PelhamToday has reached out to candidates running to represent Niagara West in the Feb. 27 provincial election to tell voters in their own words about themselves and what issues they think are important to Ontarians. Here is Libertarian candidate Stefanos Karatopis’ response:
Name: Stefanos Karatopis
Age: 55
Where are you from: West Lincoln
Party affiliation: Ontario Libertarian Party
Why have you decided to run for office?
I decided to run for office because I have been an advocate for people all over Ontario, assisting them free of charge from overzealous bureaucrats and government overreach on all levels. I stand for liberty, less government and private property rights and want to see Ontario prosper.
What do you bring to the table that sets you apart from other candidates?
I bring 10 years of experience at Queens Park while a friend of mine was an MPP. During that time, I acquired a wealth of political experience. I have obtained my paralegal diploma and I advocate for disabled children at the Human Rights Tribunal. I have also represented people in criminal, provincial offences, family court on constitutional issues, and have been an important part of fighting the Liberal’s OIC gun ban. I am a governor with the Ontario Landowners Association, which sat as intervenor on important cases at the Supreme Court of Canada such as the Annapolis and Lynch Cases. I ran for office because the cost of living has become unaffordable, there is overregulation, and poor health care that need to be addressed. I also want to address better living for seniors and address corruption in our government.
What do you feel are the top three issues facing Niagara residents (and Ontarians in general) and how would you address them beyond simply providing more funding?
I feel the top issues are inter-provincial tariffs, health care, and housing. To address these issues I would assemble a task force to address and remove Inter-provincial tariffs as they are restrictive and unfair, raising the cost of living and the cost to put food on our tables. Our health care has been neglected and needs to be improved. To address this I would re-open hospitals that Doug Ford closed down. I would also hire back not only the health-care workers that were fired during COVID, but the 30,000 health-care workers Doug Ford fired right before COVID was declared an emergency. We need hospital beds and desperately require top-notch health care. I would create a private/public health-care system that would give the option of using the public system, or private health care. This in turn would relieve the pressure on the public system, reducing emergency wait times. To address housing, I would take a page out of the Libertarian approach the government has used in Argentina removing all government interference in rental housing and private property owners to be able to make their own agreements, this is how Argentina got rid of their housing crisis overnight. This is how I would address these three important issues in Ontario.