Megan Grittani-Livingston/The Question

HERE’S THE PITCH

MP candidates(from left) Harold Ludwig, Chuck Strahl, Helen Kormendy and Myra Sweeney await their turn to speak at Friday’s (Oct. 3) all-candidates’ forum at Pemberton Secondary School.

Pemberton played host to the first all-candidates event of the current election campaign for the federal hopefuls in the Chilliwack-Fraser Canyon riding on Friday (Oct. 3).

The riding’s current MP, Conservative Chuck Strahl, joined Liberal candidate Myra Sweeney, the New Democratic Party’s Helen Kormendy and Harold Ludwig of the Christian Heritage Party of Canada (CHP) to outline their platforms for approximately 100 students in the commons area of Pemberton Secondary School (PSS), in a mild-mannered exchange that saw the candidates largely stick to their own scripts.

Green Party of Canada candidate Barbara Lebeau couldn’t be present due to a scheduling conflict, but event organizer and PSS teacher Angela Stott read a statement on her behalf that promoted the party’s vision for peace and peacekeeping, universal health care, marijuana possession without fear of incurring a criminal record, supporting small businesses, lower post-secondary tuition fees, equal treatment for all and protection of green space and animals. Stott said Lebeau had already planned to be in Pemberton for a walking tour on Saturday (Oct. 4).

Strahl, who has served as the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development since August 2007, said he got involved in politics in 1992 and 1993 because “it was a really difficult time in the country.” He felt Canada faced deficit and debt, threats to unity and concerns about a justice system that had become too focused on the rehabilitation of criminals instead of sending a message that violent crimes and use of firearms would not be tolerated.

“Even today, a lot of those same issues that got me motivated to get into politics are still important today,” Strahl said.

He said he still thinks it’s vital to balance the budget, because “it’s a time for prudence, for moderation,” he said, adding that the Conservatives are proposing a modest spending program while offering some targeted tax relief initiatives.

The Conservatives are also proposing measures to tighten the criminal justice system, Strahl said, making a brief nod to the changes for the Youth Criminal Justice Act unveiled early in the Conservative campaign, which will automatically ensure more stiff sentences for those 14 and older who are convicted of violent crimes and make public the names of the offenders.

Strahl said the primary difference between his early days in politics and now is “the change in emphasis on the environment.” He said he had few, if any, questions about the environment in 1993, but now he finds Canadians rank it alongside health care, the economy and jobs in their lists of most important issues.

The Conservative party has specific plans to deal with both climate change and air pollution, he said.

Strahl’s initial speech was curiously marked by fainting spells for two of the students in his audience, prompting first aid attention and worried muttering in the crowd. After two more students felt faint during the remainder of the presentations, the school was evacuated after the speeches.

The fire department, RCMP and medical and school district personnel responded, eventually concluding the students’ medical conditions were unrelated and there were no air quality issues, PSS Principal Nolan Cox said in a statement to parents and guardians.

Kormendy took the podium following the first two fainting spells, offering first aid advice. The Ashcroft town councillor, who currently works for the Province as a child and youth mental health clinician and was previously a labourer and truck driver for CN Rail, said she stands for the platform of equality, fairness and respect that characterizes the NDP under leader Jack Layton.

She said the No. 1 issue she hears from constituents in going door-to-door is health care, so the NDP would increase the number of doctors by 50 per cent, along with the number of nurses, to deal with shortages and procedural wait times.

Kormendy said an NDP government would also reverse $50 billion in tax cuts from big corporations to use for a national child care program, decrease post-secondary tuition fees, initiate a national drug program and create an affordable housing program.

“Our platform this year is all about putting people first,” she said.

Kormendy stressed the importance of voting, asking her underage audience to talk to their families to make sure everyone casts a ballot. She concluded by briefly addressing the environment, saying the NDP wants to proceed with the climate change policy the party proposed this year, and by slamming the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Sweeney, a parole officer at the Matsqui Institution, kept her remarks brief. She pointed to the Liberals’ Green Shift platform, the importance of protecting equality and respect for all beliefs, the need to ensure all Canadians can live comfortable lives and the need for a change in attitudes to ensure criminals are rehabilitated.

“I admire every candidate from every party, because they believe in what their party stands for,” Sweeney said. “Party leaders represent different attitudes about what governments should do. Just because their life experience has led them to different conclusions does not mean that they are stupid or evil — it just means they’re mistaken.”

CHP candidate Ludwig, a retired businessman and former educator who has sought office for his party in three elections, stressed the importance of the CHP as a valuable alternate voice in the national debate.

“I want to assure you that we are not some scary right-wing fringe party, but that we’ve actually been contesting elections for the past two decades,” Ludwig said, adding, “We do believe we have a legitimate voice to add to the discussion about the future of our country.”

Ludwig said the CHP is the only party in Canada that truly respects the Constitution, including the preamble to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms that recognizes “‘the supremacy of God and the rule of law.’”

“Canada’s ruling parties have turned their back on the Constitution and the supremacy of God by continuing to protect our pro-abortion status quo,” he said.

As the riding’s MP, Ludwig said he would seek justice for all Canadians, an end to discrimination against citizens with disabilities, a commitment to parents’ rights, income splitting for all and “measured environmental policies that are rooted in science.”

Responding to a student’s question about how to lower fuel prices while protecting the environment, Strahl and Ludwig said lowering taxes could be part of a necessarily complex solution to the issues, while Strahl added the Conservatives have already helped by reducing the GST and have proposed to “bring the hammer down” on price-fixing or colluding companies.

Kormendy said oil companies need to stop artificially inflating prices, and public transportation must be improved to reduce our emissions, applauding Pemberton’s bus network. “You tie the environment to the economy,” she said.

Sweeney said the Liberals are the only ones encouraging oil companies to innovate to achieve greener solutions, and the party would not increases taxes at the pump. More money must be put into green technologies, but people’s behaviour also has to change, she said.

“I think the Liberals have been very outspoken about trying to change the behaviours of Canadians so we’re not dependent on fossil fuels,” she said, stressing the importance of clean air.

When another student asked how the candidates would keep the Canadian economy healthy despite the U.S. financial crisis, Strahl and Ludwig noted that Canada’s economy is separate from that of the U.S., though it is naturally affected by the troubles of such a major trading partner.

Strahl said the Canadian housing market is different and won’t see the same problems as the U.S. is having, making a brief explanation of subprime mortgages to the mostly teenage audience. He said the Conservatives help Canadians by paying down the country’s debt instead of increasing it, as the U.S. is doing, by giving breaks to first-time home buyers and by creating the tax-free savings plans to become available on Jan. 1, 2009.

Kormendy and Ludwig said their parties would focus on job creation within Canada, while Sweeney directed the audience to party leader Stéphane Dion’s 30-day plan that begins with checking the state of the government’s books.

Asked after the forum about the issues important to most Pembertonians, Strahl said he thinks the questions associated with growth are predominant.

“The issues in Pemberton are issues of growth,” he said, adding that’s why the Conservatives have arranged for local grants for flood protection and the water system.

Sweeney and Kormendy said they haven’t yet been able to spend as much time here as they would like, given the size of the riding, which stretches from the Canada-U.S. border below the Fraser Valley and north to above Carpenter and Downton Lakes on the west and Cache Creek on the east.

Sweeney said money to counter the effects of the pine beetle plague could be important, and she views the 2010 Olympic Games as “Pemberton’s opportunity to shine.”

Kormendy said she sees Pemberton as a vibrant and active community, and she hopes to spend more time here.

Comments

Be the first to comment!