With election day two weeks away, provincial candidates vying for the West Vancouver-Sea to Sky riding played it safe during a debate in Squamish, moving in lockstep with their parties’ platforms.
Questions were raised on familiar issues near and dear to Squamites’ hearts, such as jobs, housing, regional transit and the proposed Woodfibre LNG export facility.
Save for the Independent candidate, MLA hopefuls played to their parties’ respective strengths, trying to woo the dozens crowded into Eagle Eye Theatre on Tuesday.
“We have had five balanced budgets in a row,” said Jordan Sturdy of the BC Liberals. “It allows us to keep our triple-A credit rating.”
It was an example of one of the incumbent candidate’s attempts to define his group as the party of fiscal responsibility, a talking point often touted by high-ranking Liberals such as Finance Minister Mike de Jong.
Sturdy trumpeted Liberal housing initiatives, saying his government had made what he called the biggest single one-time investment in affordable housing units – $900 million, some of which he said is going to Squamish through BC Housing.
He also reiterated his support for regional transit, saying the Liberal government has already committed its share of the necessary funds for a regional transit system that would link Pemberton, Whistler, Squamish and Vancouver.
“It’s certainly something I’ve been advocating for and working on for a long time,” said Sturdy. “The time is now. The time is right.”
Michelle Livaja of the BC NDP was quick to play one of her party’s biggest selling points, reminding the audience her group has promised $10-a-day daycare, along with the creation of 69,000 early childhood education jobs to accommodate increased demand.
On affordable housing, she said the solution lay in increasing the amount of living space available, though she emphasized it would not be a free-market solution.
“An issue that’s been created by the market cannot be solved by the market,” Livaja said. “We’re going to need to look at non-market housing.”
She touted the NDP’s promise of 114,000 affordable housing units, saying the construction work would generate about 96,000 jobs.
For regional transit, she floated the idea of adding buses.
Green candidate Dana Taylor made sure to mention his party’s opposition to Woodfibre LNG, perhaps his group’s biggest point of contrast against the Liberals and NDP, which have both declared support for the project.
“Are there really that many Indonesian billionaires who like to stare at their LNG plants from atop a mountain?” said Taylor, taking a jab at Woodfibre LNG’s foreign ownership.
“And when did Squamish vote for it? I don’t recall.”
Regarding affordable housing, Taylor brought up the idea of co-op homes, and explored the possibility of setting land aside for such projects.
Taylor was also supportive of regional transit in the area, saying he was awaiting the release of a study in September to get further insight into the issue.
Finally, Independent candidate Tristan Galbraith kept advocating a need to address what he considered to be the biggest issue affecting young voters – the lack of affordable housing.
“We need to see more benefits,” he said. “I’d really like to see it more for young people.”
When tackling questions, Galbraith took an unusual approach, often going on tangents about the success of his Whistler pest control business, Critter Get Ritter.
