Health care, housing and education: Top issues raised by voters in Waterloo region and area ridings

As the Ontario provincial election campaign heats up, voters in Waterloo region and surrounding areas are making their priorities clear.

A survey put out by CBC Kitchener-Waterloo on the first day of the election, has nearly 750 responses so far.

Voters who shared their thoughts throught he survey listed a variety of top concerns in this election, ranging from concerns over local transit funding to understanding why an early election needed to be called in the first place.

But the top issues voters are hoping local candidates address in the upcoming election are health care, housing, and education funding.

Health care emerged as the most pressing issue, with nearly 300 respondents listing it as their top concern.

There are plans to open a new hospital in Waterloo region on land owned by the University of Waterloo, but that isn't expected to be opened until 2034.

However, the concerns laid out in the survey have been less to do with a lack of hospital beds and more with access to primary care. 

In an interview with CBC Kitchener-Waterloo in the first week of her campaign, Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie said there are 150,000 Waterloo region residents who currently don't have access to a family doctor.

Her party's plan to address that is to bring more doctors to Ontario, helping cut down barriers for foreign trained doctors.

"Some of those foreign trained doctors, maybe our own children who went abroad to get their medical license, but then have trouble coming back," Crombie said.

Crombie said, if elected, she would see that every Ontarian is connected to a family doctor within four years.

Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles, in a fireside chat with the Greater Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber of Commerce, outlined her party's proposal to cut down on administrative work done by family doctors, ideally freeing up more time for them to see new patients.

Stiles said this is something that doctors have directly asked for. She said this would be accomplished by "providing them with additional support and connecting them to teams of other workers who can assist them with that."

"This is something that helps immediately," said Stiles.