A week and a half before election day, MLA hopefuls in Nanaimo shared their views on what's going right in British Columbia and what isn't.
All six candidates from the Nanaimo-Lantzville and Nanaimo-Gabriola ridings participated in an all-candidates' forum on Wednesday, Oct. 9, at the Nanaimo Golf Club, co-hosted by the Greater Nanaimo Chamber of Commerce and the Canadian Home Builders' Association Vancouver Island.
The forum was not meant to be a debate, as no two candidates were presented with exactly the same question, but there were a series of questions on business and the economy.
Dale Parker, B.C. Conservative Party candidate for Nanaimo-Gabriola, said his party's economic plans include revolutionizing agriculture, investing in transportation projects and green energy, and more.
"We are going to expand the forestry sector and create high-paying jobs for people here in Nanaimo," he said. "We are going to unlock mining across the province and create high-paying jobs and support our economy to pay for these critical services that we need."
Shirley Lambrecht, B.C. Green Party candidate for Nanaimo-Gabriola, said the next B.C. government will need to look at ways to support small and medium-sized businesses, whether that be with training and education programs or with business modelling, for example.
"We need to look at everything, and if we can apply incentives to good corporate behaviour then we should do that; if we need to de-incentivize bad behaviour, then we need to do that," she said, adding that Green leader Sonia Furstenau isn't afraid to stand up to Big Oil and other industry lobbies.
Sheila Malcolmson, B.C. NDP candidate for Nanaimo-Gabriola, said in her work as B.C.'s minister of social development and poverty reduction, she's encountered British Columbians who have overcome language barriers, accessibility issues, or addictions, homelessness or mental health challenges to join the workforce.
"I've got so many stories about people that have overcome real hardship and then have been trained to fill in-demand jobs…" she said. "It's work that I think we can build on in every sector."
Gwen O'Mahony, B.C. Conservatives candidate for Nanaimo-Lantzville, said her party would reduce the taxes businesses pay, including small and medium-sized enterprises and home businesses. She said another way to support businesses is to tackle the crime that they're enduring.
"We need to put more money into [crime] prevention and also we need more front-line RCMP officers, prosecutors and principled judges," she said. "It's been a free-for-all and we need to end that. That would take the pressure off a lot of small businesses."
On housing, George Anderson, B.C. NDP candidate for Nanaimo-Lantzville, suggested the Conservatives would scrap the speculation tax, though that is not part of that party's platform one way or the other.
"The B.C. Conservatives have picked their people. They're behind people who are billionaires and David Eby is focused on helping everyday British Columbians and that's what I'm focused on as well."
While Anderson suggested housing taxes are less of an issue for voters than general affordability concerns, Conservative candidates argued the point. Parker pointed to Conservative leader John Rustad's "Rustad rebate" for renters and homeowners that he said was "one of the highest tax breaks ever given in this province."
Lia Versaevel, B.C. Greens candidate in Nanaimo-Lantzville, said her party wants to work with local government, federal government and First Nations on the housing file.
"We know that we need housing and we know that we need it fast," she said. "We need it on every level from affordable to public housing to [detached] single-family homes. We need housing everywhere and we need it on a densification plan that has previously not been taken into consideration."
There were no opportunities for rebuttals at the forum, which meant there was minimal back-and-forth arguments between candidates. However, O'Mahony, in her opening statements, talked about how she had tried to help when she came across a drug user who had overdosed that morning, and Anderson later panned that he was surprised she didn't make a "fear-mongering" video of the situation.
Parker said the Conservatives would "bring hope back to British Columbians" and the riding and lead truthfully and ethically, while accusing the NDP of "deception."
"That's why we talk to people, because we get those real stories, not the one that this NDP government tells you, that's the false story. We get the real story from the people who are suffering," he said.
Malcolmson said when she hears political opponents saying B.C. is broken, she thinks about teachers instructing in challenging classrooms, first responders tackling difficult social problems and health-care workers providing care in busy hospitals.
"Two things simultaneously can be true – we have a lot of very hard challenges that are being felt around the globe, and we are feeling them here at home as well, but … we have people every day giving their all," she said.
During closing statements, Lambrecht told those in attendance that minority governments "work very well," and said having diverse voices at the table is one of the reasons why it's important to have more B.C. Green Party representation in the legislature. Versaevel called it a consequential election.
"It is so important … to vote for something," she said. "To vote for something you believe in, to vote for the future, to vote in the sense that this matters, not only for the next four years for the next term of of government, but forevermore."
Election day is Oct. 19.