Six questions with Rob Rainer, Ontario Liberal candidate for Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston
Editorial note: As Ontarians head to the polls for the Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025, provincial election, we want to be your one-stop home base for everything you need to know in the area ridings. As part of this coverage, we’ve created profiles for each candidate (pending candidate availability) in Kingston and the Islands, Hastings—Lennox and Addington, and Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston. For these profiles, each candidate was asked the same list of questions, the responses to which we’ve compiled into an easy-to-read Q&A format, with additional links for more information. To view all of the profiles (published as response is collected) and additional election coverage, visit Lanarkist’s Provincial Election 2025 page.
Rob Rainer is the Ontario Liberal Party candidate for Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston in the 2025 provincial election
Rob Rainer is the current Reeve of Tay Valley Township, located in the southwest corner of Lanark County. Though born and raised in North Vancouver, he has called the Township home since 2015.
Rainer has held many positions throughout his working life, including being executive director or equivalent at several non-profit or charitable organizations. He co-founded the Lanark Basic Income Network, served as its inaugural Chair, and continues to sit on the Steering Committee. Rainer is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Mississippi Madawaska Land Trust.
In 2012, Rainer was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in recognition of his work across Canada from 2006 to 2012 on poverty issues.
“I’m married to Mary Lou Carroll who is a church music director and community choirs accompanist, between us we have three daughters, and we live on 17 acres of woodland and wetland, sharing our house with ‘My Three Sons’ (male cats),” he shared with Kingstonist.
“When not working I love to indulge in music, hiking, canoeing, and spending time in nature.”
Rainer has been identified as the ‘Unity Candidate’ for Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston by a group called Cooperate for Canada and provided the list of all of the Unity Candidates Cooperate for Canada has identified in the Ontario election.
Why are you running for public office?
I am very concerned about the misplaced priorities and actions, and the many scandals, of the Ford government. I am confident a new Ontario Liberal government would serve the people and the public interest of Ontario much better.
Drawing on my breadth and depth of life and work experience, and my aptitude and skills for serving in public office, I am confident I would make a very positive contribution as the new MPP for Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston, working closely with constituents, businesses, non-profit organizations, and fellow politicians, whether municipal, provincial, or federal.
Homelessness and housing affordability have become increasing issues in Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston, as with much of Ontario. What steps would you take as MPP to improve housing for residents?
The Ontario Liberal Party proposes to eliminate the provincial Land Transfer Tax for first-time homebuyers, seniors downsizing, and non-profit home builders—saving families and seniors $13,500 on average; scrap municipal Development Charges on new middle-class housing, which can add up to $170,000 on homes; and make renting more affordable by introducing fair, phased-in rent control, resolving Landlord-Tenant Board disputes within two months, and establishing the Rental Emergency Support for Tenants Fund to help vulnerable renters avoid eviction during financial emergencies.
The Ontario Liberal Party also proposes to eliminate the 8 per cent provincial component of HST on hydro and home heating bills; double Ontario Disability Support Program benefits and index them to inflation; eliminate the interest on Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) loans, and delay repayment until graduates make at least $50,000 a year.
Health care — including access to family physicians and increasing wait times at clinics and emergency rooms, as well as for surgeries — is a major concern for many in the area. What would you do as MPP to help the situation?
The Ontario Liberal Party proposes to get every person in Ontario a family doctor within four years. We propose to create two new medical schools and expand existing medical schools, doubling the number of medical school spots and residency positions; deliver team-based care with evening and weekend support, integrated home care for seniors, and accessible mental health services for youth; add at least 1,200 qualified and experienced internationally trained doctors over four years; eliminate fax machines, enhance virtual care, introduce centralized referrals, and make it easier for doctors and other healthcare professionals to focus on patients not paperwork; and incentivize family doctors to serve in rural and northern communities.
As the threat of tariffs looms from the U.S., what are the most important things the Ontario government can do to advocate for its citizens and lessen the blow of any consequences?
The Ontario government must stand behind every worker, every farmer, every family in this province until this crisis is over and these unjust tariffs are withdrawn. The Ontario Liberal Party is fully behind a coordinated response to fight back against Trump. This includes preparing Ontario for economic resilience by ensuring businesses and workers have what they need to fight back: reducing taxes, lowering the cost of housing, and eliminating the provincial portion of the HST on home hydro and heating.
More specifically, our Party proposes to cut the small business tax rate by half, from the current 3.2 per cent to 1.6 per cent, and increase the income threshold that is eligible for this deduction from $500,000 to $600,000, allowing more business owners to qualify.
This will save small business owners as much as $18,000 a year, providing relief amid increased inflation, high interest rates, and declining productivity. Nearly 275,000 out of Ontario’s 450,000 small businesses will benefit from this tax cut, allowing for increased investments in advanced machinery, new hires, and business expansion.
We also propose to lower the personal income tax rate for middle-class Ontario families by reducing the tax rate on taxable income between $51,446 and $75,000 by 22 per cent. This will benefit almost half of all taxpayers in Ontario. For an average household, this change will result in a tax savings of about $950 annually.
Beyond the above three issues, what is another key policy/idea that could be implemented to improve life for people in your riding?
We live in a time of increasing economic and social insecurity, reflected by surging food bank demands and escalating homelessness. Should I be elected as the new MPP for Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston, I would strive to find allies within the Ontario Liberal Party, and within the other parties, as collaborators to see the Province reintroduce a basic income program for working-age adults, similar to what was in a trial phase in 2017-18 before the Ford government killed the program a few months after coming into office. I have a deep background in basic income advocacy, including as a co-founder and the first Chair of the Lanark Basic Income Network, and would tap into this background to stimulate awareness of, and public and political support for, basic income.
If you could share one message with voters in Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston, what would it be?
Democracy is indeed, as Churchill said, “the worst form of government except for all the others.” But for democracy to work as well as it can, it demands the engagement of citizens. Whether one chooses to run for public office, join a political party and participate in party politics, sign on with Elections Ontario or Elections Canada to be part of the machinery for running elections, or simply be a concerned citizen who raises their voice, all such engagement is vital to help realize the best of government, the best of public service delivery.