By Megan Lambert (The Cascade) – Email
Federal election candidates talk childcare, research and development, and party discipline
Last Thursday, September 24 at 7 p.m., federal election candidates for the Abbotsford riding came together at the Matsqui Centennial Auditorium in Abbotsford City Hall to answer written questions from the audience. Approximately 150 people were at City Hall, with most attendees over the age of 35.
Conservative Party of Canada incumbent Ed Fast, NDP candidate Jen Martel, and Green Party candidate Stephen Fowler participated in the debate. Liberal candidate Peter Njenga was not present.
Opening statements
Fowler: As I sat down to write down this speech, I couldn’t get this 16-year-old boy out of my mind that was at high school one year listening to a speech from a Greenpeace worker about the harp seal situation back in the ‘70s. This 16-year-old boy went on to sell $100 worth of posters because he was young and an idealist. I did have political thoughts in those days, and that was my first political activist move. I think I had a lot of ideas about the economy but I always kind of wondered: why didn’t everybody do well for the economy? Why didn’t everybody take part in the country and live well? We’re so lucky in the Fraser Valley, but I wondered: we take so much from it, are we giving anything back? In society, I always wondered [about] equality. Why do we even talk about equality? Who would not want equality? So I was young, I was an idealist. I was aware of the people on the street that I knew and I don’t remember any people saying, “Inequality is a good thing,” [or], “Destroying the environment is a good thing,” [or], “Some people making lots and lots of money and some people not making any money is a good thing.” I don’t remember that conversation.
A few months ago, I read a document entitled “Vision Green,” the Green Party’s vision statement. As I plowed through it, an 184-page book, the 16-year-old boy inside of me grinned because I agreed with everything in it. It speaks of good, open governance, sustaining our environment, empowering all people to take part in high-tech green economy that helps every part in Canada.
I had also discovered that my idealism is actually optimism. I am optimistic, as all Green Party candidates are. Canada can do much better for itself and the world.
Martel: I’ve lived in Abbotsford my whole life, and I’m proud to be part of such an incredible and diverse community: a community that’s full of culture and agriculture, and a community that I would be honoured to be the voice for in Ottawa. Over the past few months, I have taken the opportunity to meet with as any voters and get as many [of their] concerns as I can. Every group that I’ve spoken with seem to have the same recurring themes brought up, in terms of their concerns. The first theme is that Canadians in Abbotsford feel that they’re working harder and harder to make their ends meet, but they’re falling further and further behind. They feel the Harper government is not looking out for their families or the working class. Stephen Harper’s failed economic plan has failed us and has steered us into two recessions. Tom Mulcair and the NDP want to bring change by bringing affordable, quality childcare that would only cost families $15 a day. They want to decrease taxes for small businesses as well as commit 54,000 construction and manufacturing jobs across Canada. The other thing that comes up is that people are really worried about the future. Some of them are really worried about the future of their children and are worried about the future of the environment and what will be left by the Harper government’s lack of action on climate change. They are worried about their own future and about the fact that they can’t retire until they’re 67, and that they may not have a pension that’s good enough for them to get by. A lot of other people in Abbotsford are worried about their parents and the lack of quality healthcare available to seniors. Should we form government, we, the NDP, promise to stand up for the environment, lower the age of retirement back down to 65, and increase the Canadian Pension Plan. We promise to make investments in expending homecare services and improve access to palliative care. We believe those who built Canada deserve to retire with dignity, and we’d like to increase the guaranteed income supplements to lift 200,000 Canadian seniors out of poverty.
I’m ready to stand up for the citizens of Abbotsford to give them a voice back in Ottawa.
Fast: For the past 10 years, I’ve had the honour of representing you in Ottawa. In that time, the world has faced monumental challenges. We’ve endured the worst global economic crisis since the Great Depression. More recently, we’ve seen the implosion of Greece’s economy, the crash of the Chinese stock market, the Islamic State of terrorists, and Mr. Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Through it all, Canada has been an island of calm through very stormy seas. With the prime minister’s firm hand on terror, we’ve weathered the storm better than anyone else. Not one bank went under or even required government bailout. We’ve embarked upon the most ambitious free-trade agenda Canada has ever seen. We’ve also kept our promise to reduce taxes on families, seniors, and our job-creators. Today the tax burden on Canadians has been the lowest in 50 years. We’ve removed seniors and the working class from the tax rolls and improved the universal childcare tax benefit. We’ve introduced income-splitting for seniors and families and the Tax Free Savings Account, helping over 11 million Canadians save for their retirement. At the same time, our sound stewardship has helped us become the only major economy in the world to return to a balanced budget one year earlier than planned. I’m very proud of that record. But, we also kept our promise to Canadians to keep them safe. We listened to you and once against rebalanced the scales of justice to put victims and law-abiding citizens at the heart of our justice system. We focused on tougher sentences for our most violent and prolific offenders, including those who commit offences against children. We’ve allowed judges to impose multiple sentences for murderers. We also realize with the rise of jihadist terrorism, Canada’s secured the agencies with 21st-century tools to keep Canadians safe. We’ve improved federal agencies to share information with each other in order to foil terrorist threats. One more thing: We firmly believe that if when you join the Canadian family as a new citizen, you should be both heard and seen. [These] are the things that really matter to Canadians: jobs, living within our means, freer trade, and keeping Canadians safe. We’ve got that right. But these achievements are all at risk. Our opponents have other plans for our country. They call for tens of billions of dollars for spending we can’t afford, higher taxes, and a return to more debt and deficits. What’s more, they’ve promised to roll back on efforts to protect Canadians against crime and terrorism. Of course, that choice is yours. I’m confident that when you evaluate my record and consider the prudent way in which the prime minister has managed our country, you’ll conclude that Canada is best served by electing another Conservative government.
Do you support Canada’s current environmental assessment and regulatory review for major projects [like the Keystone XL Pipeline]?
Fowler: Well, it’s a well-known fact that the Green Party is against the expanding of the pipeline system and a fossil-based fuel economy. That doesn’t mean we’re entirely against using oil at some point, there are some industries that require that kind of energy. What we’re in favour of is moving towards a high-tech green economy that would use other energy sources and slowly phase out the fossil fuel economy altogether because it’s 18th-, 19th- century fuel.
Martel: I agree to an extent. It’s not the government’s job to pre-judge these projects before we have all the facts, and right now we don’t have a process to get these facts. We can’t just step away from [oil] in one go, we need to transition into a state where we are going to decrease our dependency on oil. As we do that, we need to make sure we have the proper environmental assessments in place so the pipelines that do go through are safe and will not impact the communities around them.
Fast: As a Conservative government, we should be finding new ways of accessing markets all around the world. Our government believes that Canada needs to develop the infrastructure to be able to get resources out into those markets. We believe we can do it responsibly; Canada has been doing it responsibly for many years. Just so you know, we believe that the regulatory process we have is streamlined and works very well. It’s eliminating duplicate processes along the way, and ensuring that these approval applications can be completed and out of the way.
What are you prepared to do to make it easier for businesses to access temporary foreign workers and professionals, if they cannot find Canadian employees?
Martel: I feel like I need to do a bit more research before I give a proper answer. I know that we are not against the temporary foreign workers program and making sure that they are being treated fairly and that they are not being given decreased wages than their Canadian counterparts.
Fast: We’ve made some significant reforms to the temporary foreign worker program in response to many high-profile cases of abuse. What we have told businesses is that the temporary foreign worker program is not intended to be a part of a long-term business plan. The prime minister has made it very clear that it’s Canadians who should have the first crack at jobs, but we do understand that there is a significant amount of paperwork involved through the LMIA process, and we are continuing to refine the process to make sure that it’s leaner and quicker and that our employers can continue to profit and be successful as they have the labour force that they need.
Fowler: Elizabeth May has said that with the temporary foreign workers, we just want to make sure that we’re not using it as a way to lower wages for employees and then keeping them low every time the temporary foreign worker contract ends. We should be keeping the jobs open at minimum wage for the young people whose unemployment rate is about double the national average.
Is the Trans-Pacific Partnership in Canada’s best interest?
Fast: Absolutely. As the minister responsible for negotiating trade agreements, I believe it’s imperative that Canada continue to open up opportunities for Canada’s manufacturers, exporters, investors, to find those new markets and to be able to export broadly. However, we have been very clear that we will not sign a trade agreement unless it’s in the best interest of Canada.
Fowler: This is an investor’s trade. The Green Party has a strong feeling about these investments: that on the surface, they seem like a really good idea for equal trade, but unfortunately when you sign contracts or deals with larger nations, they tend to take advantage of you.
Martel: Before we look into these trade deals and consider approving them, we promise to protect the supply and management policies, and that’s extremely important in Abbotsford, that our supply and management is protected. Our management policies are vital for our dairy and produce farmers, and without those regulations in place there could be immediate ramifications that could put our dairy farmers out of business and we want to avoid that at all costs.
For many small and medium enterprises, efficient and reliable commercialization of research and development into new products, processes, and services is extremely challenging. What measure would your party adopt to ensure businesses could invest in new technologies?
Fowler: The Green plan is very much about smart and green economy, so new innovations, new technology, moving away from fossil fuels and using the new energy resources that are used widely all over the world. There’s an entire technological economy that we’re missing out on that we need to exploit.
Martel: So, in terms of small businesses, we’re looking to decrease the business tax rate from 11 to nine per cent right away to help our small businesses within our community. We also want to introduce an innovative tax credit that we want to support cutting-edge research and development to help stimulate economic growth.
Fast: In Canada we do have a lot of very good research programs as well as trusted relationships between research institutions all over the world. We have the SHRED program for Canadian businesses to actually do the research and be compensated for that through tax credits. It’s our government that established the Canada Research Excellence chairs, where we’re supporting 2,000 research chairs focused out of universities, developing world-leading research.
Martel: So, one thing that got me into politics is that I come from a science background. Our current government is muzzling scientists, so I find it very ironic that they’re saying that. I’d like to see whichever government gets in supports scientists, not muzzle them, and talk freely about their research.
Fast: Let me just respond to that. On thousands of occasions every year, Canadian scientists go out and explain the work that they’re doing and the results of their research. All we do is we expect them to make sure that as they report research that it is not politicized and that it is done in a way that is responsible and reflects the facts and the evidence that they are presenting.
What concrete actions would your party take to make childcare a top priority?
Fowler: We would like to introduce a national dental program that takes all children into consideration. We also think daycare is a very important thing, we would also open up more daycare opportunities, a national daycare program.
Martel: The issue of affordable healthcare is not only a moral and economic issue, it’s also a women’s issue. I do realize that some men are affected by this, but it’s a significantly higher proportion of women that will have to stay home to watch their children. I’ve talked to business owners in Abbotsford and they say how expensive it is to train somebody. You invest in these people for years and then they decide to start a family. But now, these people can’t afford to go back to work. So now these businesses have to train new people, and it’s a vicious cycle. So what we’re proposing is a program where we’re opening a million spots in the country, and it’s coming out in stages. So it’ll start at $15 per day, and for every one dollar that’s put into that, two dollars will go back into the economy because of the increased income taxes that will be available and the extra spending money people will have for more luxuries, such as putting their kids in sports that they wouldn’t be able to afford before.
Fast: I certainly don’t support a national daycare program that’s been proposed by the NDP. As you know, this program was estimated by Mr. Mulcair to cost $5 billion, assuming that the provinces pony up 40 per cent of the cost. In fact, the provinces are very quickly balking at that. So that price would go up much higher than that $5 billion. But beyond that, this program would only benefit about 10 per cent of families. Our Universal Childcare Tax Benefit benefits every single family with children under the age of 18. We believe that it is important that moms and dads make the choices for their children. A national daycare program would be government-operated, government-supervised, would be union-run, and quite frankly the real daycare experts are not government officials or politicians, they’re mom and dad.
What will your party do to eliminate disparities and provide funding for services such as child protection, education, and safe water on First Nations reserves?
Fast: One of the keys is making sure that our reserves have proper safe drinking water. Another area is of course housing. There are heavy investments being made in building houses, schools, making sure our aboriginal children have the education they need. But we also need to work together with First Nations. As you know, we’ve established a need with our First Nations in Canada to move forward with a renewed national plan to educate our aboriginal children. That agreement and legislation was tabled in the House of Commons, sadly, because there was a change in leadership within Canada. We, as a government, remain open and hopeful that our First Nations will re-engage with us to make sure aboriginal children get the educational opportunities that they need.
Fowler: I think there’s been a lot of mistrust, which is probably why the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis aren’t coming forward. There was a truth and reconciliation commission that was sent out and came back as a document that’s been literally ignored. The Green Party will implement a truth and reconciliation commission to work through. A council of Canadian governments will be a group, made by the Green Party, which will include all levels of government, and we will work with them to build up that trust. There’s also the housing crisis [and] education on our radar, as well as starting a commission immediately into the missing and murdered women.
Martel: The NDP’s priority is to improve the living conditions of our First Nations, not just at election time but year round. We promise that within the first 100 days of forming government we will form an inquiry into the murdered and missing indigenous women as well as creating a cabinet-level committee which is dedicated solely to putting progress on indigenous issues. In terms of the water, Canada is one of the only industrialized countries without a water strategy. We promise to establish a national water strategy and protect our clean water as a right. This national strategy would also include those communities that are being forgotten right now.
Fast: Let me just point out that the inquiry into the missing Aboriginal women would actually follow 40 other studies that have already been conducted. Quite frankly, what we need now is action and not more studies, which is why we’ve issued an action plan to address violence against women within aboriginal communities. There’s a copious set of recommendations that we expect will be implemented now. I’m very optimistic that we’re going to move forward with that.
If an issue arises where your party’s opinion differs from what you believe Abbotsford wants, how will you vote?
Fowler: Another wonderful thing about the Green Party is that we’re not whipped by our leaders. We vote as we see fit. I would be talking to you. There’s going to be a lot of things that I would be agreeing with; that said, if there was something important enough in the community that they felt was important enough to go that way, I would vote that way. Basically with the Green Party every vote is a free vote.
Martel: When you’re elected as a representative, you’re representing that community. The theory is that the party’s views would line up with that. I don’t see the party going to one extreme that would completely counter those sentiments from election time, but if there was something I wouldn’t want to shy away from speaking my mind. If I found that the citizens of Abbotsford were upset about something, it would definitely be something I would bring up.
Fast: I agree, it’s important to reflect the views of your community in Ottawa, but understand that all three parties in the House of Commons whip their MPs. Our system in Canada is one where you arrive at consensus within your own caucus. There’s robust discussion that goes on behind the doors of a caucus room, but when you come out you’ve got a common position that you then present to the public and you argue within the House of Commons. What I can tell you is that the Conservative party allows free votes on matters of conscience.
These statements have been edited for length and clarity.
