A look at the provincial candidates running in the Nickel Belt riding

From Foleyet to the French River, Nickel Belt spans more than 25,000 kilometres and has a population of more than 85,000 people. Here are the candidates.

From Foleyet to the French River, the riding of Nickel Belt spans more than 25,000 kilometres and has a population of more than 85,000 people.

The riding has been NDP for more than 50 years and incumbent France Gélinas hopes to retain the seat for a sixth consecutive term.

Gélinas said the No. 1 issue in the Feb. 27 election is health-care access.

“I’m really proud of our plan to make primary care available to all,” she said.

“Those are models that exist -- community health centres, nurse practitioner-led clinics, community family health teams, Indigenous primary health care teams -- all of those models exist. They have not seen a base budget increase in 12 years. The people working in those centres are paid at the 2017 level. That’s eight years ago. Our plans will change all of this (and) will allow us to recruit and retain.”

Ready for change

Greater Sudbury Ward 7 Coun. Natalie Labbée, who is running in the riding for the Liberal party, said Nickel Belt is ready for a change. When it comes to the economy and people being able to meet daily expenses, Labbée said “the provincial government can’t control, like, the price of groceries or export fees and everything that’s causing and driving up the cost of living.”

“But what we do have control of is, you know, better, health care, more affordable homes, making sure that our youth are able to have proper education and stay and working in the province, as well,” she said.

“And just making sure that the rent control is back up and running. If people like, you know, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, people need shelter. So we need to make sure that we’re making life affordable for people in Ontario.”

Not available for interviews

The Ontario Progressive Conservative Party told CTV News that an interview with candidate Randy Hazlett could not be accommodated at this time.

Hazlett is a former French River councillor and this will be his second time running for the Tories.

The Green Party selected Connie Hill, an Indigenous educator and social justice advocate. Representatives from the party said she is not available for interviews.

Rounding out the ballot are James Chretien for the Libertarians and Paul Divincenzo for the New Blue Party.

Nickel Belt has sent a New Democrat to Queen’s Park since the 1970s and Gélinas is the second-longest party member to hold the seat, after Floyd Laughren who was the MPP for eight consecutive terms.