With the end of the NDP's confidence and supply agreement with the Liberal government, candidates are positioning themselves in Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill to run in an, as of yet uncalled, election.
AuroraToday reached out to the three major parties to talk with their respective local candidates. Ahead of the election, AuroraToday spoke with both Liberal MP Leah Taylor Roy and Conservative candidate Costas Menegakis about why they are running, and what they see as the key issues for the riding ahead of the election. To date, AuroraToday has not received a response from the federal NDP.
Today, we feature Taylor Roy, and tomorrow Conservative Menegakis.
Liberal MPP Leah Taylor Roy talked about addressing affordability with programs like childcare, as well as her party’s plans for tackling climate change and the health-care system.
Taylor Roy also expressed concerns about what a Pierre Poilievre win could mean for Canada, and backed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to lead the Liberal Party into the next election.
Who is Leah Taylor Roy?
Leah Taylor Roy became MP for Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill in 2021, after defeating Conservative incumbent Leona Alleslev, in a rematch of the election from 2019. Taylor Roy lost to Alleslev in 2019.
Prior to becoming an MP, Taylor Roy studied at Harvard and worked as a consultant for McKinsey and Company.
Affordability
Taylor Roy said affordability is a big challenge, and pointed to programs like the national dental care plan and $10 a day childcare as “great affordability measures.”
“We know young families are often the ones who are having a hard time. Raising kids is expensive,” said Taylor Roy. “I knew people who were paying $1,800 a month for child care, and now it's going to be $300 a month, it's huge.”
Taylor Roy also touted the government’s housing plan, calling it “the most ambitious housing plan of any government ever," saying the Liberal government has plans to build missing middle housing and purpose-built rental housing.
Taylor Roy also emphasized the importance of developer cost charges in helping municipalities create affordable housing, as well as opposing building on the Greenbelt.
Environment
Taylor Roy defended the Liberal Party’s carbon pricing program that has come under fire, with Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre making “axe the tax” one of his central messages.
“It would be completely irresponsible of us as a government and as a country to say, it cost me $200 a year, so we don't want to do this,” she said. “You know what, if you're wealthy enough to be burning all those fossil fuels, you're wealthy enough to be paying an extra $200 in fuel charges over what you get back.”
“This program will be responsible for one third of our emissions reductions,” Taylor Roy added. “It's one of the only ways that we can fight climate change, and make sure people who can't afford to pay for it, don't pay for it.”
Health care
Taylor Roy also talked about the importance of supporting the health-care system, saying she believes it “is one of the fundamental pillars of our country.”
“We see our public health-care system really being attacked by a lot of the provincial governments by a lot of people who think we should have private health care."
She also flagged concerns about access to abortions, pointing to provinces like New Brunswick that has restricted publicly funded clinics.
The Opposition
Taylor Roy spoke in the House of Commons, criticizing the local Conservative party riding association for disqualifying Aurora Councillor Rachel Gilliland from the nomination process, while another candidate, Sabrina Maddeaux, suspended her campaign for the nomination on May 9 because she said the process had been “corrupted.”
“Women — our equality, our opportunity to really participate in the economy and in the political system and leadership at any level, has only you know, grown over the last while, but we're still not there,” she said.
“To a large extent in some of these ridings, and some of the parties, are an Old Boys Club, and Costas Menegakis is part of that, from way back when.”
Taylor Roy also cautioned voting for a Conservative could put Pierre Poilievre in the prime minister's seat, which would be a “disaster for Canada.”
“I never say that Pierre Poilievre yet is Trump, he's not. He's different,” she said. “However, we are seeing through the Conservative Party, what I call the Americanization of Canada. The kind of backlash, the right-wing movement that we see in the United States, we're starting to see some of it here.”
Taylor Roy said she backed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to be the leader of the Liberal Party into the next election.
“I like to say Trump got me to run the first time. I was in the States when he got elected, and I saw what happened, came up here and ran. But Pierre Poilievre is keeping me running, I really believe that he will set Canada back. And we will no longer be a leader in the world, we will become a bit of a laughing stock.”
