Pubdate: Thu, 01 Oct 2015
Source: Kimberley Daily Bulletin (CN BC)
Copyright: 2015, Kimberley Daily Bulletin
Contact:  http://www.dailybulletin.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1427
Author: Taylor Rocca
Page: A1

CANDIDATES TANGLE AT KIMBERLEY DEBATE

With the 42nd federal election fast approaching, residents of 
Kimberley were given an opportunity to listen in on major election 
issues and the stances of all four candidates in the riding of 
Kootenay-Columbia on Wednesday as the Kimberley Chamber of Commerce 
hosted an all-candidates forum at Centre 64.

Bill Green (Green Party), Don Johnston (Liberal Party), Wayne Stetski 
(NDP) and incumbent David Wilks (Conservative Party of Canada) were 
all in attendance Wednesday night, fielding 13 questions in a forum 
moderated by Tom Ross.

Candidates were provided with the questions immediately before the forum.

The question period was bookended by opening and closing remarks from 
each candidate. There was no open question period for the 
approximately 150 people in attendance.

The 13 questions selected came from a pool of questions submitted to 
the chamber from members of the voting public.

A variety of issues were covered over the 13-question forum. In order 
as they were addressed: rural access to affordable Internet, 
medicinal marijuana dispensaries, funding of the Canadian Broadcast 
Corporation (CBC), the mandatory long-form census, investment in 
veterans services, education, freedom of Canadian scientists, climate 
change, investment in future clean technologies, economic priorities 
relating to small businesses and supply of workers, electoral reform 
and, finally, the growing age gap and the systemic issues that come with it.

With the City of Kimberley accepting business applications for three 
new medical marijuana dispensaries, this was a particularly local 
issue early on in the proceedings.

"First of all, I think the federal government has dropped the ball on 
this one," Wilks said. "That's why we are where we are. I'm the first 
to admit that and I see the problems we have."

Wilks believes municipalities should not be granting business 
licenses to medicinal marijuana dispensaries and the issue should be 
addressed by the federal government.

Stetski first took the opportunity to make it clear the NDP are in 
favour of decriminalizing marijuana for recreational use before 
describing a partnership between federal and municipal levels to 
oversee successful implementation of medicinal marijuana dispensaries.

"We believe that if we legalize it, regulate it and tax it, there 
will be huge benefits," Johnston said of the marijuana issue. "We're 
seeing this happening in Colorado, in Oregon, in Washington, in 
Alaska -- we have lots of working examples to use data from to move 
on with this."

Johnston stressed researching the elements of the drug and then 
educating citizens using that information.

Green congratulated the City of Kimberley on a "forward-looking step" 
before stating the Green Party will legalize recreational marijuana 
and, like the Liberals, research and educate citizens. On the 
medicinal side of the equation, Green said there should be no 
long-term need for medical marijuana dispensaries should the drug be 
made available through the already regulated health care and 
pharmaceutical system.

The topic of the CBC brought similar stances from Stetski, Johnston 
and Green, each of which voiced promises of a stable future for 
Canada's national broadcaster.

"Not only is it a cultural institution, it's a core foundation of 
this country," Green said. "It's hard to imagine a modern democracy 
existing and functioning well without a strong public broadcaster. 
Our public broadcaster has been seriously eroded over the last 10 or 15 years."

The Green Party will invest $285 million in year one in the CBC, 
boosting investments to $315 million per year in subsequent years.

Wilks said the challenges faced by the CBC boil down to working 
within a television market where consumers have nearly unlimited 
choice at their fingertips and its the CBC's responsibility to 
determine how it can compete. Wilks said funding for the CBC will 
"stay the same."

The mandatory long-form census was removed by the Conversative Party 
after it earned a majority government in 2011. Wilks attributed this 
to citizens citing an invasion of privacy from the mandatory survey.

Each of Johnston, Green and Stetski stated similar opinions that 
evidence-based decision making has been hindered by the removal of 
the mandatory long-form census and therefore, it should be restored.

When it came to educational policies, Green and the Green Party 
stance had the strongest in position presented.

"This isn't a situation we can tinker with," Green said. "The 
fastest-growing economies in the world have free tuition. It doesn't 
matter whether it's skills training, colleges, apprenticeships - you 
name it. Why don't we have free tuition in this day and age when 
post-secondary education is fundamentally important to progress in 
the job market?"

The Green Party will phase in free post-secondary tuition over the 
next five years, with costs being covered by a restoration of 
corporate tax rates from 15 per cent to 19 per cent.

Wilks focused on a lack of skilled trades workers in Canada.

Stetski discussed reducing the costs of post-secondary education.

Johnston touched on the distribution of educational facilities so 
students don't have to travel as far to obtain the education they seek.

A trio of questions through the mid-portion of the forum touched on 
environmental issues revolving around the decline in freedom of 
scientists, climate change and investment in future clean 
technologies, such as Kimberley's Sun Mine project.

Stetski, Johnston and Green held similar stances in regards to 
implementing emissions-reduction targets.

"I am going to get beat up on this one, so I'm going to read right 
from the Government of Canada and Environment Canada processes for 
media relations requests," Wilks said in regards to the communication 
of scientific information, before rattling off a long policy from January 2008.

With vote-splitting and electoral reform popping up as a hot-button 
topic throughout this extended campaign period, the topic of 
first-past-the-post and proportional representation was addressed by 
each candidate.

Johnston and the Liberals promised implementation of proportional 
representation at the polls as soon as 18 months after Oct. 19. Green 
and the Greens went a step further, promising the same, but within a 
12-month period.

Stetski said the NDP favour proportional representation, but gave no 
timeline for implementation. Green eventually questioned the NDP's 
commitment electoral reform.

Citing the failure of the implementation of similar electoral reform 
at the provincial level, Wilks said the Conservative Party is 
committed to the current system of first-past-the-post elections.

In closing, each candidate provided their own strong remarks for 
those in attendance.

A selection of closing remarks from each candidate, in speaking order:

Don Johnston, Liberal

"The world is a very different place than it used to be and we are 
losing Canadians at the polls," Johnston said. "We're really losing 
young Canadians because don't believe their vote counts. We have got 
to address that. It's one of the biggest threats to our democracy.

"The biggest single cause of that is the absolute imbalance between 
the power of the Prime Minister's Office and the power of the House 
of Parliament. We need to redress that and we need to redress it quickly."

Wayne Stetski, NDP

"I described myself as a fiscally-responsible, liberal-minded, green 
NDPer," Stetski said, which drew laughs from the crowd. "Those are 
the values I have. If you've been listening to three progressive 
parties tonight - the Green Party, the Liberal Party and the NDP - we 
have a lot of similar goals but we're going to get there in a little 
different way and different targets.

"On Oct. 19, you need to think about Canada and what kind of future 
you want for our country. I'm asking you to put your support and your 
faith in me...I will bring back the Canada we can all be proud of."

David Wilks, Conservative

"The job of a Member of Parliament is to ensure he or she can get as 
much as he can for his constituency so that the municipalities and 
community groups can move forward with projects they may want to move 
forward with," Wilks said. "That's my job as an MP.

"The fabric of a community is its community groups and its 
functionality as a municipal or regional government. Without money, 
they move nowhere. My job is to make sure that happens."

Bill Green, Green

"The Green Party wants to eliminate poverty in this country rather 
than focusing just on the middle class," Green said. "We have a real 
plan for climate change, which is about building the economy of the 
future rather than entrenching old industries of the past.

"Don't waste your vote this election. Don't vote out of fear. Don't 
vote against the past. Please vote for the future."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom