Healthcare woes, well-being and changing the future: voters' views ahead of Ontario election

The provincial election is less than a month away, and it's expected the writ will drop any day now. 

As we head into the provincial campaign, Doug Ford's Progressive Conservatives are starting with a sizeable lead in voting intentions and are heavily favoured to win the most seats, according to the Ontario 2022 Poll Tracker. The Liberals under Steven Del Duca are running second in the polls ahead of Andrea Horwath's New Democrats.

To get a better sense of how the public is feeling, CBC Kitchener-Waterloo visited the St. Jacobs Farmers' Market last Thursday to ask voters about their top concerns. 

Decision can change 'how your future will look'

Waterloo high school students Lily Burrowes, 18, Nicole Bald, 17, and Alex Kourvetaris, 18, all said they haven't been paying close attention to the election just yet.

"I mean, I just turned 18, so I haven't really been thinking about it," Burrowes said.

Kourvetaris says he will talk to his parents about what's happening.

"But most of the time I'm not really focused on politics because I've got calculus and that's, like, already enough trouble," he said.

Bald, who won't turn 18 in time to vote in the provincial election, says her top issue is education and finding a way to pay for it. She also wants to take a year off to travel between high school and post-secondary.

"Budgeting is kind of difficult," she said.

Burrowes and Kourvetaris both said they don't know yet who they'll vote for in the election.

"I kind of have an idea-ish, but not really," Burrowes said.

Kourvetaris said he knows "every vote matters" and it's important to vote because it "can actually have an impact … changing how your future will look."

He said he's also very aware videos or posts on social media sites, like TikTok and YouTube, may not always be accurate.

"Perspectives are very skewed," he said. "I think it's really important to look at both sides and really make your opinion rather than just following a certain source."

Bald agreed that while she gets a lot of local information from TikTok, "I don't trust it 100 per cent."

But if I'm interested in it, then I'll just look it up online to see if it was accurate or not," she said.

Pandemic shone light on health-care woes

Debra Cowal of Elmira says she feels like environmental issues have been placed on the back burner during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it needs to be considered by voters in this election.

But she says mental health and health care are also top priorities for her.

"You're seeing a lot of people with [mental health] that are struggling. Health care, because I worked in health care for 28 years," she said.

The pandemic "has brought a lot of things to light, too that was always kind of pushed into dark corners and now it's coming out and people are actually seeing what's happening" in the health care systems.

She says she's planning to vote for a party she's never voted for before provincially because "I would like to see more changes."

Importance of well-being

John Green of Waterloo says he's concerned about "how we do politics."

"Some parties choose their policy platform based on ideology, some based on what they think will get them elected and the people kind of get left behind," he said.

He noted there's a movement that calls for health to be considered in all policies. He added there's also the Canadian Index of Wellbeing, is an ongoing research project, at the University of Waterloo.

Health is part of well-being, he said, but political engagement, education, environment, leisure, quality of life are all part of it, too.

"I would really love to see political parties making well-being of people their main priority. Using evidence to determine what well-being looks like on the ground and for individuals and society," he said.

Instead, he says many politicians - and the media - focus on the economy.

"It's as if people exist to serve the economy, not the other way around," he said.

"All the media and politicians do is talk about GDP, whether it's going up or down," he added. "They talk about that as if that's the only measure we need to look at when it has nothing to do - very little to do - with how well people are doing."

He said he hasn't made up his mind in this election yet.

"If one party would come out and start … even using the word well-being in any kind of sincere way, that would sway me," he said.

We want to hear what's important to you in the time leading up to the Ontario provincial election on June 2.

Please fill out the form below to share your thoughts about your top issues.

If you're willing to be contacted by a reporter, or be on a voter panel on CBC K-W's The Morning Edition, please leave your contact information as well.