Simon Beckett is running for office for the first time, representing the Green Party of Ontario in the Ottawa Centre riding.
Owner of property management company Pivot Turn Property Management, Beckett studied aviation management at Algonquin College and spent a decade as a dancer, choreographer and dance teacher.
While it’s not a political background, Beckett said that’s what makes it valuable.
“We’ve had the lawyers, we’ve had the lifelong politicians, and what have they done? They’ve gotten us into this mess,” he said. “I want regular people with regular, everyday lived experiences.”
The Charlatan sat down with Beckett, a self-acclaimed “policy junkie,” to discuss his proposals on the issues of affordable housing, health care, climate change and the economy.
Affordable housing
The issue of affordable housing is an “all hands on deck” situation, Beckett said.
If elected, Beckett said he would work to build 60,000 supportive housing spaces that include mental health and financial support.
To make housing development cheaper and quicker, Beckett said he would work to remove development charges that municipalities collect from developers to pay for new infrastructure. He also proposed a “right to build,” which would allow landowners to build up to four units on a single property without needing to change its zoning.
Beckett said addressing housing issues will require the collaboration of private developers and government.
“The government alone is not going to be able to solve this — there’s no way.”
Health care
Beckett said he wants to invest in mental health services, place mental health coverage under the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) and build mental health crisis centres.
Beckett said he would also work to increase the capacity of the health-care system by recruiting 3,500 more doctors and allowing registered nurses to treat and prescribe for smaller ailments they’re trained to do but currently can’t under OHIP.
He said he would also look to speed up the certification process of international medical professionals in Canada.
“Maybe they’re not starting as a doctor right away, but we can get them into the system working in other positions [where] they can start utilizing their skills until they’re fully accredited to work.”
Climate change
Beckett said he plans to address climate change by funding public transit and creating more resilient energy grids.
With the aim of reducing pressure on any single power plant, Beckett said he would improve energy resilience through smaller modular grids, which allow individual properties to install solar or wind renewable energy connected to the larger energy system.
“We need to fund municipalities to make climate-resistant infrastructure because we are going to have more intense storms,” he said. “It’s going to cost money to clean [up after] these storms.”
Beckett said addressing environmental issues is one of his major promises given its connection to other policies.
“If we are not addressing the climate crisis, we’re not addressing affordability.”
Economic issues
Beckett said improving trade options within the province and recognizing the harm of Canada’s economic reliance on the United States are critical.
“We need to reduce and eliminate barriers between interprovincial trade,” Beckett said.
To improve the province’s economic structure, Beckett pointed to the Green Party of Ontario’s proposed a business investment incentive, which would provide businesses with loans, taxes, or grants for investing within Ontario.
“If we’re investing in those businesses, they’re going to invest back in Ontario,” Beckett said. “That’s going to help them grow, which is going to help, in turn, grow our economy.”
For more information on Beckett’s platform, visit his campaign page.
Featured image provided by Simon Beckett.
