," helium said.

Waseem Botros of the Conservatives was asked to instrumentality portion successful the sheet but his campaign ne'er responded to invitations. His website says Botros is an migrant who came to Canada arsenic a skilled worker.

Chagger, the incumbent, has been the MP since 2015. She was the archetypal pistillate to service arsenic authorities location person and besides served arsenic the curate for tiny concern and tourism arsenic good as minister of diverseness and inclusion and youth.

Chagger was besides named successful the WE Charity ungraded successful 2020.

Chagger says the Liberal Party has made a batch of advancement during her clip representing Waterloo as MP. She introduced herself by listing all of what she considers to beryllium her party's achievements implicit the past 10 years.

"The facts are: Canada continues to person the champion fiscal presumption successful the G7. The [Canada] Child Benefit has lifted hundreds of thousands of children retired of poverty — 900,000 families are benefiting from affordable aboriginal learning and childcare,"

"The pharmacare program is providing entree to contraception successful diabetes medication. The Housing Accelerator Fund has provided grants to municipalities with Waterloo receiving implicit $23 million," she added.

"There remains overmuch much to do," she said.

Chow said she besides archetypal came to Waterloo portion arsenic a student.

"This metropolis has grown from a spot I came to survey to a spot I telephone home," she said, portion acknowledging that there's a lodging affordability crisis.

"It seems to person lone gotten worse twelvemonth implicit year. Whether it's your plans for status oregon archetypal home, oregon conscionable to wage adjacent month's rent similar galore young Canadians, owning a location seems like an intolerable feat erstwhile uncovering an affordable spot to rent is already a struggle. But it doesn't person to beryllium this way."

Botros has been sent the questions from the panel. When helium responds, his answers volition beryllium added to this story.

WATCH| Affordable lodging is simply a apical interest for Waterloo voters. Here's wherever national candidates basal connected the issue:

On lodging affordability

One of the large issues successful Waterloo is lodging and the deficiency of affordable housing.

When asked what the national authorities needs to bash to marque owning oregon renting a location successful Waterloo much affordable, Chagger spoke astir the National Housing Plan which was introduced by the Liberals during the run for the 2015 national election.

"It was the archetypal clip successful a truly agelong clip that the national authorities re-entered the lodging space, which we admit was truly important," she said, pointing to the affordable lodging money and assorted backing Waterloo portion has received from the national government over the years to physique and repair homes successful her riding.

Chow says she's noticed archetypal manus the steep summation successful outgo for radical looking to unrecorded successful Waterloo.

"Just past twelvemonth I had to determination successful with a mates roommates due to the fact that I conscionable couldn't spend to wage my rent anymore," she said, adding that affordable lodging is simply a quality right.

"I was really the unfortunate of an eviction a mates times implicit my renting career... And the NDP volition not halt abbreviated of thing that tin beryllium done truthful that each Canadian tin person a home. This means addressing the occupation astatine the root by gathering much homes, but besides by combating firm greed... [putting] a prohibition connected rent terms fixing and landlord collusion."

Guthrie said helium wants to commencement uncovering a solution by archetypal "properly defining what affordable means based connected people's income alternatively than what the marketplace tin sustain," adding that immoderate efforts toward creating affordable lodging should beryllium based connected that definition.

"We're surrounded by cooperative housing, whether it's Bread & Roses oregon immoderate of the others, whether it's national cooperative that's progressive successful the portion now, uncovering immoderate truly originative ways to found and support to support affordable housing. We volition enactment that done national dollars."

On combating misinformation

Throughout the campaign, Elections Canada has warned voters whitethorn beryllium targeted by organizations looking to dispersed misinformation astir the government, enactment leaders and candidates.

When asked what the relation of a section MP is to combat misinformation, Guthrie said it starts with educating and preparing youth who volition soon beryllium of voting age.

"We enactment lowering the voting property to 16, arsenic I cognize immoderate of the different parties do, and I deliberation that's truly important to prosecute voters earlier they decorativeness precocious school... portion they're inactive surviving successful the communities that they grew up in, portion they inactive consciousness that connection," helium said.

"A well-informed electorate is simply a prerequisite for a steadfast democracy. That's the wide attack that we request to take."

Chagger says she has already been trying to amended the younker during her clip arsenic an elected MP.

"I person ne'er turned down an invitation to a civics class. I person ne'er turned down an invitation to a statement oregon a conversation," she said.

"I've really gone 1 measurement further... to get retired into the community, to scope retired to organizations... [for] their perspectives and views. Because I deliberation successful Canada, diverseness is our top strength."

Chow said she's seen a batch of misinformation during her clip arsenic a subject communicator.

"We spot the effects down successful the States close now, and adjacent Canada is not immune," she said.

"Support for nationalist broadcasting and section quality is going to beryllium an indispensable constituent of warring misinformation. I besides deliberation there's a immense constituent of tackling these large tech giants who person fundamentally monopolized our nationalist spaces successful the signifier of societal media."

On assemblage funding

Waterloo is location to 2 universities. Officials astatine Canadian universities person expressed concerns astir their budgets, peculiarly successful airy of a headdress connected planetary students.

When asked what the relation of the national authorities is successful ensuring Canadian universities similar Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier are decently funded, Chow said students are a truly important portion of what makes the riding of Waterloo great.

"I think erstwhile it comes to supporting students and supporting their world endeavours, we person to marque definite that we combat to marque everyone's lives much affordable truthful they tin spend to spell to assemblage oregon college," she said, adding that students request enactment with rent, groceries and tuition.

"I deliberation it's besides important to speech astir the currency drawback that a batch of station secondary institutions crossed Ontario person been trying to woody with successful planetary students and present blaming the lodging situation and things similar that connected them, which I deliberation is wholly unacceptable."

Guthrie says the Green Party plans to assistance by providing assemblage students crossed the state with escaped tuition and a guaranteed livable income.

"These policies each taken unneurotic volition beryllium transformative for universities the aforesaid mode that universities person been transformative for me," helium said, adding that helium was a pupil astatine the University of Waterloo successful 1993.

Chagger said station secondary institutions are indispensable and her enactment has been moving to marque definite each students, including planetary students, person a bully acquisition experience.

"One of the things that I'm astir arrogant of is removing involvement from Canada pupil loans," she said.

"When I graduated from the University of Waterloo successful 2004, I had six months of outgo relief, but involvement started to accumulate the time aft I graduated. And truthful that was precise unfortunate. So that's a idiosyncratic task that I took on."

She said the Liberal Party has besides helped summation the fig of doctoral scholarships and postdoctoral fellowships, adding it was "the archetypal summation successful implicit 2 decades".