Hardeman has won 6 provincial elections
By Mark Schadenberg
It doesn't matter if you have a closet
full of blue, red or orange ties, you must admire the qualities of
our Oxford County member of Provincial Parliament, Ernie Hardeman.
On Monday, along with my family, we
attended Ernie's 20th anniversary party at
Cowan Park – 20 years as MPP of Oxford County and at the age of 67
he's as busy as ever representing the interests of everyone in Oxford
whether they be young or old, rural or urban.
The Salford farmer, who was also a
former mayor of SouthWest Oxford township and Oxford warden, was
first elected in 1995 for a post at Queen's Park, defeating incumbent
NDP Kimble Sutherland.
Twenty years later, Hardeman has now
won six elections and is the Conservative party critic for the
ministry of municipal affairs and housing.
You can read some links below about his
newest battle against the Ontario department of waste and poor
spending when the topic revolves around subsidized housing in the
province and the long waiting list. Hardeman has introduced a private
member's bill to force a closer analysis of spending within the
housing department, including where and how the provincial government
secures services for such things as natural gas as a heating source
(utility) and also insurance.
From his office press release of March
2015:
“Unfortunately there are many
similarities between Housing Services Corporation and ORNGE, such as
creating for-profit subsidiaries, expensing international travel and
salaries disappearing off the sunshine list,” said Hardeman. “With
an affordable housing waiting list of 165,000 families, we simply
can’t afford for housing providers to be taken advantage of, and
that is why this Bill would give the Auditor General the authority to
investigate.”
Hardeman’s Bill, the Housing Services
Corporation Accountability Act, would: • Save affordable housing
providers money on natural gas and insurance by removing the
mandatory requirement to purchase them through HSC; • Restore
accountability by requiring HSC to once again report salaries over
$100,000 on the sunshine list; and • Give the Provincial Auditor
General the authority to audit HSC without requiring a Minister’s
request.
“The goal of the organization was to
save affordable housing providers money by negotiating bulk
discounts, but it’s clear that over the last few years something
has gone horribly wrong and housing providers are now paying millions
more than if they purchased these services directly,” said
Hardeman.
Hardeman's biggest success story is one
about both perseverance and common sense law-making as he diligently
pushed forward a private member's bill which made it mandatory for
all homes with a natural gas heating system to have a carbon monoxide
detector. This CO concern (odourless gas) includes not only furnaces,
gas stoves and gas fireplaces, but CO which can consume the air of a
house from an attached garage, plus the burning of other fossil fuels
and the proper venting even of a woodstove.
This Hawkins-Gignac Act is now law and
is sadly named after Richard and Laurie Hawkins, who along with their
two children, died from CO poisoning in their Woodstock home in 2008.
Laurie's uncle John Gignac is a retired firefighter, so he was
Hardeman's partner in education, determination and pubic appeal to
make the use of a CO detector mandatory, and now their foundation
continues. CO detectors have also been distributed through fire
departments to low-income families.
In 2012, Hardeman's office was busy
with a survey, asking farmers to comment on the long-term
sustainability of all levels of agriculture from small family farms
to large-scale agri-business.
I specifically remember Hardeman
lobbying in Toronto after subsidies were paid to pig farmers during a
pork production crisis, but the system in place also paid many
farmers who had left that particular industry several years earlier
(some retired and some dead), but were still on a list, so they
received dollars as well.
Hardeman concentrated his efforts to
promote Woodstock's new hospital for funding – a hospital which
opened in November of 2011. Woodstock and Oxford gained the large
Toyota manufacturing facility under Hardeman's watch.
As a former critic with the portfolio
for the Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs department, Hardeman's
work included creating a marketing / advertising system to assist
farmers in promoting along major highways where local farm markets
and/or on-farm selling of produce was available.
His battles have been large and small,
including gaining approval for MPP local offices to be able to sell
poppies leading up to Remembrance Day. Hardeman has publicly stated
he is against the large landfill proposed for Beachville-Ingersoll
area (See letter).
Hardeman has attended fairs, parades,
birthday parties, and has cut many ribbons. He has made his opinion
known on rising hydro bills and taxation on middle-income families.
Hardeman has promoted Oxford at every opportunity, whether it be for
grants, gas tax cash, money for roads and bridges, and also
education.
Next time you see Ernie, ask him to
recall the Red Tape Reduction Act and how it assisted farmers in
purchasing large equipment / implements.
Congratulations to Ernie Hardeman on 20
years of serving Oxford at Queen's Park, but actually many many more
years in total when you look back to his time as mayor of Greater
Salford.
Ernie gets my vote!
Ernie arriving at Woodstock Santa Claus Parade
UNRELATED STORY
GORDON PITTOCK RESERVOIR
When looking back at a long list of
previous MPPs for Oxford, I noticed the name of Gordon Pittock from
1963-67 as Progressive Conservative member of the provincial
legislature. He – I read– was from Ingersoll, but as a member of
the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority board, was honoured to
have the Thames River dam in Woodstock named in his honour when it
was completed in 1967.
LINKS:
http://www.erniehardemanmpp.com/biography.html
http://www.woodstocksentinelreview.com/2015/06/08/ernie-hardeman-marks-20-years-as-mpp-for-oxford-at-celebration-event
http://www.woodstocksentinelreview.com/2015/06/08/ernie-hardeman-marks-20-years-as-mpp-for-oxford-at-celebration-event
Mark
Schadenberg, Sales
Representative
Senior
Real Estate Specialist (SRES designation)
Royal
LePage Triland Realty
757
Dundas St, Woodstock
www.wesellwoodstock.com
(519)
537-1553, cell or text
Email:
mschadenberg@rogers.com
Twitter:
markroyallepage
Facebook:
Mark Schadenberg, Royal LePage Triland
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