There were conversations aplenty at the St. Albert Public Library this week as candidates met the electorate at an unusual 'speed-dating' forum.
About 45 people crowded into the library's program room Wednesday night for an all-candidates' forum. They divided into four moderated groups, each of which had 10 minutes to question a candidate. After 10 minutes, the candidates switched groups until they cycled through all of them.
Candidates and residents both praised the format. "It felt a little more personal," said resident Tim Osborne. "It gives you a chance to get a little more one-on-one conversation."
Aisling Pollard-Kientzel, who ran in the last municipal election, said the format was perfect. "To be able to ask [the candidates] questions and get straight answers was lovely."
Talking politics
NDP candidate Brian LaBelle was grilled on the oilsands.
"When the [NDP] is speaking badly about the industry, I think they're speaking badly about the subsidies," he said. Canadian taxpayers are subsidizing oil companies that are making billions of dollars a year. "They're not creating extra jobs with that money we're giving them. They're creating extra profits."
Canada will see billions in oilsands investments with or without oilsands subsidies, he said. It would be better for Canada to put that money towards green jobs and renewable energy instead.
When asked about Jack Layton's promise to train some 1,200 more doctors over the next 10 years, LaBelle said his party would try to encourage doctors to come back to Canada and would forgive student loans for medical students. "It's a long-term problem that's going to require long-term thinking."
Conservative candidate Brent Rathgeber was quizzed on Afghanistan. "The Afghan mission has not been without its costs," he said, with some 150 Canadian soldiers having died during it. Canada will switch to a behind-the-wire training mission this July, one that could be renewed by Parliament after three years.
"I'm not going to tell you that there's not risk in a training mission," Rathgeber said — if forces are fighting near the edge of their compound, our troops will fire back. But the mission will be less dangerous, and it will be outside heavy fighting zones.
When asked how the parties would work together if there were another minority government, Rathgeber said this election would lead to a majority. "There will either be a Harper-led Conservative majority or it'll be a coalition led by Mr. Ignatieff."
Residents asked candidate Peter Johnston why his party, the Greens, wanted to legalize marijuana.
Legalizing it means we can control it and tax it, Johnston said. "The war on drugs has been completely ineffective and the negative effects of the war have been manifold." Instead of throwing drug users in jail, he argued, we should focus on reducing drug use. "We want to find out why there are so many drug addicts."
It is more expensive to put people in jail than it is to give them a guaranteed annual income, Johnston said, in response to a claim that his party was soft on crime. "A lot of people who come out of prison cannot get jobs" or have mental problems, he said, and simply jailing them for longer won't solve our crime problems. "This is not a solution, and it doesn't work."
Governments need to be more open if they want more people to vote, said Liberal candidate Kevin Taron, in response to a question on voter turnout. "This is your government. Why is it you only get to talk to a politician for 35 days [during a campaign]?" His party would hold online Question Periods where people could talk directly to their representatives.
One person asked about the government's plan to purchase new F-35 fighter jets. "I believe our soldiers do deserve the best [equipment]," Taron said. "I also believe our taxpayers deserve the best." The Liberals would hold an open competition for its new fighters if elected, one that could mean we buy the F-35s anyway. "The open bid is the most important thing."
