Seven major funding announcements for Simcoe-Grey made the day before the writ dropped for the provincial election might have been all in a day's work, or a 'gimmick' to get voters on-side, depending on who you ask.
News of the cash came from then MPP Brian Saunderson, on Jan. 28. On Jan. 29, his MPP title dropped as the provincial election was announced and he is now the Progressive Conservative candidate for Simcoe-Grey, running against Ted Crysler for the Liberals, Allan Kuhn for the Green Party and Benten Tinkler for the NDP in the race to the Simcoe-Grey seat.
Saunderson maintains the flurry of provincial announcements on Jan. 28 was the result of tying loose ends, not campaigning, but one of his opponents called the announcements of local funding, the $200 tax rebate, and mixed drinks in convenience stores "gimmicky."
“The call of the election had an impact on the timing of the announcements, because the window was closing,” explained Saunderson in a phone interview. “Until those announcements had been made, they were not in the books.”
The Green and Liberal candidate challenged the timing of the announcements.
“It’s gimmicky. They had to get it done, right?” said Kuhn. “I think maybe they were using it as a bit of an advantage,” said Kuhn.
Crysler, the Liberal candidate, called the series of announcements “astonishing.”
“It certainly looks like a means to curry favour with voters in Conservative ridings, including ours,” said Crysler. “It is this type of behaviour that makes citizens cynical about politics and politicians.”
“I believe an MPP should work for and support their riding every day during their term of office, not just the day or two before an election is called,” he added.
Saunderson suggested the important thing was that the money was allocated before the government broke for the election.
“If we had announced three weeks in advance and then called the election, would it really have changed anything? The important thing in my mind is... they’re done. They’re moving forward. There was no plan to delay any announcement to time it,” he said.
The seven announcements made for Simcoe-Grey on Jan. 28 include:
- Town of the Blue Mountains infrastructure funding - $1.3 million
- OPP Mobile Crisis Response Team (MCRT) funding - $241,677.90 split evenly between Collingwood/Blue Mountains OPP and Huronia West OPP
- Town of Wasaga Beach infrastructure funding - $10.9 million
- A public high school for Wasaga Beach - $59.3 million
- Clearview Township infrastructure funding - $35 million
- County of Simcoe funding for more emergency shelter spaces - $3 million
- An addition to Monsignor J.E. Ronan Catholic School in Beeton - $3.9 million
Saunderson said leading into Jan. 29, plans changed day-to-day within the provincial government, also due to impending tariff threats from the U.S. He said any commitments made by provincial ministries are binding regardless of the outcome of the provincial election.
“If a new government wanted to un-do them, there is a whole process to revoke. They are on-the-books, capital commitments. They are not campaign promises in any way,” explained Saunderson.
The Simcoe County District School Board did not respond to questions regarding the status of capital priorities when an election is called, noting questions should be posed to the MPP – who had already given up his seat.
Collingwood/Blue Mountains OPP also declined to comment for this story regarding the MCRT funding until after the election.
However, the Collingwood General and Marine Hospital – who collaborate with the Collingwood/Blue Mountain OPP on the program – said this week that the MCRT funding will ensure the area’s mental health response unit will continue to operate six days a week after also being given a funding boost two years ago.