Libertarian Gene Balfour will have his name on the ballot for the fourth time in Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock in next month’s provincial election, but he says his role is not to get elected.

Standing as a candidate for a fringe party, Balfour said he has long since come to terms with the fact that he won’t be elected to represent the riding in Queen’s Park. But he still believes in the importance of giving people a choice.

“When it comes to politics, people are not going to vote for a party that’s not going to be electable. So my role is not to get elected, my role is to try to influence,” Balfour said. “I run because I’ve always believed in the idea, principle and value of democracy.”

As a Libertarian, Balfour believes, fundamentally, that there is too much government in the world.

“We are the party that says that freedom of choice basically means the government plays a part, but it doesn’t have to control our lives entirely like it does today. If there’s one key model that we believe in, it would be freedom. That’s basically our party’s DNA,” Balfour said. “On top of that, there’s four principles which we call the principles for civil society. We believe in personal responsibility, individual freedom, respect and fairness.”

While he doesn’t consider himself an active campaigner, Balfour says the majority of people he has spoken to in the lead up to next month’s vote have liked what he’s had to say.

“Virtually everybody agrees that we have too much government, that our taxes are too high. I can’t think of a single person that I’ve ever spoken to in the last few years that would think we need more government intervention,” Balfour said.

With issues surrounding inflation, health care and the local housing crisis taking centre stage in Haliburton County in the lead up to the election, Balfour believes the root cause of all of those problems is mismanagement at the municipal, provincial and federal level.

One of the things he is actively advocating for is what he’s calling “non-government options”. Essentially, giving the public the choice to opt in or out of expensive programs funded through taxation.

“Take education for example, if you choose to support the government programs then I would propose you voluntarily pay your share of the costs to the public education system. But if you choose to opt out, then you would be exempt from contributing, you’d save that money and be able to redirect it paying for a private school education,” Balfour said.

He said the same concept could be used for government-led climate change programs, such as the carbon tax and gas tax.

“If you believe climate change is a serious issue, then you should personally contribute your own money and your own time to the cause… [those that don’t] should be able to opt out,” Balfour said. “That would give people so much more freedom to live their lives the way they want to, which is what Libertarianism is all about.”

Ontario Party’s Dr. Kerstin Kelly hopes to represent Haliburton-Kawartha LakesBrock residents at the provincial legislature.

“We need someone in politics representing our people that isn’t there for the job. Someone to bring the power back to the people, and bring back their lives of opportunity. To bring back hope,” she said.

Kelly said she decided to run for office because she was “tired of the way the country has been run.”

She is a retired veterinarian and co-operator of the Lindsay Airport, also running the Crooked Lake Wilderness Lodge in Norland.

Kelly, who voted for Ford in 2018, said the Progressive Conservative party mishandled the response to COVID-19.

“I’ve never been so let down.”

She said the province should “never do mandates again” and pointed to the economic cost of shutdowns and vaccination policies.

Kelly said the Ontario party, started in 2018, stands for “truth, honesty and putting decency back in the government.”

She added that she appreciates the party encourages members to vote independently of the party, meaning she could vote against party policies without consequences.

She said she supports the party’s entire platform so far.

She said housing is a top issue in Haliburton that she has spoken to voters about. She favours looser rules on tenant evictions, which she said could give landlords the confidence to rent out apartments without fear of damage.

She advocated for allowing private healthcare to run alongside the public system.

“We intend to keep the public system going, but to improve it,” she said.

She favours a hands-off approach to rules governing businesses “so they can be allowed with their own entrepreneurship and creativity, to make the world a better place. Government has never done that and will never do that, it’s something we need to rely on the good people of this riding and Ontario to do.”

She has hosted multiple events across the region, such as a meet-and-greet at the Minden 50s diner. Kelly said if elected, she’d introduce new ways for constituents to voice their opinions, and take their feedback into account.

“It’s time that people have a candidate that actually speaks for the area,” she said.

With just two weeks to go until voters head to the polls, local Progressive Conservative candidate Laurie Scott is kicking her campaign into high gear, pushing a platform of continued provincial investment in housing, health care and rural broadband in Haliburton County.

Scott, seeking a sixth term in office, spent last weekend door knocking across the Highlands, where she spoke to voters about her party’s plan to lead Ontario out of the shadows of the COVID-19 pandemic into a period of “progress and prosperity”.

She pointed towards several important initiatives the PCs have pushed forward since 2018, indicating she had achieved more in her past term than in any of the previous four.

“Being in government for the past four years we’ve actually been able to accomplish many long overdue projects in the riding,” Scott said. “For Haliburton County specifically, we’ve been able to bring 300 new and 436 upgraded longterm care beds to the riding… And the commitment, with Extendicare, to build a brand new facility in the community is huge.

“We’ve increased our investment in Haliburton Highlands Health Services… Adding money to their budget, and making several capital-related investments. That’s a top-of-mind issue for our residents, so something we will continue to focus on,” Scott added, noting the hospital’s operating budget had seen an increase of approximately 34 per cent since 2017.

She was proud, too, of the improvements that have been made, and will continue, in rural broadband. As minister of infrastructure from June 2019 to 2021, Scott said she spent a lot of time ironing out details to upgrade high-speed internet in the Highlands.

“I have been very, very passionate about improving broadband for a long time. I was the minister when we made a lot of the decisions about investing in bringing high-speed internet to every community in Ontario by 2025. That was a $4 billion investment,” Scott said. “We’re already starting to see some of those towers go up in Haliburton County.”

Addressing the ongoing inflation crisis, Scott said the PCs have already shown a willingness to work with families to reduce household costs. The cancellation, and refunding of license plate renewals, she says, was a good start, while Doug Ford’s ‘Let’s Get It Done’ plan also includes plans to cut the gas tax by 5.7 per cent per litre, and providing qualifying low-income Ontarians with an extra $300 in personal income tax relief per year.

“That’s going to help 1.1 million people in Ontario,” Scott said.

In terms of housing, Scott says the PCs have a plan to build 1.5 million new homes across Ontario over the next 10 years, including in Haliburton County.

“We need workers in Haliburton County and they need a place to live. We need to figure out how to get these places built as fast as we can… We have land, and we need to get to work on every form of housing, whether that be single detached, triplex, duplex or multi-unit,” Scott said.

“We’ve got solutions and we are going to work with our municipal partners to get things moving.”