Township’s reeve did ‘much reflection’ on the decision

LAURIE WEIR

Rob Rainer is seeking the provincial Liberal Party nomination for the riding of Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston, announcing his intention on Canada Day.

“This decision arose after much reflection, including from conversations I’ve held with several people,” he said. “Part of the consideration has been the potential impact on my municipal service at Tay Valley Township, were I to prevail with the nomination and then prevail in the election.”

Rainer said he enjoys working on council and if he were to “come up short in the nomination and/or election,” he said he’d “continue to enjoy municipal service.”

If elected to the provincial legislature, Rainer said he’d welcome the opportunity to try to “shift provincial policy toward healthier ends.”

Rainer said over the past six years “many problematic policy choices of the current government have been evident, with serious short- and/or long-term social, economic, and environmental impact. Should I have the opportunity to run for the Liberal side, I would hope to be part of a change in government and then to be that much more able to shape provincial policy in ways that I am confident would be better for people, communities, and our environment.”

Premier Doug Ford sparked curiosity in May when he hesitated to confirm the fixed election date, set for June 2026. This has led to speculation that he may dissolve the Ontario legislature and call for a general election in 2025.

This publication caught up with Rainer on July 17. Here’s the Q&A that followed with the Liberal candidate hopeful. 

Q: Can you share your background and what inspired you to run for the position?

A: I was born and raised in North Vancouver, BC and have lived for extended periods on the west coast, in New Brunswick where both of my daughters were born, in Quebec, and in several places in Ontario, including Tay Valley Township which has been home since October 2015. My working life has been diverse, and the heart of it involved being the executive director or equivalent of six non-profit or charitable organizations, from the community-based to the national. This included six years of full-time (and award-winning) work on poverty issues in Canada, an experience which led to a passionate commitment to support basic income which I regard as a vital public policy and social security measure. Over the years I have been active in the Green, New Democrat, and Liberal parties, always aligning with people and parties a little to the left of the centre. I was first elected to Tay Valley Township Council in 2018, and in 2022 was elected reeve.

I have been inspired to run by Michelle Foxton who is the Liberal candidate in Lanark-Frontenac in the next federal election. Michelle exemplifies the best of what I believe politics should be all about. She is setting a great example regarding electoral candidacy, and I aim to do so likewise in the provincial riding of LFK. I have a lot to offer as a proven civil society and political leader, and I am deeply committed to striving for equity, justice, and sustainability through provincial policies and legislation that upholds the public interest.

Q. What has been your involvement with the LFK community, and how has it shaped your decision to run?

A: I have served and continue to serve on various township and council committees (as well as on county council). I am also in my fourth year on the board of directors of the Mississippi Madawaska Land Trust. I am very musical and have sung in community ensembles within Lanark County since 2016. In 2023 a friend and I formed a guitar-vocal duo named The Rivermen. We play small venues including farmers’ markets, Lanark Lodge (regularly), the annual Art in the Garden weekend at Kiwi Gardens, and fundraising benefits such as for the Land Trust and The Table Community Food Centre.

Q: What do you believe are the most pressing issues facing our riding, and how do you plan to address them as MPP?

A: There is lots of competition as to which issues are most pressing in the LFK riding. They include the affordability crisis which is linked to, among other things, the inequality crisis; the housing crisis (part of the larger affordability crisis); mental health and addiction crises; huge fiscal and human resource pressures on health care, child care, and long-term care systems and facilities; erosion of public health care; the climate crisis which has already significantly negatively impacted life in LFK, as elsewhere; budgetary strains on municipalities (notably concerning infrastructure maintenance and replacement); regional and municipal growth management given  that much of the riding is being or will be subject to considerable population growth and related pressures over the coming decades; ongoing aging of the regional population, with significant demographic implications (e.g., in health care, long-term care); and ongoing fragmentation and degradation of ecosystems and natural habitats, impacting wildlife populations and ecosystem services to the detriment of our quality of life.

To address issues like these requires first being willing to listen and learn from people affected by them, and from people with far greater knowledge and expertise than I have regarding potential solutions. As an MPP I would seek out subject matter experts to advise me and my party as best they can. I would wish to bring practical, evidence-based, problem-solving ideas forward to partners in the riding for their consideration, and to the Liberal caucus, with the intent to propose certain ideas or actions that appear to have the greatest likelihood of being actionable. I would also strive to connect available funding (provincial, federal etc.) with where it can be best utilized to address specific problems at specific points in time.

Q: What would be your top three policy priorities?

A: The following should be understood to be a preliminary response to this question: a more refined response may come once I have had more time to meet people from around the riding and further consider what ought to be the top policy priorities.

(1) As a long-time basic income advocate, and given the Ontario Liberal Party supports basic income, I would wish to push for the province to introduce a basic income guarantee for working-age adults, even if the maximum amount might be fairly modest (at least to begin with). Newfoundland and Labrador, and Quebec have introduced small-scale basic income programs in recent years, and there is a very detailed, credible proposal for a province-wide basic income program in PEI. An “upstream” basic income initiative in Ontario could be expected to make a significant difference in addressing problems like food insecurity, food bank usage, homelessness, mental ill-health, and intimate partner violence, thereby further helping reduce “downstream” costs in health care, criminal justice and other systems. Basic income is an economic stimulus and so it could be expected to spur local economic revitalization.

(2) Thousands of affordable rental units are needed in LFK. I would wish to push for the federal government and the province to invest more in the creation of non-market housing, such as non-profit housing co-ops, and to couple such development with advancing technological uptake and knowledge transfer regarding green building design and construction.

(3) I would push for much stronger provincial commitment and action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to help people and communities, for example with incentives to replace oil furnaces with heat pumps, manage as best they can in the wake of rapidly escalating global heating. Ontario should strive to be the leading province when it comes to climate action and community resilience. A comprehensive climate action strategy should also be tied to an economic development strategy, with the province providing incentives for the advancement of clean energy and other businesses with key roles to play in the transition that is so needed.

Q: How do you intend to support and stimulate economic growth within the riding?

A: Economic growth should be understood as a means but not an end. Rather than focusing on economic growth per se, I prefer to focus on wellbeing economics, whereby building and sustaining the well-being of individuals, families, communities, and our environment is the aim. Much can be done to promote well-being that has little to do with growth. For example, libraries are immensely valuable yet often underappreciated community assets. For every dollar invested in them, there is a significant return on investment, in social capital. Libraries in Ontario have not seen a significant funding increase from the province in many years. This ought to change. The province ought to view libraries as social capital engines and invest in those engines accordingly. As another example, and back to basic income, as people’s income and social security become more stable and more sufficient, people have greater hope and also opportunity (e.g., to pursue education, training, employment change). The economic multiplier effects of basic income have been documented (e.g., for every dollar distributed in the Canada Child Benefit program, nearly $2 is generated in the GDP). So, were the province to introduce perhaps a modest basic income guarantee for working-age adults, it could be expected to realize economic multiplier effects in time. Optimally such a program would come from the federal government, with provincial cooperation and alignment around provincial income security programs.

Q: What is your strategy for securing the nomination and winning the election?

A: (1) Meeting as many people across LFK as possible, and introducing myself and my background, values, and ideas for public service;

(2) articulating a positive vision for public service generally, and addressing specific issues and concerns relevant to LFK, including based on Ontario Liberal Party positions;

(3) building a large team of campaigners to help spread the word, organize

events, make further connections with citizens etc.

(4) provide a reasoned, pointed critique of the Ford government’s various scandals and wrongheaded legislative and policy decisions.

Q: How do you plan to engage with and represent the diverse communities within LFK?

A: Firstly, by maintaining a welcoming ‘open door’ to all who may wish to engage with me. I work with kindness and without prejudice toward anyone. Secondly, to travel around LFK to the extent I can and meet people from as many walks of life as possible, whether they live in urban, rural, or remote settings. I look forward to hearing different points of view as expressed by a wide diversity of people, and to trying to work with the most promising ideas and suggestions for improving the quality of life in LFK via intelligent, sensitive provincial public policy.

Q: How do you assess the current provincial government’s policies, and what changes would you advocate for if elected?

A: This is a very big question that cannot be answered concisely. In general, I consider that many of the current government’s policies have been or are misguided, for example, its very ill-considered cancellation of the Ontario Basic Income Pilot project (a broken promise which is subject to a class action lawsuit). Notably, the government has announced various decisions, only to backtrack sometime later – indicative that their decisions have not often been well thought through. The Greenbelt debacle is perhaps the most glaring example. Public interest matters are frequently exceedingly complex and not subject to ‘quick fix’ solutions. They often warrant deep analysis and careful identification of policy options.

I shun rigid ideology (e.g., “let the free market reign”, “all taxes are bad”) and embrace subject matter expertise and evidence-based solutions. For example, the housing crisis is a truly ‘wicked’ problem involving multiple causative factors. The province ought to listen carefully to a range of people with deep experience and expertise in housing and related sectors and formulate a housing strategy that goes well beyond simply building more housing (which in itself is not likely to significantly alleviate the crisis).

Q: How would your leadership approach differ from that of Premier Doug Ford, especially in handling key issues facing our riding and Ontario as a whole?

A: Should the Ontario Liberal Party form the next government and should I be part of that, I would want my party to adopt a consistent “work with” approach with the federal government, municipalities, Indigenous communities and organizations, the NGO sector, unions, other provinces, neighbouring US states etc. Of course, there are always tensions and difficulties, but optimally the approach should be toward agreements and solutions that have the widest possible support, as opposed to high-handed decisions imposed by the province. I would want an Ontario governed by the Liberal Party to be and to be seen as a government which strives for equity, security, opportunity, and prosperity for all, and to be and to be seen to be as ethical as possible, including being fully transparent and accountable to the public.

Q: Can you share any personal experiences that have significantly influenced your political views and aspirations?

A: As a teen I was subconsciously influenced by my maternal grandparents who were staunch and long-time New Democrats on Vancouver Island. When I visited, they would often comment on public interest matters of the day, with outrage regarding social injustice. I thus trace my social conscience to the example they set. As a young adult in B.C., and in Ontario, I became exposed to people who further helped to awaken my social conscience, people who thought and lived outside of the mainstream. In my early 20s, I began volunteering for causes I supported which brought me into further contact with people who enlarged my political perspective. Gradually my views became further and further shaped, and by my mid-20s I was on the road to permanent and intense interest in matters

concerning human rights, social justice, democracy, and planetary well-being.

My first involvement in electoral politics was with the fledging Green Party of B.C., in the early 1980s. Ten years after moving to New Brunswick in 1987, I was an NDP candidate in the 1997 federal election, in a rural and conservative riding in which there was no hope of winning. The experience was worthwhile, however. I later joined the New Brunswick Liberal Party and attempted but failed to obtain a nomination for a provincial election.

My work over the years has also strongly shaped my views and aspirations. Work has included leading a community-based, multi-stakeholder conservation group, leading an Atlantic regional biodiversity data management centre, leading a national charity called Canada Without Poverty, serving (2014) as the Interim Executive Director of the Green Party of Canada, investing thousands of hours over five years in building the Canadian basic income movement, and of course serving on Tay Valley and Lanark County councils.

Biographies of and autobiographies by admirable leaders such as Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Vaclav Havel, Nelson Mandela, Al Gore, Barack Obama, and Hilary Clinton have been influential on my thinking. So too is my ongoing reading of sharp analysts like the American social critic, Rebecca Solnit, and the Canadian security and sustainability expert, Thomas Homer-Dixon.

I’ve also given a lot of thought to the left-right dichotomy in politics. Most people fall either a little to a lot on the left of the spectrum, or a little to a lot on the right, and very few people fall right down the very narrow middle. I’ve always aligned with people and parties which have been a little on the left, given they tend to prioritize the public interest over personal interest and to embrace values like equity, justice, and sustainability over values such as individualism and private property rights. I have long considered myself to be, all at once and at the same time a ‘green’, a ‘democrat’, and a ‘liberal’.

Q: What would you like to say to the residents as you seek their support for the MPP role?

A: I am committed to striving for a more equitable, just, secure, and sustainable society and world, where people are as healthy and as free from fear and want as possible, with an abundance of opportunities to lead socially rich and emotionally fulfilling lives. I am committed to striving for public policies to help realize such outcomes and to be as responsive as possible in striving to solve short- to longer-term problems in our communities and our riding. If that is what you may wish for in your MPP, I ask for your support in the next provincial election.