Audience heckling at Sunshine Coast all-candidates forums reached a crescendo Monday evening during the final of three local gatherings of federal candidates, as public attendees threw out the odd jeer and tried to pose rogue questions to candidates.
The two-part Chamber of Commerce-Coast Reporter-hosted event at Chatelech Secondary School was also the first all-candidates forum that Conservative candidate Keith Roy attended in the riding (he went on to attend the all-candidates forum in West Vancouver on Tuesday).
As this was the first debate where front-runners, incumbent Liberal candidate Patrick Weiler and Conservatives’ Roy, faced off, there were a couple of heated moments, including in discussion of homelessness.
Asked how candidates would address rising homelessness, Roy said the complex issue deserved more than a 90-second answer, and said his response is “it's only part of the answer.” Roy said he “grew up under the table” at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings following his mother’s treatment for alcohol addiction (he added she’s 43 years sober). “I come at this from a very compassionate standpoint, but what we are doing to addicts in this country is cruelty,” he said, and pointed to the Conservatives’ commitment to fund treatment for 50,000 people.
Weiler, who was next up, was quick to say, “I think it's a little telling that the Conservative party thinks that everybody that's homeless is suffering from addiction.”
To which Roy interrupted, “that is not what I said,” as the audience yelled out their own reactions.
Weiler went on to point to the federal government’s investment in local housing projects, such as the School Road project, Sunshine Coast Community Services’ Building Together and other Habitat for Humanity and shíshálh Nation projects, while highlighting a lack of such funding under the Conservatives’ previous administration, and added the Liberals plan to help municipalities cut development cost charges among other initiatives.
NDP’s Jäger Rosenberg said there’s a need to address the root causes –– cost of living and not enough mental health resources –– but urged compassion. “Businesses should be assured that they don't have to worry about people breaking in and robbing them. But at the same time, we need to be very careful that we don't start dehumanizing people,” he said.
People’s Party’s Peyman Askari said there needs to be funding to get people off the streets and into homes while also addressing the underlying cause, which he points to the financialization of the economy and speculation.
Green Party’s Lauren Greenlaw called homelessness a symptom of a “series of systemic issues.” She pointed to providing housing in the short term, and in the longer term strengthening economies in communities through supporting small businesses, addressing housing affordability, as well as addressing addiction and mental health issues, “which is not causative of homelessness, of course, but it does have a strong correlation.”
The butt of the evening’s jokes was BC Ferries as Askari was stuck on a ferry running an hour behind schedule (he made it half an hour after the event started in what moderator Michael Gurney commented must have been a record time from Langdale to Sechelt). While candidates took a stab at answering a question about increasing BC Ferries funding (a question they also answer in our questionnaire), Roy was candid. “The jurisdictional issues around BC Ferries make it such that your federal candidates are going to be really inconsequential on the BC Ferries issue.” He added that he thinks the federal government has a role to play in supporting the infrastructure around BC Ferries.
Candidates were asked their thoughts on the federal government’s $117 million infusion in water infrastructure for the Sunshine Coast announced in January, as well as the transparency concerns voiced in the community.
Rosenberg took aim at the root causes of an issue that’s already become a crisis, and urged addressing climate change and reducing emissions. “We need to have a system where we address things before they come up.”
Greenlaw took aim at the convenient timing of the announcement –– just before an election –– and talked to the need to protect aquifers and for systemic solutions. She also urged transparency given the potential to spend great swaths of money on consultants, as seen at Site C.
Weiler said he’s “obviously very excited about this project” and said there has been under funding of water infrastructure on the Coast for decades. He credited shíshálh Nation for their leadership in the project and called it “an amazing opportunity for reconciliation.”
Roy took aim at transparency. “It's tough to comment on an issue that I'm still waiting for details on,” he said. “I do applaud the federal government for moving forward with the shíshálh Nation in a spirit of reconciliation. I'd like to see what the rest of this deal looks like,” he said.
Askari said his party would be supportive of the project.
An entertaining lightning round where candidates were asked which federal department they’d like to be minister of distilled their political motivations. Weiler the environmental lawyer chose environment; Roy the realtor chose housing; Rosenberg, the youth who has discussed the impact of bullying in his life, mental health; Greenlaw, the earth scientist who has highlighted culling of the Minister of Gender Equity from cabinet, gender equity/climate change. Askari took a tongue-in-cheek tack and suggested MOGE – Ministry of Government Efficiency. He went on to pick finance and immigration (“We’ve got to get our immigration system under control. We have to get our finances under control,” he said.)
Monday’s event capped a busy week for candidates. On April 7, four of them gathered in Gibsons for the Sunshine Coast Labour Council’s forum; April 8 it was Squamish for their chamber’s forum; and April 9, the Sunshine Coast Conservation Association held its forum at xwesam Roberts Creek Community Hall. At the conservation association forum, candidates debated LNG, energy, biodiversity, and climate commitments, among other matters. A full summary and recording of the event, and written statements from candidates including Roy, is available at thescca.ca.
Keith Roy, who declined the first three forum invitations, held a well-attended town hall that filled the Pender Harbour Legion last Thursday.
Watch the full Sunshine Coast Chamber of Commerce-Coast Reporter forum below:
