“This Is an Attack on Our Kids”: MPP Chandra Pasma Speaks in Cornwall at SDSG NDP Fundraiser

CORNWALL — Ottawa West–Nepean MPP Chandra Pasma delivered a wide-ranging and at times blunt assessment of Ontario’s political landscape during a local SDSG NDP fundraiser this week. Speaking to a full room, Pasma drew direct lines between education cuts, health-care privatization, rising living costs, and what she called a growing erosion of democratic decision-making at the community level.

Pasma spoke at lenght beginning with education — a sector she says is being stripped of local control under Bill 33.

According to Pasma, the legislation “allows the government… to take control over all the decisions of a local school board,” including hiring, firing, student programs, resource allocation, and even school bus operations.

She warned that these decisions are now moving “from the hands of the community to unelected, appointed supervisors,” and pointed to recent appointments made by Paul Calandra. Those chosen, she said, were people who “have run for the Conservatives, who have donated to the Conservatives, or who have worked for the Conservatives — but who have no qualifications in education.”
These supervisors, she added, are being paid $350,000 a year to make decisions behind closed doors while supports for students continue to be cut.

“This is an attack on our kids and on our local communities,” she said.

Concerns About Health Care and a “Hunger Games” for Doctors

Pasma then shifted to primary care and the state of hospitals across the province. Family doctors remain scarce, she said, and even Ottawa has been dragged into what she described as a “Hunger Games situation,” with communities competing against each other to lure physicians.

Meanwhile, she said many hospitals are already struggling to meet operating budgets, raising concerns that “a hospital version of Bill 33 may be coming.” The Ford government, she added, is not making the investments needed to reduce ER wait times or expand access to surgeries.

“What the government is doing is funding private health care,” Pasma said, noting that public dollars are now flowing to private clinics operating outside the public system. Part of that funding, she stressed, goes toward profit instead of patient care — and draws practitioners away from already-strained public hospitals.

Housing, Affordability, and Bill 60

On affordability, Pasma said that at every door she knocks on — “low-income neighbourhoods, wealthier communities, or mixed areas” — the same issues rise to the surface: groceries, bills, housing, and the fear that young people will never be able to afford a home.

She called Bill 60, passed last week, a “solution” that does nothing to fix the crisis. Instead, she explained, it “removes renter protections, make[s] eviction easier, and make[s] it harder for tenants to raise concerns at the Landlord and Tenant Board.”

“None of this builds a single affordable unit,” she said.
“Housing starts in Ontario are now at their lowest point since the 1950s. That is the Ford government’s record — and their response is to attack renters.”

Democracy and Accountability

Pasma also raised alarms about the rapid pace of legislation at Queen’s Park. Bill after bill, she said, has been pushed through “without real debate” and without giving Ontarians the chance to speak at committee — the only venue where legislation can be amended.

She shared an example from close to home: a Cornwall teacher who told her at the OFL conference that he no longer bothers contacting local MPP Nolan Quinn because “Nolan’s mind is made up and he does not listen to his constituents. He is here to tell us what the Ford government will do, whether we like it or not.”

Policy Alternatives

Pasma stressed that “none of this has to be the future.”
She outlined steps the province could take immediately, starting with strengthening public education, ensuring access to special-education and mental-health supports, and investing in the staff needed to keep schools safe.

She also pointed to affordable post-secondary education, a crackdown on grocery price-gouging, and a return to building non-profit, co-op, and social housing — which she said would “create good jobs, provide stable homes, and take pressure off market housing.”

Removing excessive paperwork from physicians’ workloads, she noted, would allow “existing physicians to see up to two million more patients per year.” Investing in team-based care — including nurse practitioners, social workers, and dietitians — would help ensure people get the right care at the right time.

“These are all policies we could already have in place if we had a government willing to implement them,” she told the room.

Long-Term Organizing: “One Conversation at a Time”

A significant portion of Pasma’s talk focused on organizing and rebuilding political capacity at the grassroots level. She reminded the audience that Ottawa West–Nepean “never elected an NDP MPP before 2022,” and said that victory happened only through steady, long-term work.

“Winning isn’t the work of one person or one riding — it’s many people working together in solidarity,” she said. She encouraged attendees to donate “this year, next year, and the year after that,” emphasizing that strong campaigns require long runways.

Questions From the Audience

A local advocate for proportional representation asked Pasma for her position.
“I am very supportive of proportional representation,” she said, adding that she believes mixed-member proportional is the best model for Ontario. She noted this has been the NDP’s position for years, and that the party previously committed to a citizens’ assembly to design a system free from political self-interest.

On environmental protections, Pasma was equally direct. She said Bill 5 weakened species-at-risk rules by shifting decisions from scientists to politicians and shrinking habitat protections to the nest or den alone. She also warned about new “special economic zones” where cabinet can exempt entire regions from environmental laws.

Climate change, she said, is already hitting her own riding hard: tornadoes, a derecho, and an ice storm, all of which knocked out power for days. Community-owned renewable energy, she argued, would allow essential buildings to stay powered during emergencies.

Another audience member asked how the NDP can reach young people disillusioned by precarious work, high costs, and right-wing messaging. Pasma said the first step is communication people can understand.

“Many of us love policy… but people feel like they need a master’s degree just to follow us, while Conservatives offer a simple slogan like ‘axe the tax.’” Her colleague John Vanthof, she said, often reminds caucus to use “Canadian Tire language.”

Messaging must also be personal and consistent: “Face-to-face conversations matter. Human to human. Listening first.”

On proportional representation and the environment, she said both are essential, but when knocking on doors, “people lead with the problems they’re facing right now: rent, food, bills.” The policies stay the same — “the language shifts so people see how it affects their lives.”

Federal NDP Leadership

Pasma was also asked why she endorsed Senator Heather McPherson in the federal NDP leadership race. She said the last election was “catastrophic” for the party and that McPherson brings the organizing and communication skills needed to rebuild.

She described a long conversation with McPherson in which “only two of those minutes were about policy.” The rest focused on grassroots organizing, fundraising, data building, and strengthening riding associations.

“That’s the kind of leadership we need nationally,” Pasma said.

Closing Moments

The evening wrapped with thanks to Pasma for her consistent presence in Cornwall and her work at Queen’s Park. A handmade gift from an Akwesasne beadwork artist was presented to her in recognition of that ongoing connection.

Organizers closed by noting that this event is the first step in a three-year plan to rebuild the local NDP and prepare for the next provincial election.