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KE candidates clash at chamber forum
e-KNOW News
By Ian Cobb
The Cranbrook Chamber of Commerce All-Candidates’ Forum, held April 25 at the Heritage Inn, provided voters in attendance with a clearer look at who they have to vote for in Kootenay East in the May 9 provincial election.
BC NDP candidate Randal Macnair, BC Liberal candidate Tom Shypitka, Green Party candidate Yvonne Prest and Libertarian Keith Komar fielded a wide range of questions over a two hour period, with chamber vice president Wes Rogers serving as evening emcee.
Questions were gathered by the chamber prior to the forum, as well as during it, to present to candidates – with most centring around B.C.’s and the East Kootenay’s economy.
At the conclusion of the evening the candidates were provided three minutes each for closing statements. The following is what they had to say in their closing statements, in order as presented.
Randal Macnair (BC NDP)
“One of the favourite things I have done as an elected official is go and talk to kids and go to school groups and classes because they ask questions that you might not think about. And they see the world in a different way and you learn from them.
“When I was at the Grade 6 class of Kootenay Orchard (Elementary School) the other day this girl said to me, ‘what’s the first thing that you are going to do when you get elected?’ And I hadn’t been asked that question before. I said to her, ‘I am going to hug my wife.’ And she looked at me kind quite inquisitively because that was not what she thought I was going to say. But she made me think. And the first thing I am going to do when I get elected is talk to the people who didn’t vote for me. Bring people together.
“That’s the way I’ve lived my life; that’s my philosophy and that’s how we transformed Fernie from a community that was literally on the ropes to a community that in the last census grew 18% – more than almost any other community in Western Canada. And that’s bring people together.
“Now, you can talk to your friends all you want but that’s reaffirmation by biased affirmation and you learn more when you talk to somebody who doesn’t necessarily agree with you. And you need to bring those people into the room and get those ideas and this has been a great process over the last week. We’ve been sitting next to each other, sharing ideas and like I said at the beginning, sometimes agreeing, sometimes disagreeing but we need to bring all those ideas together. And when Keith says black, I don’t need to say white. Let’s just move forward together and by working together we can build stronger communities and we can build a stronger British Columbia. And it sounds simple; but it isn’t. It takes work; it takes a little bit of time because when you have people this far apart (he showed a space of about a foot with his hands), if you peel those layers away you realize that they’re only this far apart (he closed to his hands to a few inches apart). There are values that make us all stronger. We have shared values that can build a better British Columbia.”
Tom Shypitka (BC Liberal Party)
“We do have to work together,” he said, noting he doesn’t call himself a politician but a public servant. “We all want what is right for British Columbia. There is no doubt about it. In our own view we want what’s right. There should be no surprises here that we all want money to continue and we all want poverty to be reduced, we all want education to survive. These are very broad statements and we’ve all made them here tonight. However, what your job is here tonight is to determine which party has the basic principles in place to achieve these goals. That’s what it really comes down to.
“We can all make statements but it is what party actually has the principles in place. I said earlier Baldy Ridge, the expansion of that mine, if it was a new mine it would have been front page news in the Vancouver Sun. It is the expansion of an existing mine at Elkview and it’s going to be creating, I don’t know how many jobs; I think there’s 4,000 jobs over 30 years. It’s a whole generation of work and that comes only from political will. It was very hard to get those permits in place, I’m telling you.
“And it’s okay to agree with something and you want mines and you want this and you want that but which government’s actually going to do that for you? We are very pro on keeping the economy going.”
Shypitka then listed “some of the negatives” of B.C. returning to a NDP-led government.
“In the ‘90s, when the NDP was in power, we were the have not province; we really were. Debt was doubled, we were last in job creation in the country; we laid off thousands of nurses, we didn’t build one single hospital and it wasn’t a good time back then. But times have changed. Right now our job creation is number one in the country, we have the lowest unemployment, though sometimes it doesn’t feel that way. We’ve got to work on these things, I agree, but we have the lowest unemployment. You can’t make those numbers up. The lowest personal income tax in the country; the highest triple A credit rating – it saves us billions of dollars; give consecutive balanced budgets; like who does that any more? Nobody in Canada does that. It’s very rare and we’ve got to keep those principles in place.
“We have the lowest debt to GDP ratio in the world – one of the lowest in the world. These aren’t slam-dunks and we’ve got to keep these policies and principles in place. If we lose them we’re heading south, or more appropriately we are heading east . We going into Alberta. You’ve seen what’s happened over there? So it is a bit of reality check; it is a splash of water on the face but we really need to keep these principles alive. We can’t go backwards. We have the framework in place but we always need to improve and with your help we will improve and we will get together and I will talk to the person who didn’t vote for me. I’m actually looking out for you.”
Yvonne Prest (BC Green Party)
“First I want to say we do not want education to survive, okay, we want it to thrive and we do need a progressive government and 16 years, I think, was a fair crack at it. I defend Randal here and the NDP; I don’t think you can judge a government of the 90s. I don’t judge you on what you did in the 90s, Tom. I definitely saw a couple of shots of a mullet on line. It looked good at the time, right?
“This is all about putting trust back into the government. I head some fear here and I hear the Libertarians want government to get out of the way and I think that is a beautiful sentiment, Keith; you know I respect you, but I want the government to be you, me, right? We the people. And I want to take it back. There became a strange separation. I go down the street trying to talk to people – just about voting, not about the Green Party – I want you to vote and they go ‘nah, I don’t really like politics; I’m not really into politics; I don’t do politics. They are just young people. I had a woman in her 60s who didn’t even know there was an election so it’s not just young people who may be ignorant or new to the democratic process.
“This is a real issue that we have. Fifty one per cent, I believe, was the turn out (in the last election). This is my real passion – getting people active with participating in democracy. I want to give you guys a pat on the back for being here because you are actively participating in democracy and that is why I am running myself, because I want my students to do that one day.
“I see a lot of Liberal supporters and I respect you. I am sure you are wonderful people and caring community members but please come up to me afterwards. Talk to me and tell me why you are voting Liberal, so tomorrow I can tell my students with a straight face because right now I really can’t. I avoid the topic because I’m a teacher and I respect other parties and the democratic process but please come talk to me and let me why you’re voting.
“When I said who is going to do entry level jobs for $15 an hour, everyone shrugged their shoulders. And this is a real issue that we have to face. People work entry level jobs; people are content working entry level jobs – they are proud to work entry level jobs and we need to pay them appropriately because they make up our world. If we don’t empower everyone, we are no better than people we should have learned from in the past.
Prest concluded noting the Green Party foundations, such as protecting the environment and sustaining or improving education.
“Those are two things our current government has failed to do and it’s a trickle down effect into everything, from our health care system, it lowers the money to put into our judicial system because people can make better choices because they are better informed.
“So please vote; vote for whoever you believe in. And come and tell me why because then I can tell my students.”
Keith Komar (Libertarian Party)
He opened by thanking all in attendance.
“As much as it’s a stretch to sit on this stage and present ourselves to you, it has to be a stretch to sit here and listen to us and put up with that, so I really want to thank you.
“The next thing I want to say is that it didn’t really come up to me but a lot of people get really fed up with the corporations donating to the parties. So what I suggest to you is if there is an ideology that you tap into here today, if there is someone that you believe in, go home, find the party on line and give them $5; do something to help them out and then you don’t have to worry about the corporations. If everyone from the ground organized and helped us out we wouldn’t be looking to corporations to help and we wouldn’t need to have this conversation about favours.
“I think we are at a precipice in this town because there is a camp of loyal supporters for the NDP and the Liberals and there is this silent, I don’t know, majority of people in this town who are looking for other options.
“We have to worry about these donations that are coming in from big corporations and I think it is open and I think everyone should be allowed to donate but we should be aware. In the first debate I talked about a NASCAR coat, with everybody having their stamp on it. The BCGSEU donated $2.2 million to the New Democratic Party. The United Steelworkers donated $2.2 million to the New Democratic Party. And number three on that list is Teck Coal who donated $2 million to the Liberal Party. So that will give you a little picture of whose coat people are wearing.
“The largest donation we had is Marc Emery, the Prince of Pot, so if you want to know the coat we’re wearing – that’s our coat. And I want to explain that to you; the donation came after we wrote the policy. We did not write our cannabis policy to please Marc. We wrote our cannabis policy and it please Marc and he helped us. And I think that’s the way we need to be looking at this. Policy should attract that donation. A donation should not affect the policy. Where we are at right now is we have two different camps and I would like to say that if you are considering voting outside of the Liberals and the NDP you have two very distinctive platforms here. I believe in individual freedom; I believe in power from the ground up. And Yvonne (Prest) also believes in this but she believes the heavy hand of government needs to be involved in that. And I don’t agree with that.
“I don’t think taxation is the way to do these things. I think it is best if we take that and organize ourselves but again it’s an option that you have. I’m not saying either one is right. I am saying it is up to you to chose and I just want to point out the differences between the two.”
What you need to know about the upcoming election.
Above photo: From left, Emcee Wes Rogers, Liberal candidate Tom Shypitka, Libertarian Keith Komar, Green Party candidate Yvonne Prest and NDP candidate Randal Macnair. Ian Cobb/e-KNOW photo
