Editor's Note: OrilliaMatters will profile the Simcoe North candidates seeking your vote in the June 2 provincial election. Today, we feature NDP candidate Elizabeth Van Houtte.
After finishing second in the 2018 provincial election — with more than double the votes she received in her first bid for office in 2015 — Ontario NDP candidate Elizabeth Van Houtte is back for a third campaign in Simcoe North.
She is campaigning this time around on a platform that features universal mental health care, pharmacare, and plans to make Ontario more affordable for its citizens, among other items.
Van Houtte, who has a PhD, is a 38-year social work veteran, who says she is sensitive to the mental health and affordability issues she has heard residents speak about.
While completing her doctorate in the U.S., Van Houtte worked in underserved, impoverished communities providing mental health support. She said that some of the neighbourhoods she worked in got her thinking about the real world effects of bad policy.
“I didn't think I was in North America when I worked on the streets with people with mental illness, living in violence and poverty,” she told OrilliaMatters. “I became very interested in how policy affects the work that I do and the impact it has on everyday people … I saw what the lack of policy does to people who are living on the edge.”
Van Houtte grew up on a farm in Norfolk County, the daughter of a first-generation immigrant to Canada. While she said her family was rather poor growing up, “poverty included housing and food” back then.
These days, Van Houtte said, she has spoken to a number of people facing crises related to housing and affordability.
“I met a lady (recently) in Midland; I would say probably in her 70s. She said she was retired, a little bit crippled,” Van Houtte said. “She came to the door, and this is what I ask everyone, ‘What's most important to you right now?’ And she said, “Being able to pay my rent. I had to go get a job. I'm retired. I have to go get a job to live here.'”
As a social worker, Van Houtte said she also received numerous calls throughout the pandemic from people experiencing mental health issues.
“I got calls every day during the pandemic, (from people who were) suicidal and can't see anyone,” she said. “I'm a private practitioner, so I would do some pro bono cases to get people to a place where they were a bit calm.”
The issues Van Houtte has encountered in her professional life are what makes her particularly excited and proud of the Ontario NDP platform.
“I couldn't be more proud of this platform,” she said, referring to the NDP’s plans to offer universal pharmacare and mental health care, and plans to support workers and affordability for people in Ontario through a variety of methods.
“NDP is deeply rooted, historically, in being for the people,” she said. “I'm running with a party that clearly mirrors that. For me, if we don't have a healthy and educated society, we don't have a healthy and vibrant economy.”
She said there are a number of ways the NDP will tackle affordability issues in the province.
“The Ontario Energy Board, under the direction of a government, can go in and cap prices, and that has not happened,” she said. “We can't control the price of food … but what we can do is a $20 minimum wage, and a really solid housing plan.”
Van Houtte said that the housing situation is a “runaway train” because “there's been no regulation on corporate and foreign investment.”
“We've seen that 30 per cent of the housing that's been bought up in the province of Ontario is done by speculators,” she said.
“The other thing is we have a plan to build a significant amount of affordable housing, and we are committed to not tearing things down,” she said. “There's a lot of places in town here where we could have affordable housing, and those who are renting or can't afford rent, there will be monthly amounts available depending on income. The other piece is to keep people at home as long as they can, so that the healthcare system isn't taxed in long-term care.”
Van Houtte pointed to the NDP’s reputation to “spend, spend, spend,” but assured that tax rates for average Ontarians would not go up.
“How are we paying for it? We're going to tax the most wealthy in this province,” she said. “We're capping a no tax increase for anyone (making) under $200,000. The middle and lower working families will not see a tax increase, but will see the benefit of social programs. Anyone over $200,000 … we are proposing to tax them another 1.7 per cent, which will bring in billions of dollars.
“Are we running at a deficit? Absolutely. The (current) government's running at a deficit, but our health care has been shaved, our education has been shaved, and (with) long-term care seniors not being able to live at home, all of these things matter.”
The provincial election will be held June 2. Advance polls are now open.
