Candidates debate in hope of getting your vote

By Jack Elliott
Correspondent

Interest in the October 14 Federal Election was strong in the west end of the District as approximately sixty area residents attended the All Candidates Debate in the auditorium at Our Lady of the Way School in Stratton on Monday, September 29. Hosted by the Rainy River Federation of Agriculture, strict rules for the debate were laid out and enforced by moderator Linda Armstrong and timekeeper Kim Jo Bliss.
Each candidate was allotted six minutes for their opening remarks. The audience was then given an opportunity to ask questions with a two-minute time limit on posing the question. All candidates were then given an equal opportunity of two minutes to answer the question. The poser of the original question was then allowed one minute for a rebuttal question, which again all candidates were given the opportunity to answer.
Midway through the questioning there was a mix and mingle coffee break, followed by a shortened question asking session and closing remarks by all candidates. The process was even-handed, fair, and firmly administered by Armstrong in spite of the attempts by a few audience members to interrupt and heckle some speakers. Order of presentation and question response was random and rotated to favour no individual.
All candidates opened with a personal history.
Liberal incumbent Ken Boshcoff trumpeted his hard work on behalf of constituents and praised area association and municipal representatives for their strong lobbying efforts on behalf of local concerns, stating, “the world is run by those who show up.”
Richard Neumann, Conservative candidate, was strident in his support of Stephen Harper’s steady hand and forcefully touted the party line on tax cuts and getting tough on crime to the delight of his obvious supporters. Neumann also ridiculed the Liberals proposed ‘carbon tax”. On food safety he claimed the Conservatives had recently hire 200 more inspectors.
On behalf of the Green Party, Russ Aegard of South Gillies, just outside Thunder Bay, laid out that party's support for small business, family farms and organic foods. He also gave a history lesson in the penetration of the Green Party into government in other, notably European countries. One exception from politics as usual was his willingness to recognize the successful efforts of other parties, notably the Conservative’s success in this election of sidelining the issue of Quebec separatism.
John Rafferty, of the NDP, roundly criticized the Conservatives for their proposed 50 billion dollar tax cut for corporations. He also took on the Liberals carbon tax offering an alternative ‘cap and trade’ system. He identified the economy as the number one concern, pledging to increase foreign aid, not through money transfers, but by using the Canadian Development Agency to purchase goods and services from Canadian companies to be used in foreign aid. He repeatedly asked the question ‘what face do you want Canada to present to the world.’ Rafferty also insisted the outcome of the election in this riding would be determined by the west end of the District.
Questions from the floor ranged from issues on food safety, to taxation, then healthcare availability, and the price of fuel. Answers generally followed the party platforms.
On a pointed question on partial birth abortion, all candidates with the exception of Rafferty claimed no knowledge of the procedure, but all stated they would support the law as it currently stood regarding a ‘woman’s right to choose’ on the abortion issue.
On the gun registry, there was once again general agreement that handguns should continue to be banned, and the long gun registry now a fact of life, should not place any financial burden on firearm owners.
There was some of the usual political name-calling and platform slamming amongst the candidates, but no particularly heated exchanges. This was undoubtedly the result of the tight rein Armstrong kept on the proceedings and under the forum rules the inability of the audience to address a specific question to one specific candidate.