Pubdate: Thu, 01 Oct 2015
Source: Cranbrook Daily Townsman (CN BC)
Copyright: 2015 Black Press
Contact:  http://www.dailytownsman.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/723
Author: Taylor Rocca
Page: 3

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: Matt