With the federal election just around the corner, the local candidates’ campaigns are starting to gear up.
One of the first major milestones in election season was the debate held at Nipissing University, Wednesday. There, all the candidates had the chance to explain their parties’ platforms as well as their own. It was not a full complement of candidates, however, as the NDP’s Rob Boulet was unable to attend due to work commitments. The event was hosted by the Retired Teachers of Ontario, Nipissing University Student Union, and Canadore Students’ Council.
The theme of this debate clearly centred on student issues and the candidates were quick to notice that.
“The main message was to take a look at all the parties,” Liberal candidate and incumbent Anthony Rota said after the debate. “Look at where you would like your Canada to be in not only four years from now, but five, ten, twenty years and which party will suit you best.”
“I do believe that everybody should do some research on their parties,” Conservative candidate Jordy Carr said. “Don’t take it from social media. Go to the parties’ website and look at their mandates and see what the parties are really about. I think you have to do a little bit of research to find out the information. Come to our offices and speak to us directly and we will do our best to answer.”
The fledgling People’s Party of Canada and its local candidate, Mark King, explained what his party brought to the table.
“These policies have been out for some time, and a lot of the public understand what is happening in our region and the country. Our policies are designed make people responsible for their personal being.”
Alexander Gomm of the Green Party, on what his first debate was like.
“Nerve-wracking at first, but I settled in and got a little more confident in what I was saying.”
The Green Party has normally been the party most associated with the environment, but this election seems to have a focus on the environment from all parties, on top of the student body.
“The environment is really the central issue that we need to focus on,” Gomm explained. “As Elizabeth May said, and many scientists have stated, we are facing a threat. The reason why more people are concerned about it is that the information can’t be suppressed anymore by industry and by multinational corporations who are the worst polluters. The information is out there, people are concerned, especially the youth. It is absolutely criminal that the older generation is doing business as usual when they know there is a better way.”
“One of the things that we are doing is implementing a green tax credit to families to do renovations to help with gas emissions from their homes,” Carr explained on where the Conservatives stand on the environment. “Canadian buildings were 12 percent of all emissions in Canada. If we can encourage people to work within their own limits of their own home, it will make a big difference in Canada.”
During the debate when asked about the national climate change emergency, Mark King said that climate change was not national, but global, which gave him a quick turn from boos from the crowd to applause.
Other issues talked about was the ever contentious gun control conversation.
“The thing we are looking at with municipalities is letting them decide whether they want guns in the municipality or not,” Rota said.
“We would abolish bill C-71,” Mark King added. “That bill actually holds law-abiding gun owners into an uncomfortable situation as far as gun ownership goes.”
“I am a gun owner and a hunter,” Carr said. “I have been through the registration and it is costly. It didn’t stop gun issues.”
“More and more powerful semi-auto and automatic weapons are finding their way into the country,” Gomm said. “One of the ways we can change this is by changing the way that we do things. One of those is by getting integrated communities where people are not alienated so people do not feel threatened.”
Election day is October 21.
