Four years ago, when I first ran for MPP, I had no experience in a provincial office. During a campaign you see a lot of platforms and promises. But I wanted to keep it straightforward and simple so I boiled it all down to two things that I promised to…
This is my second election and there are some big differences from my first one in 2018. I’m amazed how many people are aware of the campaign. I remember the last time that a lot of people didn’t know there was an election. This time, almost everyone at the door…
I know that the rising cost of living is a big issue for people. I hear it on the doorsteps and in conversations with voters. As a father of five and the owner of a small business, I appreciate the concern people have about inflation. Part of it is the…
One of the great things about the job of MPP is that sometimes you can solve a problem just by getting the right people together. One example is a little change we made in Brant Transit to help some people get to work. I was visiting a company in Cainsville,…
My family moved to Canada from the Netherlands when I was child. Growing up in an immigrant household, we were raised with a very strong sense of thankfulness to the Canadians who liberated Holland. Part of what we learned about the Second World War was about the Dutch families…
People have every right to expect that their tax dollars are spent wisely and efficiently. So I was pleased to be the co-chair of a committee – the Agency Review Task force — that was established to do a review of about 190 provincial agencies, boards and commissions, or ABCs…
I’m a volunteer firefighter with the County of Brant. Quite a few times I’ve responded to an accident on Highway 24 or some other roads in the area. As you approach a vehicle, you have no idea where the critical safety parts of the vehicle are. Where’s the battery? Where…
When I was on Brant County Council, I was the chair of the John Noble Home board for two years. It was a good introduction to the state of long-term care in this province. I learned it needed a lot of work. The waitlist for long-term care beds was stupendously…
It’s a simple fact of life that every political career comes to an end at some point. I was honoured four years ago that the people of Brantford-Brant put their confidence in me. I think if I manage to win re-election it’ll be even more humbling because it’ll show that…
We’ve known for decades that we need major improvements to our local hospitals, Brantford General and the Willett, to care for our current needs and to take care of our future needs as we continue to grow. This week, we took a huge step when the Ontario government announced it’s…
Soon after I was elected in 2018, I had the opportunity to present a private members bill to the legislature. My bill called for the creation of a Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Awareness Day. I drew on my experiences as a volunteer firefighter, and those of my colleagues, to…
I’ve been lucky that I’ve been able to see my two daughters while working at Queen’s Park. My youngest Ella was a page during the last few months of 2021. Ever since I was elected in 2018 it became her goal to join the page program. When the program re-opened…
I remember talking to someone who had immigrated to Canada and become a trades teacher. He told me that we have been depending on immigrant trades people for generations. But now, a lot of immigrants are white collar workers. It’s a change we need to address. We have to break…
Not all important government decisions make the front page. Some decisions may only affect a limited number of people but for those people, the change can be life altering. That’s what happened with the practice of “birth alerts.” A birth alert was a notice sent by a children’s aid…
One of the files I’ve been working on since I was elected is our transportation links to nearby communities. Our former MPP, Dave Levac, worked to get GO service to Brantford and was ultimately successful in getting bus service linking Brantford-Brant to the train line at Aldershot. But we…