– Matt Mente, News Editor

Andrea Horvath, leader of the Ontario New Demoocratic Party made a visit to Brantford last week to discuss the issues she felt were most important to Brantford citizens.

This was her second visit to Brantford in the past year. Her previous visit was to support local New Democrat Brian Van Tilborg in the provincial election.

This time, Horwath was visiting Brantford to discuss affordability and economics in the lead up to the provincial budget.

Throughout the day Horwath attended several events, and spoke about the upcoming budget as well as discussing the importance of small businesses through creating jobs and putting money back in the local economy.

“There’s no doubt that these days we’re living in some very tough times, and I think small business feels those tough times in some ways more than others,” Horwath said during the morning conference.

She attended a meeting with the Brantford Chamber of Commerce and before leaving Brantford, Horwath held a town hall meeting.

Horwath answered a number of questions during her speech, ranging from Inquiries about bringing GO transit to Brantford to how agricultural concerns would be addressed in the new budget, and even how the provincial NDP hope to address the problem of contaminated wells on Six Nations land.

Horwath supports the idea of bringing GO transit to Brantford stating that, “It will open up a lot of opportunities for people and investment.”

She later added to this statement saying that private investment comes to transport hubs.

“The more we can connect communities in a rail system, the better,” she continued.

While many of the people who attended Horwath’s speech were clearly NDP supporters, she received rousing applause when she stated that, “I don’t believe the burden of the deficit should solely be borne by families.”

Horwath stressed that the focus of the budget in Ontario needs to be on job creation and job retention, stating that corporate tax cuts aren’t beneficial and that corporations don’t need them.