Jarvis: From vaccination to electric vehicles, voting choice is clear

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Whatever you think about this election — Canada didn’t need it, we’re in the middle of a pandemic — the campaign showed clear choices on vital issues here and across the country.

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Whatever you think about Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, scarred after six years in government, the Liberals remain the best choice on the most important issues, from the pandemic to climate change to the economy.

“Before we can get to rebuilding the economy, we have to end this pandemic,” Trudeau said Friday in Windsor. “The only way to do that is through leadership in vaccination,” he said, reiterating “unequivocal” support for vaccine mandates for federal employees, domestic travellers on planes and trains, which are federally regulated, and provincial vaccine mandates.

Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole says vaccination is a personal decision. It’s not. Infectious disease is about public health. Vaccination protects you and your community, including those who can’t be vaccinated, by stopping the spread.

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O’Toole proposes rapid testing, instead. That’s not a substitute. Vaccination prevents infection. Testing detects it.

He doesn’t even require his candidates to be vaccinated. How will he end the pandemic?

Climate change is the overarching issue. The Liberals will cut carbon emissions by 40 per cent by 2030. To do that, they’ll raise carbon prices to $170 a tonne. All new vehicles sold in Canada must be emission-free by 2035. Coal-fired power will be phased out by 2030.

The Liberals have already passed these measures in government. They can achieve the 40-per cent reduction without undue harm. It’s the best plan of any party, energy economist Mark Jacaard concluded in the magazine Policy Options.

The Conservatives would cut emissions by 30 per cent and raise carbon prices to $50 a tonne. That’s not enough, and Jacaard wrote that he’s “concerned that the Conservatives will not keep their promise.” Party members voted against recognizing climate change.

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This is also about the economy. Industrial economies are shifting to clean energy. A core plank for the Liberals is “truly massive” investment in that transition, deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland said in Windsor recently.

Including making electric vehicles and batteries in Windsor.

Stellantis is investing $1.5 billion in the Windsor Assembly Plant to build electric vehicles, adding 2,000 jobs. Governments are expected to help. The global automaker will spend $44.5 billion by 2025 to accelerate electrification. Who will get that investment?

The Liberals have an $8-billion fund for green energy, including electric vehicles. The government already committed $295 million to help Ford retool its Oakville plant for electric vehicles.

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Then there’s child care. Businesses employing more women were hit hardest by the pandemic. When schools and child-care centres closed, more women left their jobs to care for children.

Now, many businesses face a labour shortage and continuing skilled trades shortage. The economy can’t fully recover or grow unless women have opportunity.

The Liberals will spend $30 billion to provide quality child care for $10 a day. They’ve already signed agreements with seven provinces.

Women can return to school to improve their skills or return to the workplace.

It also offers children, especially from low-income families, a better start.

Quebec’s program has increased the number of women in the labour force and reduced poverty.

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Windsor has a low post-secondary education rate, skilled labour shortage and high child poverty. This could be transformative here.

The Conservatives, by contrast, would spend $2.6 billion on a refundable tax credit of up to 75 per cent of child-care costs.

The critical vote here will be in Windsor-Tecumseh.

“It’s a jump ball,” Liberal incumbent Irek Kusmierczyk admitted Thursday. He edged previous NDP incumbent Cheryl Hardcastle by 629 votes in 2019. Hardcastle is gunning for that seat again.

Kusmierczyk, a political refugee from Poland who earned a PhD, was a rookie MP and already parliamentary secretary to the employment minister. He brought $450 million to this region for everything from flooding control to housing and transit.

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He literally gave the riding a voice in government, organizing 104 meetings between cabinet ministers and local leaders and residents. He was more visible in 23 months than Hardcastle was in four years.

He understands the opportunities for this region.

“Getting electric vehicle manufacturing here sets us up for the next 50 years because that’s the future,” he says.

And he hustles.

As Windsor competes for electric vehicle production, “who’s the person you want fighting for that?” Windsor’s Inside Pulse co-host Daniel Ableser asked. “Do you want (Irek Kusmiercyk) or an MP who was invisible the entire four-year term? That’s our economy.

“We would be risking a lot getting rid of Irek,” he said.

He’s the best chance for Windsor to have a government member. Even if the Liberals lose, he’ll still be the most effective representative, and the next time they’re elected, he’ll be cabinet material. Even if the NDP wins, Hardcastle will be on the back bench.

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Windsor West NDP incumbent Brian Masse bagged two wins this term — single-sports betting and Ojibway National Urban Park. But it took years, and it was a government member (Kusmierczyk) who got them over the finish line.

Liberal candidate Sandra Pupatello was a senior Ontario cabinet minister who, along with former Windsor-Tecumseh MPP Dwight Duncan, delivered a medical school, the Herb Gray Parkway and a long list of things. She’d be cabinet material, too. And we wouldn’t have to wait so long for stuff.

Essex Liberal candidate Audrey Festeryga put herself through school, became a lawyer and is a breast cancer survivor. But the Liberals don’t have a strong base there.

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Conservative incumbent Chris Lewis toppled NDP incumbent Tracey Ramsey in 2019. But Ramsey was the standout rookie. She knew the issues, was articulate and a fighter. Both business and labour liked her. After losing, she remained a major voice for migrant farm workers during the pandemic.

Meanwhile, Lewis has been almost invisible. And he skipped the main election debate, saying people could read his platform online. He’s been on the wrong side of important issues, too. He sponsored an inflammatory anti-vaccination petition and voted against banning harmful conversion therapy.

If the Conservatives win, he’ll be on the back bench. If there’s a minority government, and the NDP are kingmakers, Ramsey will have influence.

ajarvis@postmedia.com