Recap: Toronto Centre All Candidates' Debate, 25 November 2013

Photo taken from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/toronto-centre-by-election-debate-puts-income-inequality-at-centre-stage/article15542550/

Wednesday’s Toronto Centre All Candidates’ Debate at Jarvis Collegiate was mostly a refreshing change of pace from the political action of late.  The candidates were cordial and engaged, with only a pinch of contention and some audience jeers.  The event drew some 600 people to the audience – a turnout Liberal Party candidate, Chrystia Freeland, noted as a testament to democracy. 

The debate got off to a bit of a raucous start when Independent candidate, John “The Engineer” Turmel, turned up without invitation and refused to leave the stage until police came to escort him out.  The interruption was consistent with the previous Toronto Centre debates (follow the link for a video of Independent Candidate, Kevin Clarke, at the November 17^th debate).   Note that not all the Toronto Centre Candidates were invited to the debate, only those leading in the polls.  See below for the list of all candidates.  Familiarize yourself with the candidates and their platforms and get out to vote on Monday! If you missed the debate, make sure to read on for some insight into your leading candidates.

The debate questions were collected and submitted by the various resident groups from Toronto Centre neighbourhoods, with RPNI representing Regent Park.  Questions covered a broad range of issues including youth engagement, expansion of the Canadian Pension Plan, the Keystone XL pipeline and environmentalism, crime, harm reduction strategies, affordable housing, public transit, etc.  Candidates’ answers to all questions seemed consistent with their respective party platforms.

Conservative Party candidate, Geoff Pollock, relying on the popularity of Stephen Harper as Federal Leader, committed to continuing the Conservative agenda; Linda McQuaig of the NDP maintained her commitment to tackling the income gap through more equitable taxes, and job creation; Liberal Party candidate, Chrystia Freeland,  reiterated her concern about the shrinking middle class, stating the “middle class squeeze is an issue for us all”; John Deverell of the Green Party stressed his commitment to reforming our voting system to proportional representation.

Though candidates took different strategies for each issue, all candidates were united at least on the priority of job creation.  On this topic, NDP candidate McQuaig, confronted Liberal Party candidate Freeland on her choice to outsource 25 American jobs to India when Editor of Reuters, which Freeland justified as part of a larger trend of “shrinking news rooms.”

McQuaig also faced criticism in the debate when she avoided a yea or nay on the Keystone XL pipeline. McQuaig instead stressed the importance of a thorough environmental review before expressing support or not for such contentious projects.  Both the Conservative and Liberal Party candidates expressed support for the pipeline.  Green Party candidate, John Deverell, again emphasized a desire to examine our intentions for growth and the effects on the environment before pursuing the Keystone pipeline or any other projects potentially damaging to the environment.

Other hot topics of the debate included the question of Canadian Pension Plan expansion.  Candidates in support of CPP expansion (including all but the Conservative Party candidate, Geoff Pollock) won generous applause from the audience.  Pollock’s resistance to CPP expansion invited booing from the audience.  The CPP was clearly a unifying issue.

The question of CPP expansion led candidates to discuss their economic positions, with Conservative and Liberal Party candidates both emphasizing a desire to not increase taxes.  Freeland asserted that with economic growth so “anaemic,” the focus should not be on promoting public-private partnerships to encourage business investment instead of raising taxes.  Pollock celebrated the nine free trade agreements created under Conservative government and touted these as promoting economic growth.  For McQuaig, it clear that a fairer tax system is key to economic growth, arguing the need to restore corporate tax cuts and citing Former Bank of Canada Governor, Mark Carney’s, statement that Canada has $500 billion of “dead money” tied up in business.

The last point of agreement for the candidate panel seemed to be support for a national transit strategy, though candidates appeared resistant to explicitly express this support.  On this point, Deverell stressed the importance of a consistent strategy and autonomous spending decisions from the municipalities.  McQuaig also stressed the importance of municipal decisions with regard to transit spending, but all were in agreement that some overarching federal strategy is a priority.

The debate was lively though respectful, the audience thoroughly engaged, offering applause and jeers for the issues deemed most important.  The discussion covered many of these important issues, though there is certainly more at hand.  We encourage you to do some research and make informed voting decisions.  Most important though, get out and vote!

http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=ele&document=index&dir=2013/35093/vote&lang=e

November 25^th Toronto Centre By-Election Candidates:

Dorian Baxter
Progressive Canadian Party

Leslie Bory
Independent    

Kevin Clarke
Independent    

John Deverell

Green Party of Canada

Judi Falardeau
Libertarian Party of Canada

Chrystia Freeland

Liberal Party of Canada

               

Linda McQuaig

NDP Party

Michael Nicula
Online Party of Canada

Geoff Pollock

Conservative Party of Canada

John "The Engineer" Turmel
Independent

Bahman Yazdanfar
Independent