The Liberal, Green, NDP, Socialist, and Marijuana party candidates for Guelph gathered for a public meet-and-great at the Italian Canadian Club on Sept. 22, 2015. At an evening moderated by University of Guelph professor Tim Mau, Guelph’s MP candidates addressed a wide range of issues including foreign policy, health care, and social justice. The event was organized by the Guelph/Wellington Coalition for Social Justice (GWCSJ) and the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario’s (RNAO) Wellington chapter.
Conservative candidate Gloria Kovach was invited, but she was absent due to a prior engagement.
Opening statements began with an introduction from NDP candidate Andrew Seagram. Seagram restated the NDP’s commitment to raising federal minimum wage, as well as providing greater day-care allowances for families.
“The NDP party is the party of social justice,” explained Seagram. “It’s in our DNA. We’ve been fighting and negotiating for better lives for Canadians for many years.” Following Seagram were Lloyd Longfield, Tristan Dineen, Gord Miller, and Kornelis Klevering, of the Liberal, Communist, Green, and Marijuana parties respectively.
Dineen and Klevering took time out of their statements to explain their parties’ respective tenets to the audience.
“We advocate the complete end of prohibition against marijuana,” explained Klevering. “My approach here is to give you the perspective of the marijuana party.”
Other Marijuana party platforms include climate change reform, the promotion of a new agricultural model, as well as increasing the production and use of alternative fuels.
When asked about their stance on electoral reform, Longfield, Miller, and Seagram explained that they stand for the abolition of the first-past-the-post electoral system, in favour of proportional representation.
“[Electoral reform has been NDP policy for years,” said Seagram. “We can’t have what we’ve had for the past nine years.”
Longfield presented the argument that the Liberal party’s policy supports the enactment of proportional representation across the country within 18 months.
“We need an electoral system that matches our diversity,” said Longfield.
Owing to the event’s sponsorship and organization by the RNOA, questions asked by members of the public included reference to unions and Canada’s health care system. All candidates affirmed their belief in maintaining Canada’s current universal health care model.
“Absolutely, we completely reject the privatization of medicare,” explained Dineen, the Community party leader. “It’s something that’s begun and has been advancing under multiple governments. Basically, we do need an expansion, not a contraction of the current system. It’s fully within our means to do so.”
During many of his answers, the Communist party leader maintained a position in support of the rights of workers.
Gord Miller, Ontario’s former environmental commissioner and the Green party leader in the Guelph riding, stated a belief that pharmaceutical companies should be held “to the fire” for their contributions to Canada’s pharmaceutical pricing woes.
“We are very concerned that we should have pharmacare,” said Miller. “Much of what we talk about in health care is sickness, and one of the major factors to consider is that it’s very important to get in front of the problem as much as possible.”
As the evening progressed, questions from the floor became less focused on local issues and more on matters of federal importance. For instance, one particular question focused on the rights of First Nations communities. Several members of the public expressed their belief that the federal government has failed to appropriately react to the increased mistreatment and misrepresentation of First Nations citizens.
Every candidate agreed that the federal government had not done enough for First Nations citizens.
“We are committed to working with Native people and Aboriginal groups to live up to the treaties that we’ve signed,” said Seagram. “Canadians have broken every treaty ever signed with Native people. Nobody in Canada should live in the way that people are living in Native bands.”
Longfield explained how he has firsthand experience working with First Nations communities.
“I’ve seen the troubles of Native people,” said Longfield. “The treaties that were negotiated were done in bad faith.”
During closing statements, each candidate restated their desire to serve Guelph at Parliament, while also briefly restating their party’s core beliefs.
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