NDP Northern Platform released

Several goodies are included in the NDP’s northern platform, including bringing back the Northlander passenger train service.

Timiskaming-Cochrane’s John Vanthof says after talking to the ONTC they’ve committed to $100-million over four years to bring the train back.

“It’s going to take a while to get the train, this isn’t going to happen the day after the election, it’s going to take a while to get the equipment, that’s why we’re staging it. But, it’s $25-million a year for four years,” he says.

The party says their northern plan includes better access to health care services, more good jobs especially for young people, safer roads, lower hydro bills and keeping northern schools open.

Nipissing candidate Henri Giroux says gas prices are big issue too.

“We know in northern Ontario most of the time we have to use our vehicle to get to work. It’s not like Toronto where you can just hop on a GO Train and go. It’s very, very frustrating for people and they really want to see the price regulated,” he says.

Here are the specific promises:
– Protect and invest in Northern health care, so people can get the care they need close to home – including $19 billion in new health care facilities, repairs and upgrades
– Make travel safer by improving winter road maintenance, and making it public again — and bringing back the Northlander passenger service
– Create good jobs across the resource development sector – the kind of jobs young people can raise a family on. That includes lighting the Ring of Fire with a $1 billion investment
– Make life more affordable by ending price gouging at the pumps, and lowering hydro costs by about 30 per cent – including ending higher rural and northern delivery costs
– Keep Northern and rural schools open – giving Northern youth more opportunity, not less
– Establish a true government-to-government relationship with First Nations based on the principles of Reconciliation

(Files and photo courtesy BayToday.ca)