Richmond election forum: Seven students vs. seven candidates

With seven candidates, seven students and 40 community residents filling the seats of the auditorium, the second of three all-candidates federal election forum took place Tuesday evening at Kwantlen’s Richmond campus.

The idea for the all-candidates forum began in a classroom at Kwantlen, in attempt to have students become more involved with the election and to help them understand the issues in their ridings. The ridings covered Tuesday were Delta South-Richmond East and Richmond.

“Our real interest here is a dialogue between the citizens and their candidates. It’s not an opportunity for the candidates to debate with one another,” explained Elaine Decker, associate dean of academic studies.

Each candidate started with a three-minute opening speech, then questions were taken from the audience. All major parties had at least one candidate present, including Liberal, Dana Miller, Conservative John Cummins, the NDP’s Szilvia Barna, and independent candidates Dobie To and Wei Ping Chen. There were also two Green party representatives, 25-year-old Matthew Laine for Delta South–Richmond East and 26-year-old Michael Wolfe for Richmond.

“We’re all in this together, were all living on this planet together,” said Laine, a recent graduate of Trinity Western University. “The Green party wants to empower individuals to make better and responsible choices for the future of Canada, and that’s only going to happen if we come together.”

Added Wolfe: “I don’t have children and I’m already worried about them. I want the food my family eats and the drugs my family takes to be safe.”

Conservative candidate Cummins, who has been MP for Delta South–Richmond East since 1993, discussed his concerns with farming, fishing and transportation issues including airports, seaports, highways and the railways, as well as his push to try “rationalize infrastructure growth.”

“Here in Delta we have some of the most valuable farmland in Canada, and we preserve that farmland for future generations,” said Cummins.

Miller said, “This is my home and the place I work, live, raise family and recreate,” as she discussed Liberal plans for the Green Shift, an environmental policy, and the “30/50 plan” a plan which calls for a 30 per cent decrease in poverty across Canada and a 50 per cent decrease in child poverty.

The Gateway highway expansion project, which could damage salmon stocks and disrupt small communities, dominated discussion. “Pollution from this port will be unprecedented,” said Barna.

Said Wolfe: “We need to cancel all funding for this project. It is the biggest disaster ever to have hit Delta.”

Health care issues also arose, including questions about restricting organic foods and unregistered health products, as well as the debate over the safety of overhead power lines in Delta. Crime prevention and homelessness were touched on, and members of each party gave potential solutions.

“All the problems we have now started under the Liberal and Conservative governments,” said NDP candidate Barna in regards to environmental issues. Miller added: “We’re all guinea pigs going along for the ride under the Stephan Harper regime.”

Near the end of the evening, members of each party began pointing fingers at the others over current issues, and then had a chance to make concluding remarks.