Surrey North All Candidates Forum on Poverty
On April 28th Surrey North had an all candidates forum focusing on poverty. This one was organized by The BC Poverty Reduction Coalition and Canada Without Poverty. The forum was held in the gorgeous SFU Surrey/Local mall.
Our invisible incumbent Dona Cadman (Conservative Party) was once again a no-show. Nobody was surprised, all the local papers and even Global TV News have commented on her disappearing act.
Jasbir Sandhu (NDP) had another engagement but an arrangement was made to allow him to arrive late. He arrived about 45 minutes into the event and was given a few minutes to introduce himself and answer the questions he had missed. The disruption to the flow was minimal, but I think the organizers may have gone a bit too far to be accommodating.
All the other candidates for the riding were there promptly and exchanged some friendly chit chat while waiting to start.
During the introductions nearly all of the candidates told their personal stories of hard times and threw in a few of their talking points. Next there were 3 prepared questions about poverty issues, followed by audience questions.
Shinder Purewal (Liberal Party) discussed the party’s plan for a national housing strategy that would deal directly with the municipalities, increases to the guaranteed income supplement, and the importance of prioritizing government spending to build the capacity of all people.
Jamie Scott (Independent) stuck to his talking points of getting away from our “Debt based monetary system” and his oath of truthiness. He also mentioned the awesomeness of the Libertarian candidates proposed “Read the Bills Act.” He didn’t really answer a single question all night.
Bernadette Keenan (Green Party) addressed each of the questions in very general terms, focusing on the Green Party promise of Annual Guaranteed Income. She still managed to mention the South Fraser Perimeter road in her intro and closing statements and at least half of her answers. She appeared quite nervous when she was speaking about anything else. The green party may not be a one issue party, but unfortunately their candidate in Surrey North is a one issue candidate.
Norris Barens (Libertarian) stated he wouldn’t support legislation for a national poverty reduction plan, claiming it’s not practical because poverty is never going to go away. He instead wants to cut government waste and educate against the “learned helplessness” at the root of poverty. He’s also in favour of eliminating income taxes and instituting a flat sales tax instead, which seems to be in opposition to the libertarian party of Canada platform which calls for eliminating the GST and moving to a system of fees for services. (http://www.libertarian.ca/english/lpc-platform-may-2007.html)
Kevin Pielack (Christian Heritage Party) wasn’t quite as enraging as he was at the last forum. First priority: protecting unborn babies. Second priority: protecting the “traditional family”. For any issues not covered in their platform he’d ask the community for their input. Nobody booed him this time but a few of his answers didn’t get much polite clapping either.
Jasbir Sandhu (NDP) apologized for his late arrival and introduced himself much in the way you’d expect someone interviewing for a job to. He told us about his day job and the community organizations he works with. He mentioned the NDP plans to strengthen pensions and increase the Guaranteed Income Supplement, and the need for a national housing strategy.
An audience question (which I suspect was planted by the CHP candidate, but I of course have no proof and am only speculating) was about whether the candidates recognize the unborn baby as a person. The Liberal and NDP candidates both clearly stated that this was a choice for a woman to make with her doctor/family and that the government should stay out of it. Bernadette Keenan (Green) wants to make sure women weren’t being forced into the choice by economic concerns. Norris Barens (Libertarian) shared the anti-abortion view of the CHP candidate and made a slippery slope argument about our seniors being next. This view seems odd to me from a Libertarian, I thought they were all about individual rights and choices?
My favourite question of the evening though was “If you are NOT elected, what are you going to do to try and end poverty?” (That’s probably not the exact wording)
Norris Barens (Libertarian) wants people to lift themselves out of poverty and felt that teaching kids that they can make changes to get themselves out of the poverty cycle was the best way to do that.
Kevin Pielack (CHP), a teacher, went off on a tangent about class sizes and limiting the number of special needs children in each class, before clarifying providing a good education would prevent poverty. He’d also keep donating to charity and church.
Jasbir Sandhu (NDP) said he’d keep working with the Vancity Community Foundation and the United Way and advocate provincially.
Shinder Purewal (Liberal) said he’d keep working to fight poverty, and that his kids volunteered at the food bank. He also said he’d lobby the government to make laws that shift priorities and allow more spending to address poverty.
Jamie Scott (Independent) said he’d be willing to act as a community Liaison to whichever candidate wins... I think this means he’ll annoy the hell out of whoever wins if they aren’t a strong voice that stands up for the community.
Bernadette Keenan (Green) said she loves having Garage Sales and donating the Proceeds to the food bank. And that damned freeway has gotta go.
Our invisible incumbent Dona Cadman (Conservative Party) was once again a no-show. Nobody was surprised, all the local papers and even Global TV News have commented on her disappearing act.
Jasbir Sandhu (NDP) had another engagement but an arrangement was made to allow him to arrive late. He arrived about 45 minutes into the event and was given a few minutes to introduce himself and answer the questions he had missed. The disruption to the flow was minimal, but I think the organizers may have gone a bit too far to be accommodating.
All the other candidates for the riding were there promptly and exchanged some friendly chit chat while waiting to start.
During the introductions nearly all of the candidates told their personal stories of hard times and threw in a few of their talking points. Next there were 3 prepared questions about poverty issues, followed by audience questions.
Shinder Purewal (Liberal Party) discussed the party’s plan for a national housing strategy that would deal directly with the municipalities, increases to the guaranteed income supplement, and the importance of prioritizing government spending to build the capacity of all people.
Jamie Scott (Independent) stuck to his talking points of getting away from our “Debt based monetary system” and his oath of truthiness. He also mentioned the awesomeness of the Libertarian candidates proposed “Read the Bills Act.” He didn’t really answer a single question all night.
Bernadette Keenan (Green Party) addressed each of the questions in very general terms, focusing on the Green Party promise of Annual Guaranteed Income. She still managed to mention the South Fraser Perimeter road in her intro and closing statements and at least half of her answers. She appeared quite nervous when she was speaking about anything else. The green party may not be a one issue party, but unfortunately their candidate in Surrey North is a one issue candidate.
Norris Barens (Libertarian) stated he wouldn’t support legislation for a national poverty reduction plan, claiming it’s not practical because poverty is never going to go away. He instead wants to cut government waste and educate against the “learned helplessness” at the root of poverty. He’s also in favour of eliminating income taxes and instituting a flat sales tax instead, which seems to be in opposition to the libertarian party of Canada platform which calls for eliminating the GST and moving to a system of fees for services. (http://www.libertarian.ca/english/lpc-platform-may-2007.html)
Kevin Pielack (Christian Heritage Party) wasn’t quite as enraging as he was at the last forum. First priority: protecting unborn babies. Second priority: protecting the “traditional family”. For any issues not covered in their platform he’d ask the community for their input. Nobody booed him this time but a few of his answers didn’t get much polite clapping either.
Jasbir Sandhu (NDP) apologized for his late arrival and introduced himself much in the way you’d expect someone interviewing for a job to. He told us about his day job and the community organizations he works with. He mentioned the NDP plans to strengthen pensions and increase the Guaranteed Income Supplement, and the need for a national housing strategy.
An audience question (which I suspect was planted by the CHP candidate, but I of course have no proof and am only speculating) was about whether the candidates recognize the unborn baby as a person. The Liberal and NDP candidates both clearly stated that this was a choice for a woman to make with her doctor/family and that the government should stay out of it. Bernadette Keenan (Green) wants to make sure women weren’t being forced into the choice by economic concerns. Norris Barens (Libertarian) shared the anti-abortion view of the CHP candidate and made a slippery slope argument about our seniors being next. This view seems odd to me from a Libertarian, I thought they were all about individual rights and choices?
My favourite question of the evening though was “If you are NOT elected, what are you going to do to try and end poverty?” (That’s probably not the exact wording)
Norris Barens (Libertarian) wants people to lift themselves out of poverty and felt that teaching kids that they can make changes to get themselves out of the poverty cycle was the best way to do that.
Kevin Pielack (CHP), a teacher, went off on a tangent about class sizes and limiting the number of special needs children in each class, before clarifying providing a good education would prevent poverty. He’d also keep donating to charity and church.
Jasbir Sandhu (NDP) said he’d keep working with the Vancity Community Foundation and the United Way and advocate provincially.
Shinder Purewal (Liberal) said he’d keep working to fight poverty, and that his kids volunteered at the food bank. He also said he’d lobby the government to make laws that shift priorities and allow more spending to address poverty.
Jamie Scott (Independent) said he’d be willing to act as a community Liaison to whichever candidate wins... I think this means he’ll annoy the hell out of whoever wins if they aren’t a strong voice that stands up for the community.
Bernadette Keenan (Green) said she loves having Garage Sales and donating the Proceeds to the food bank. And that damned freeway has gotta go.