Agassiz MLA candidates state their cases

Details

Published on Thursday, March 31, 2016

By Kira Paterson

Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press

On Thursday, March 24, three provincial MLA candidates from the Agassiz constituency participated in a debate forum that was aired on NACTV. The forum involved questions from the community that the candidates had a chance to address. 

The candidates in attendance were Robert Smith, who represents the Green Party, Eileen Clarke, who represents the Conservative Party, and Damian Dempsey, who is running as an independent. Absent was Courtney Lucas, who represents the New Democratic Party.

At the beginning, the candidates were given the chance to give opening statements, each had three minutes. The order of speaking was determined by a draw and then rotated so that each of them had a chance to go first at some point. 

Opening statements

Smith was the first to give his opening statement. He spoke a bit about his background in farming and being on school boards and said that this is his first time with provincial politics. He then spoke briefly about the Green Party. 

“I think you will find in the future years that the Green Party is going to become the party of choice of a lot of people,” he said. Smith also stated that there has been a lot of interest among young people in the Green Party and its focus on sustainability is going to be the core of politics in the future. 

Smith noted that the Green Party is different from other parties in that it doesn’t have to answer to specific demographics, like the NDP having to answer to the unions, for example.

Some of the things he stands for are the removal of farmland school taxes, because farms don’t produce children, and liveable minimum income, because he believes that it is better to have a job, even if it just a part time job, than to rely on government assistance programs. 

Dempsey spoke second, giving a brief overview of his platform. “I’m here this evening because I think I can make a difference in the future of this constituency,” he began. Dempsey went on to tell his main focuses, such as a regional hospital situated in Neepawa, finding incentives to attract and retain doctors in rural areas and changing the provincial government’s view on rural areas, saying that the government suffers from what he calls “perimeteritus,” where they don’t think very far outside the perimeter of Winnipeg. 

Dempsey also believes in demanding fiscal responsibility and transparency in the provincial government to reduce wasteful spending. He said that he has mostly conservative views, but wants to focus on advocating for small rural constituencies like ours.

Clarke then got the chance to give her opening statement. She spoke about the many councils and committees she has been involved in, allowing her to see and hear about the issues that rural Manitoba faces and what their main concerns are. Clarke also said that she is an entrepreneur, having started a small business in Gladstone, so she has a strong business background as well.

“I’m committed to working with councils, agricultural producers, businesses, health care providers, educators and residents to ensure that there is a vibrant and sustainable future for all our residents,” she stated.

Finding sufficient jobs

After the opening remarks, questions were posed to the candidates about some of the concerns of the local residents. 

The first question was posed by the Neepawa Chamber of Commerce. They noted that Neepawa and the surrounding area has been seeing much population growth, which has put pressure on job availability in the area, particularly for both members of a family. The question was, “How do you view your role in encouraging job growth in our area to help these families?”

Dempsey responded first, saying that right now, because of the sudden growth, there will be a lack of jobs until more industries are created in our area. However, he said, “I don’t think it’s the government’s job to be creating those industries. It’s the government’s job to provide a climate where industries, businesses are encouraged.” 

He noted that there have been times when the government gets too involved in funding these jobs and it doesn’t end well. The key is to encourage entrepreneurship.

Clarke was up next, and she started by noting the significant job loss in Manitoba under the NDP government. The Selinger government has raised tax, and she stated that higher tax makes building a business much more difficult. She said that she will be committed to working with Agassiz constituents to find out how to attract businesses to the area.

Clarke also noted that education is an important aspect. She said that she will advocate for supporting educators so that more programs will be available to expand students’ skills so that they will be more likely to be able to get jobs.

Smith agreed with both of the other candidates’ comments. He agreed that it is not the government’s job to create jobs. He also sided with Clarke, saying that “education is the key to the future” and that education is what allows people to get good jobs and support themselves.

Making our needs heard

Another question was posed in regards to rural advocacy. Kate Jackman-Atkinson sent in the question, “Representing the majority of our province’s population, Winnipeg voters dominate provincial decision-making. If elected, what would you do to make the needs of your constituents known to the government?”

Smith pointed out the fact that he is a very vocal person. He makes his point of view heard. “I feel it’d be my role, if elected, to help people with the bureaucracy that we face in government and give people a hand with the system and do my best that the message comes from Agassiz into Winnipeg and not vice versa,” he said.  

Dempsey followed, saying, “All the parties seem to have ‘perimeteritus’ and they expect and take for granted our tax dollars and our votes. But once they’re in power, they forget the rural areas... We can work together with other constituencies to get our needs looked at and to promote them in the legislature.” 

He acknowledged that every constituency faces different problems, but they all need to work together to be able to be heard through the urban voice.

Clarke said something similar, but had her own ideas. She said that she had sat on committees as the lone rural voice and has seen the rural-urban gap. She said that the rural constituencies need to be able to work with the urban constituencies so that everyone’s needs are met. She said that we need to recognized that rural and urban needs are different, but all of them have to be heard, so we need to work together to understand each other.

Energy East Pipeline

The candidates were asked where they stood regarding the Energy East Pipeline that would be used to move oil across the country. 

Clarke didn’t have a definite position on it. She said that she will support whatever is best for the province and she’d have to look at the matter further to make a decision on it. 

Smith, who had been interviewed about the subject as a farmer a couple years ago, said he was for it. He noted that this was a personal statement, as the Green Party doesn’t support the oil industry. But he added that until there are energy alternatives that the country and the world can depend upon, the pipeline is the safest way to move oil without the danger of spills. 

Dempsey agreed with Smith in that it is the safest and most efficient way to move oil. He noted that right now, there is no way of getting around our dependence on oil for energy. He said that the pipeline is good for Canada because not only is it a safer way to transport it, but it also allows the refining to be done in Canada, which creates more jobs, and the construction of the pipeline creates infrastructure jobs for Canadians as well.

Infrastructure investment

Another question asked was on the topic of infrastructure. “Our community and region have a need for expanded infrastructure investment. Our province also has to consider whether Manitoba’s tax structure is competitive with nearby jurisdictions. How would you approach these challenges?” 

Smith stated that the whole Green concept could create a whole new industry in the future that could be taxed. The green industry would also create jobs and be the basis of the whole economy of the province in the future. 

Alternative energies such as wind and solar will create jobs for young people, which in turn allows them to pay tax, which funds the government so that they can offer programs and provide for citizens’ needs.

Dempsey noted that due to reckless spending elsewhere, infrastructure in Manitoba has been endangered. He said that funds need to be directed to priorities such as roads that are in poor condition, rather than the roads that are in acceptable condition being redone.

Clarke said that she understands that there is an infrastructure deficit. She said that the Conservatives are prepared to spend $1 billion annually on Manitoba infrastructure funding. She said that the party is committed to being open and transparent in the funding and be accountable to Manitobans. 

Cost savings

A family from Brookdale sent in a question asking the candidates where they would find areas in government spending to save money.

Clarke said that the government spends too much money on studies. She said that so many studies are done over and over and then just put on the shelf. It costs too much money when there are better ways of learning the things that the government needs to know. “Better communication with our people would definitely save money down the road. Go to the sources,” she said.

Smith noted that it is a big concern that bureaucracy keeps growing. He said that there are some employers whose salaries are based on how many employees they have, so they hire as many people as they can use. There are so many people who only push paper, when they could be doing more than just that. He said that he would like to see some of those people reduced so that work can be done more efficiently and money can be saved there.

Dempsey pointed out a multitude of places that money has gone that he deemed unnecessary. “I don’t know if the bipole can be stopped, Bipole III, but that was a huge waste of money. I think it was a mistake to put so much provincial money into the Human Rights Museum,” he began. “We’ve got that Investor’s [Group] Field fiasco. We’ve got the vote subsidy, that’s a total waste of money... And those ‘Steady growth, good jobs’ signs around the province, apparently that cost nearly $2 million! That could’ve brought the debt down a bit or employed a lot more doctors and nurses.” 

Health care in our area

It was brought up that there are so few doctors in our area that many residents don’t have access to a family doctor and there isn’t the capacity in our community for a walk-in clinic. Many patients even have to travel to other communities such as Brandon to find a doctor. The candidates were asked, “How do you view your role in improving this quality of life issue for our residents?”

Smith simply suggested that people live a more healthy lifestyle. “I believe a lot in good health from good foods,” he said. “Grow your own food, preserve your own food, cook your own food.” He noted that making healthy choices like this are what makes people live longer.

Dempsey said that this was of personal importance to him. He said that his son had kidney failure and he couldn’t donate his kidney because he had no family doctor. He said that it is very important to get more doctors here. Lots of young people want to be doctors, but they don’t have the means to get the education they need. He said that it needs to be easier for people to get the training they need to be a doctor, but the government also needs to look at removing some of the restrictions regarding foreign doctors coming in. He said it needs to be easier for the doctors to be able to transfer their skills so that they will want to come here.

Clarke noted that there are many factors that keep doctors from staying in Manitoba. Things such as the cold, the mosquitoes and a lack of other people who share their culture are some reasons foreign doctors don’t stay here longer than they have to. She said that listening to these problems doesn’t solve anything, but the government needs to start looking at retention programs to get the doctors to stay. Some rural communities are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to get doctors and she said that isn’t acceptable.

Maintaining services with lower taxes

It was stated that inflation is a fact of life and that politicians who say they can reduce taxes while still maintaining services have quite the challenge on their hands. The candidates were asked how they would respond to such a statement.

Clarke agreed that it is a challenge, but that there has been wasteful spending that could be cut to make up for a decrease in tax. “With my business background, if I was incurring the kind of debt that we’re seeing in our province right now, I would certainly be curtailing something,” she noted. “I would be looking for ways to cut, to make things work better, more efficiently. And I think it’s just a priority to bring common sense back into our government... Common sense that eliminates the wasteful government spending and invests the savings in the priorities that matter to us. And I hope that we would have the ability to do that.”

Smith said that growth is the key to the economy. If the province is not growing economically and the population isn’t growing, there’s a problem. “How do we get people to come? We give them the ability to start small business. Small business is the key to the economy, it always has been and it always will be. We can’t sustain with government jobs, we can’t sustain with big business jobs. We want small businesses to succeed, we want entrepreneurs to be starting their businesses,” he said.

Dempsey agreed with the two previous responses. He added that with the low interest on the debt right now, the government has to work on reducing the debt now, or it’ll just keep growing. 

“We’ve got to target spending on core projects and we’ve got to stop all this frivolous spending. If we don’t, we’ll just be paying all our revenues into basically keeping the service charges on the debt. This is unacceptable, it’s got to be brought into control,” he insisted.

Voters across the province will be going to the polls on April 19. With these concerns and the candidates’ takes on them in mind, voters can hopefully make a decision as to what is best for the province.