Ontario Votes 2007: Interview with Progressive Conservative candidate Pam Hundal, Bramalea—Gore—Malton

Thursday, October 4, 2007 

Pam Hundal is running for the Progressive Conservatives in the Ontario provincial election, in the Bramalea—Gore—Malton riding.

Wikinews' Nick Moreau requested an interview regarding her values, her experience, and her campaign. In response, Hundal's campaign office did not send replies to the questions asked, but a general statement. Moreau has excerpted parts of her statement, placing them as answers to related questions. However, a great number of questions have been skipped in the process.

Stay tuned for further interviews; every candidate from every party is eligible, and will be contacted. Expect interviews from Liberals, Progressive Conservatives, New Democratic Party members, Ontario Greens, as well as members from the Family Coalition, Freedom, Communist, Libertarian, and Confederation of Regions parties, as well as independents.

Interview

Why have you chosen to involve yourself in the political process? Why did you choose to run in this constituency?

BGM has grown immensely over the last few years in many diverse community members, however has not received the attention or funding it needs to support that growth.

What makes you the most desirable of all candidates running in the riding?

I have been door knocking over the past four months, and also have initiated meetings with several institutions such as the Peel Regional Police, Peel District School Board Tele-health, and many seniors groups to help me understand the needs from the point of view of the professionals who run these institutions.

I have received much apathy through my door knocking. Bluntly, they feel the current MPP has been absent. They do not feel they have received the attention they deserve and feel that the faith they put into there vote 4 years ago went ignored. They do not feel an area as large as BGM, which is one of the largest ridings has had the representation needed both at Queens Park and as a communication link with the municipality.

Currently we have a sitting Liberal MPP Dr. Kular who is more concerned about putting the mighty dollar in his pocket by running is medical practice part-time and running as an MPP part-time. This riding needs a full-time MPP. I commit to my voters and the residents of this riding that I will be a full-time MPP and be here for you before the election and after the election as well.

What do you feel are the three most important issues to voters in your riding? Are these the same top three issues that are most important to you? What would you do to address these issues?

Firstly, Brampton’s Transit system is very poor, there is not enough transit to support the growth of the communities, and if anything the transit lines are decreasing rather than increasing. With more growth and more people commuting outside of Brampton or traveling within Brampton using the transit system, there simply is not enough transit services available to serve them.

Furthermore, there is not enough Schools to accommodate the amount of children who are in these living in these neighborhoods. As a result, children have to bussed out to areas such as Bolton. There has been a decrease in schools buses as a result of Liberal government’s lack of funding where children and parents are suffering and as a result parents spend less quality family time. Where is our tax dollars going from the education taxes? Class sizes continue to go up in size. During the last Provincial Election, Dalton Promised classes sizes to be at 20 students to one teacher. This is not the case in Bramalea Gore Malton! Average class size is at 28 students to one teacher and in some schools there are over 40 students in a class room. Teachers can’t give the attention and support a student needs with such large class sizes.

Lack of parks, and recreation centers in my area is a huge issue also, as the north part of my riding still does not have a recreation center for its residents to use.

Crime is on an increase my riding. Many residents are extremely worried about the amount of youth and gang related violence in there neighborhoods. Shootings and stabbings in our neighbourhoods and schools are becoming a norm, where children are carrying weapons like guns and knives. We have more rampant school lock downs as a result of lack of funding to police our streets effectively.

Our New Brampton Civic Hospital will be opening this Fall with out the original number of beds promised by the Liberal Government. Our current Peel Memorial Hospital will be shutting down due to poor planning on the Liberals part. At this point, a city the size of ours should have had two fully functioning hospitals long ago like Mississauga.

Malton is a very transient community and we need to find a way to keep residents in Malton so that we can establish a strong community in that area. Malton needs more services to assist newcomers to the area in finding work in that area so that they do not use Malton as a hub before moving out of it a short time later.

External links

• Pam Hundal, official site
• Elections Ontario