Voting Liberal is the only chance to keep Conservatives at a minority, Liberal candidate Ian Sutherland over 200 people at the Sea to Sky Hotel in Squamish during the local all-candidate riding debate Monday (Oct. 6).The meeting saw candidates answer questions from a panel of local journalists and the president of the Squamish Chamber of Commerce - the group that organized the event - as well as questions from the audience revolving around healthcare, daycare, the war in Afghanistan, women's issues and the economic crisis. Sutherland said unreservedly in his closing remakrs that he stands the best chance of winning against the Conservatives in the West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country riding, pointing to his endorsement by the website voteforenvironment.ca. A vote for anyone but the Liberals, he said, would be a vote for Conservative candidate John Weston.The following day, however, Green Party MP Wilson sent out a press release urging voters not to be "misled by election websites run by Liberal and NDP supporters." Wilson pointed to one site, which he didn't name, as using an "arbitrary" swing of support of five per cent from the Liberals to the Greens based on the 2006 election results, then applying it to province-wide polling data from the current campaign to imply that it had polling numbers for individual ridings."This is completely misleading. Our own data shows that the swing from the Liberals to the Greens has been massive in my riding," said Wilson. "The strategic vote here is Green, not Liberal or NDP."There is no doubt that neither the Liberals nor the NDP can win this seat. If voters want to keep the Conservatives out, they must vote Green."In response, Sutherland said voteforenvironment.ca is run by independent non-partisan organizations."Every party can talk about 'their' numbers. These sites are being managed by third parties whose only goal is to encourage voting," he said. "These sites all agree that the best vote to stop the Conservatives is to vote Liberal."Despite the new "strategic voting" argument, the tone of the evening's debate was similar to last week's debates in Whistler and Sechelt, where Wilson received the most applause and biggest laughs from the audience. After Squamish council candidate Donna Billy took the floor to bring attention to women's issues, another audience member asked if candidates knew how many women MPs were in the party's causes. No one could answer, but Wilson deftly deflected the stumble - to laughter and applause - saying if they vote for him, Elizabeth May, his party leader, will be able to increase the numbers. Although Weston was able to throw a few zingers, the laughter he received was half-hearted. "As anyone who has ever bought a car knows, the smoothest of the salesmen doesn't relate to the quality of the car," said Weston in his oft-repeated one-liner.But Weston did not falter when it came to questions on economy.Candidates were asked how their fiscal promises could be achieved in an economic climate on the verge of a meltdown.Wilson said the answer is in the way the government chooses to spend their budget. "The federal government has lots of money at their disposal, it just depends on what ideology or what the current government of the day decides to spend their money on. I want it to be spent on job creation, I want it to be spent on the new economies of the future," he said.Weston fired back: "Well there is certainly at our disposal opportunity for reckless spending promises, and I think this question clearly shows the distinction between two very different visions: the vision of Stephen Harper and the Conservatives and the vision that is articulated by the other parties represented at this table." He said the Conservative's three budgets were able to cut $40 billion, "taking the money out of the coffers of Ottawa and putting into the hands of Canadians." Forst had a harder time answering the question, saying Layton wants to hold the taxes at the rate the Liberals had during their running term rather than seeing the reductions the Conservatives put forward. "The funding is there Layton is pledging balanced budgets as a precursor to the spending programs. So if the revenue ends up being a short fall, and unfortunately things are looking whittled out among those lines, then certainly some of the programs that are discussed and part of the platform will balance."Sutherland said the Liberals managed eight consecutive years of balanced budgets and many of those MPs under Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin are still in office today.Of the four candidates, Sutherland was the most well-versed in the 2010 Olympics, how Squamish has missed out, and how it may benefit under his leadership."What is missing at the federal level is oversight and one thing I want to change when I do get elected is to make sure that the local MP is more involved in dealing with anagrammed issues," said Sutherland, "to make sure that, not just Squamish, but Pemberton and Lions Bay and Gibson and Sechelt at least have an understanding of what the options might be to benefit from 2010, because right now it is not happening."Forst said people in the communities serving the Olympics have to see the benefits, otherwise what's it for? "I've been driving on this highway for a number of years and this last couple of weeks driving up here - you have suffered and you are the ones that should be receiving your fair share of the benefits."Weston and Wilson also agreed the voices of the corridor and Sunshine Coast have not been heard. But Wilson said there are local jobs available through the hydrogen and fuel cell buses he helped get implemented as transit options during the Games. When asked what the candidates views were on drug laws and alternative drug policies, referring to former NDP candidate Dana Larsen's progressive stance on taxing and regulating marijuana, new NDP candidate Forst said this was the first time the question has been brought up in the past four debates. "I've never chosen to use recreational drugs, however, one thing I hope I will have access to is whatever kind of marijuana products or THC products might be necessary if I ever develop a serious illness," said Forst. Wilson said drug use and marijuana use is prevalent in our society and the Green Party believes cannabis should be decriminalized and regulated so the money can be taken out of the hands of the gangs and put into in our country and city."I think we should wake up to the 21st century and see that it is an issue," said Wilson.Sutherland agreed with Wilson and Forst.Weston said he was against the legalization of marijuana, and said many law enforcement officers he has talked to believe it is a step backward for communities. The debates continued in West Vancouver and North Vancouver this week. Canadians take to the polls on Tuesday (Oct. 14).
