I have to do something
Okay, I have expressed my opinions several times, and complained several times. And, well I am frustrated. Frustrated with the current situation within government at all levels Federal, Provincial and Municipal.
I would like to make my own political run, and I think I am actually being serious. If Doug Ford can be an MPP then the bar is pretty low.
Here would be my political points
Housing. We need to get housing under control. I would create and attempt to pass a bill into legislation that would:
Limit foreign buyers to commercial land ownership only. Any residential dwellings would be off limits unless it is a personal residence. The residence would not be allowed to use as a temporary rental or permanent rental. It is for the commercial land owner only, and they must own commercial land to be able to have 1 residential dwelling.
Limit large corporations from having a monopoly on multi unit dwellings. Single family homes would no longer be allowed to be owned by large corporations, investment firms or hedge fund holdings. Limit the corporations who do own and lease properties to amounts they may charge for rentals and leases. This would be based on size, location, condition and upkeep. If it is a dump they would only be able to charge dump prices, unless of course they fixed it up and maintained it then they could apply to charge more rent, however, they would need to meet strict criteria to do so.
Set up a provincial mortgage guarantee program much like a student loan program. Anyone that wants to get a mortgage would qualify, they would be given a 25 year mortgage and the amount would be based on what they could financially afford to pay off in 25 years. There would be 5 year refinancing options for maintenance and upgrades. If the mortgagee did not pay they would be treated as such the property would be foreclosed on and the home would be sold to someone else within the program. Everyone would qualify, even those on fixed incomes.
Provide companies grants and options to build homes, based on need and within a budget. Not luxury mansions, the people that can afford those can go through traditional lending.
Provide funding to commercial entities that want to process lumber and building materials here in Canada without any outsourcing. All wood, metal and minerals required would be sourced in Canada only. They would also be given tax incentives to hire Canadian entry level workers to train them.
Provide tax incentives to builders who use the commercial entities to procure their building materials. Along with tax incentives to hire and train apprentices for trades in plumbing, HVAC, and construction.
Provide tax incentives to commercial rental holdings to build or aquire rental units for students and low income households. Requiring them to have housing options that do not include sharing small units with multiple roomates. Repair and maintain those units.
Homelessness
The biggest and most visible issue with homelessness is drug addiction and mental illness. I know that not all homeless people are drug addicts and mental ill people but a majority are. So,
Provide funding to hospitals to open exsisting mental health beds that have been closed due to a lack of funding. For every bed the hospital opens for that purpose there would be additional funding.
Begin large scale construction of long term care facilities for those that are deemed unable to reintergrate back into society. Built on a care home model, with addiction and recovery services available to all patients and clients. Build based on a legitimate count of all that would need a long term care bed and keep building until there were enough ltc beds for them. Additionally add independent living suites on site for those that need supervision but do not require constant care.
Those that are homeless simply because they were priced out of the rental market or had employment issues would be either be set up with the mortgage program and linked to a property company that is getting tax incentives for providing housing without 3 credit checks and reference letters for your 3rd grade math teacher.
Employment
Employer match up system. John is an apprentice plumber. ABC terlits needs a plumber, so they post on Employer Match up. John is registered and it matches him up with ABC. They meet online via microsoft teams, and John seems like a good fit. The only issue is, John lives in Hamilton and ABC terlits is in Sudbury. The employer would be given a grant to relocate John to Hamilton and train him for a minimum of 1 year. If they successfully complete that goal then they do not have to repay the grant, if they do not they will not be able to get another grant until the previous grant has been repaid in full. The employer fulfils a role at next to no cost to them and the employee has a job being trained in a trade.
International stutudents would not be able to work at all until the student unemployment rate was at less than 5%. At 5% they would be able to work 10 hours per week. Employers would be required to show they could not get anyone else to work that position in order to hire an international student.
PGWP would be a conditional work permit in that it is for training in a field they studied while in Canada. PGWP would not be allowed at entry level jobs such as retail, fast food, or beverage outlets.
Any deviation from the work permit program would be an automatic revoke of the permit and the person would be asked to provide a plan to leave Canada within 90 days. If they do not provide the plan to leave Canada within 10 days they will be deported. Upon approval of said plan they will have to provide proof of activity on that action plan otherwise they will be detained and summarily deported. If a person is deported and they own assets in Canada, those assests would be sold and any funds collected would first be used to repay the Canadian government for any and all fees associated with the deportation and the remaining funds would be sent to the deportee.
Companies who come to Canada and create more than 10 jobs for Canadians will be given tax relief. The tax relief will increase based on the amount of employees they have. Any outsourcing would be heavily taxed. LMIA, TFW, IMP workers would be heavily taxed as well. As these permits and compliance cost money and therefore the company must compensate the government for those services. LMIA applications will only be accepted if the employer has used the Employer Match up service for at least 1 year, has hired 1 person and that was unsuccessful. IMP would strictly be a short term set up period of 3 to 6 months to train Canadian citizens.
Infastructure
Hospitals would be given funding based on a Quality Assurance system. If your hospital is horrible, high death tolls, waiting times more than 4 hours you would get the lowest amount of funding. If your hospital is doing well and you have happy patients then you get the highest amount of funding. Hospital admin staffing, CEO's and the like would be pay capped at 15% below the lowest paid front line worker. Front line workers would be Nurses, PSW, Doctors, Technicians and Maintenance staff. The administrative caps would be based on the QA score as well. If you are not doing a good job and your hospital is failing its patients then you should not get a huge pay bonus etc..... improve and you will make more money.
Create a medical program that is inclusive to ALL. Premed would be at a cost to the student, but once the student began medical studies this would be free. This includes degrees in nursing as well. The doctors would be required to work for an assigned hospital based on years of education. They would pick from a list of available postings and contract to be there for the time they were educated. There would be no limit on how many could enroll, if you want to enroll and you have the premed education then welcome, no matter your color, race, creed, or origin. These schools would be facilitated at all government funded hospitals. They would learn there, have classrooms and exams there and be fully intergrated into the hospital team.
Place walk in clinics within the hospital. Patients requiring emergency medical care would be seen asap. Anyone triaged that do not require emergency care would be sent to the walk in clinic. The walk in clinic could be staffed by the very students from the medical programs.
Create a community run Quality Assurance and Complaince board for each hospital, police and fire service in that community. This would be a volunteer board that would provide peers from all branches of the community to review and make recommendations to the service that they are reviewing.
This is not a perfect plan and it is only a start.
To be honest I am very seriously thinking about a go fund me something something to get the funds together to run. We cant just keep complaining we need to do something.