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TIMISKAMING-COCHRANE - Long-distance trucker Stephen MacLeod is shifting gears into politics.
MacLeod is the New Blue Party candidate for the Timiskaming-Cochrane riding. He is one of five candidates vying for the seat.
MacLeod, 45, lives just outside of New Liskeard with his wife and two children, where they maintain a small homestead.
He has lived in Northern Ontario for about eight years after moving from southern Ontario in search of a different environment to raise his children.
MacLeod currently works as a long-distance truck driver, an experience he says has given him firsthand knowledge of the challenges faced on Ontario's highways.
He previously ran as a candidate in the 2021 federal election for the People's Party of Canada. He’s pursuing provincial politics, believing it offers a greater opportunity to advocate for local issues.
Road safety, health care, and taxation are some of his key priorities.
“We've all had or known of people that have been in serious accidents on our highways. And I know Mr. Vanthof has done a lot in bringing awareness to that fact. I for one am grateful for his hard work,” he said.
“I want to actually be able to take what he's done so far and push further and push harder, maybe even create a task force to work with the MTO and find better solutions to the problem.”
MacLeod has concerns about winter road maintenance and said there’s a need for improved infrastructure.
“I don't know how many times I'll be driving down the highway in my truck, and I'll have a bare, wet highway, and it comes to a spot where there's another yard that takes over as maintenance, and the highway is completely covered. We have a severe issue with our maintenance program,” he said.
He also highlighted the lack of safe rest stops for truck drivers, which he believes contributes to dangerous driving conditions.
“You mix the problem of having an inexperienced winter driver on our Northern Ontario roads with the fact that we have no rest stops for them to even get off, no wonder why we have so many accidents,” MacLeod said.
On healthcare, MacLeod is concerned about physician shortages.
“We need more family physicians and more specialists because we don’t have proper health care up here,” he said.
MacLeod also supports repealing the Ontario carbon tax and working toward the elimination of the federal carbon tax. Additionally, he aligns with his party’s platform to reduce the HST from 13 per cent to 10 per cent, with the long-term goal of eliminating it.
As part of the New Blue Party’s broader platform, he supports removing critical race theory and gender identity theory from Ontario schools.
“A key priority for me is, if I say something, if I tell you that I'm going to work on something, I'm going to work on that,” he said.
“And that's something that's been lacking in our politics for many years. There's so much talk and very little action, and we want to change that.”
The other candidates in the riding are PC Tory Delaurier, Liberal Rick Ellsmere, Green Kris Rivard and NDP incumbent John Vanthof.
Election day is Feb. 27.
