Hundreds of people attended The Waterloo Forum moderated debate in the Science Teaching Complex between Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith and Conservative MP Matt Strauss on Wednesday evening, March 18.

Hosted by the University of Waterloo Young Liberals, Waterloo Conservative Club, and the Political Science Student Association, the event focused on a broad range of topics, including affordable housing, healthcare, young people in politics, immigration policies, floor crossing, and the medical assistance in dying (MAID) program. 

Erskine-Smith represents the riding of Beaches-East York, while Strauss represents Kitchener South-Hespeler. Each MP had a set amount of time to answer each question, and the speaking order was randomized, decided by a virtual coin flip. The debate was formatted into four sections: open ended questions, policy modelling questions (both allowed time for rebuttals), adversarial questions drafted by Liberal and Conservative clubs addressed to the opposing MP, and an audience question-and-answer period.

Young people getting involved in politics

While discussing younger people getting involved in politics, Strauss said it was his hope that they would not feel that they have to run for elected office, and that there are many ways for young people to get involved, such as activism. “I feel like a lot of the times, the solutions are simple… It is government regulation and heavy handedness and red tape that is preventing homebuilders from [building homes.] Builders want to build, and it’s politicians who stop them.” 

Erskine-Smith noted that there are costs to politics, such as being away from family and loved ones. He added that it’s important that people, no matter their profession, should stay engaged in politics. “Name your problem that directly affects you, or a problem that affects a loved one, and I guarantee it all tracks back to politics,” he said. “If you want better, you should participate.”

Affordable housing

The moderator, science faculty senator Jordan Bauman, noted that the cost of housing has risen significantly faster than wages recently, creating barriers for students and new graduates. He asked what policies each MP would implement to address the issue. 

Erskine-Smith noted that it’s about getting the government out of the way and driving down the cost of homebuilding. He added that Ontario is the only province in Canada that does not have a provincial housing agency, and that these responsibilities are instead pushed onto municipalities, who are ill-equipped to deal with the housing crisis on their own. “We need to treat housing as a home first, and an investment second,” he said, adding that homebuyers should be prioritized over investors. 

Strauss stressed the importance of property rights. He told a story about his friend who came to Canada from Albania who eventually became a housing developer in the region. He purchased a plot of land, planning to build 32 townhouses on it, but the City of Cambridge told him he could only build 16. He ended up fighting with the city council for two years. “I have that exact story, or ones that sound like it, from every corner in the province. Politicians don’t build houses — builders do, and we have to let them.”

Healthcare

Bauman asked MPs how the federal and provincial governments should approach healthcare understaffing, while clarifying the involvement of the private sector.

Erskine-Smith noted that there is plenty of private delivery in the public healthcare system, and that public health insurance should be “non-negotiable” in the system. “When it comes to private delivery, the thing we absolutely need oversight over… is to make sure we don’t see upselling. We don’t see additional charges that undermine the idea of universality, that undermine the idea of core public health insurance.” He added there are plenty of ways to improve the healthcare system, including more competition in the duopoly of blood services, supporting doctors getting into the practice, and serving underserved communities.

Strauss told a story about he and his postpartum wife bleeding and in the emergency room two days after their son was born. After six hours of waiting, there was no bloodwork, no bed, and no doctor that visited them. “I told the triage nurse in [the ER] that ‘I’m a doctor, I’m going to take her home. If she bleeds again, I’m going to take her to a different hospital because this is crazy.’ And he said, ‘Yes please. That would be great, thanks.’” Strauss compared it to visiting a burger restaurant, waiting six hours for a burger, then telling them you’re leaving to go to a different restaurant — they would eventually go out of business. “You can have a strong public insurance model, but if you take out the idea of competition, you lose the invisible hand. Suddenly everyone’s incentive is to get you to take your bleeding, postpartum wife home instead of providing her the care so that she’s a happy customer,” Strauss said.

Immigration

Erskine-Smith said that federal immigration targets need to be aligned with the province when it comes to their housing and infrastructure targets. He said that there have been challenging immigration numbers post pandemic, due to the temporary foreign workers program and international students. “International students, more broadly, are incredible contributors to our community. But the system was incredibly mismanaged by [Premier Doug] Ford, and then we came in too late at the federal level to fix those rules and to bring numbers down.” 

Strauss said that the federal government quadrupled the number of immigrants allowed in annually, and that it was the Liberal party that allowed that. He added that he loves immigration, and that his mother is a refugee to Canada, but uncontrolled immigration hurts local employment and the healthcare system. He asked how this was determined on the Liberal benches. “How did this happen? When you were studying public policy at Queen’s or Oxford or both, did anyone ever run a case study of ‘What if we quadruple immigration this year?’ It’s bananas, and it’s hurt a lot of people.”

The full debate is available on YouTube.