Stiles and Gretzky promise to fight for Windsor families as legislature set to resume

WINDSOR – Ontario NDP leader Marit Stiles joined Windsor West MPP Lisa Gretzky to draw attention to issues facing local schools, and to outline the NDP’s priorities for the upcoming legislative session at Queen’s Park.

“You deserve a government that works as hard as you do, and a premier who will focus on what matters most,” said Stiles.

“But for six long years, Doug Ford has put the interests of his friends and insiders ahead of the needs of working families in Windsor-Essex. Nowhere is that neglect more apparent than in our kids’ schools, where overcrowding is the norm and the repair backlog just keeps getting bigger. Together, we can change that.”

“Families in Windsor West care deeply about their kids’ future and they deserve schools that set them up for success,” said Gretzky “Instead they’re dealing with staffing shortages and classrooms badly in need of repair. We need to bring the government’s focus back where it belongs: to the people.”

Stiles and Gretzky visited Marlborough Public School, where government underfunding has led to staffing shortages and a multi-million-dollar repair backlog.

This latest visit to Windsor is part of Stiles’ Priorities Tour to the region ahead of the return of the Legislature on October 21.

BACKGROUND:

The former Ontario Liberal government left behind a 15.8 billion dollar school repair backlog in 2018, and it has only grown under Ford’s Conservatives, rising to more than 16 billion by 2020.

The current size of the backlog has not been disclosed since.