On Tuesday, October 14, Canadians across the country will go to the polls and elect their federal representatives in the House of Commons in Ottawa. In the riding of Kootenay-Columbia, four candidates are vying for the position of MP. They are: Jim Abbott (Conservative), Betty Aitchison (Liberal), Ralph Moore (Green) and Leon Pendleton (NDP).

All candidates have been presented with a common set of questions. Their answers are presented in the Kootenay News in alphabetical order. Last week, Jim Abbott and Betty Aitchison weighed in on the issues. This week, we will feature the answers of Ralph Moore and Leon Pendleton.

Kootenay News: Tell us how you came to be in politics and why you would be the best representative for the Kootenay-Columbia region?

Moore: I came to politics by family influence, a pride in Canada and a love affair with the Earth. I have an insatiable need to accumulate facts and understand the workings of our political process. On the other hand I am a learning disabled, computer challenged logger who cannot even keep my desk orderly. Ottawa has no mountains and a House noted for infantile antics. I wouldn't fit in.

Pendleton: Thank you for providing this opportunity to provide my platform to Kootenay Columbia residents. I was born and raised in California and first became active in politics while attending the University of California, Berkeley. I became involved in both the Anti-Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movements. My first active campaigning was for Lyndon Johnson. I finally became disillusioned with the American political and social culture and immigrated to Canada in 1970.

I am a keen advocate for the issues that affect Kootenay-Columbia citizens. I have worked in the forest industry, in healthcare and I have been a long-time advocate for sustainable environmental practices. In this era of increasing fuel costs, an uncertain economy and serious environmental and climate changes, there are many issues that affect us individually and as a global community.

We need leaders and a government who actively promote responsible government by working for long term and immediate Canadian concerns. I will take environmental and economic issues important to Kootenay residents and ensure they receive national attention. I will also work within my party and with the opposition to ensure that constituent concerns, not political agendas, are the top priority in Ottawa.

Kootenay News: What do you and your party have to offer to the riding of Kootenay-Columbia?

Moore: I have the ability to provoke discussion. The Green Party has the policy to begin the healing The Alberta influence is too strong in this riding for us to make major headway but I believe we can soften the conservative vote if we talk about the real issues. We first have to understand sustainability. Sustainability means we cannot use any resource faster than Nature can replace it, we cannot pollute faster than Nature can assimilate it, and our actions cannot result in the extinction of other species. Irrefutable.

By the relentless laws of Nature we will become sustainable. We will get there by rational egalitarian processes or by the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. We're not the first civilization to face this choice, but we are the first to have the benefit of history. We are surrounded by warnings, dying forests, rising seas, acidifying oceans, melting icecaps, extinctions, extreme weather, and chaos. Why wait for Armageddon?

Pendleton: The New Democratic Party has a strong legacy of positive social, economic and political activity in the Kootenays. We have established many enduring programs such as the Agricultural Land Reserve and the Columbia Basin Trust. I understand economic and environmental issues confronting rural people.

I have a clear plan on how to combat climate change and promote sustainability. I have successfully run two environmentally focused businesses, and I currently run an organic, sustainable farm. I support our international commitment to the Kyoto accord and will actively promote this and other climate initiatives. We must work with industry, workers and environmentalists to control emissions. Action now will benefit all in the future.

This region is blessed with many natural resources and these must be protected for the benefit of both the environment and the economy. The New Democrat Party will work within the Softwood Lumber Treaty to end illegal American tariffs. We will be prepared if US presidential candidates reopen NAFTA.

We need to use both lumber and all valuable Canadian resources for the benefit of hardworking Canadian families. The forest industry has contributed positively to BC families for many years. It’s our turn to stand up for quality Canadian jobs.

Kootenay News: What do you believe are the main challenges in this riding and how to you intend to address them as Member of Parliament?

Moore: The main challenge is unsustainable developments. Projects like Jumbo Glacier Resort are inappropriate for our times. Travel and recreation are going to change dramatically. People will not drive and fly willie nillie. Developments on established travel corridors with rail access and adjacent communities might adapt. Jumbo Resort, 60 kilometres into a snowy wilderness would be abandoned at great cost to the investors and the environment.

Another challenge would be food security. When the produce truck doesn't arrive what are you going to eat? In Creston a group called Community Supported Agriculture had two hundred families each put $100 into a fund to pay local farmers to grow the crops we want. The farmer is paid up front to share the risk and we get food. This year was an experiment that will eventually lead to food security in the Kootenays.

Pendleton: The major issues in this region are crumbling infrastructure, controlling our resources and creating a green economy. To improve infrastructure the New Democrats have promised to re-direct 5 cents per liter of existing gas tax to the local governments facing infrastructure shortages. I strongly support this move to bring the gas tax dollars back to where they will be most needed.

This riding is also demanding more debate on issues such as environmental sustainability, independent power projects, coal bed methane, and Flathead preservation. Local issues require local debate. Many innovative solutions come from the people who have lived and worked in this area. We need to ensure that local resources are influence by the community, and not by far away interests. I will work to promote local involvement and local debate on these issues and others.

I am also keen to promote ‘green collar’ jobs in Kootenay Columbia. These jobs not only include sustainable forestry and agricultural practices, but also increased railroads, solar and wind energy manufacture. These jobs will improve infrastructure requirements and at the same time create quality, innovative, industries. We need to approach climate change and environmental concerns with innovation, and a focus on real, local benefits.

Kootenay News: The City of Kimberley is currently working on several projects on climate change and adaptation. Most other communities are taking pro-active steps to decrease their carbon footprint. What would you and your party do to support these initiatives?

Moore: A carbon tax has been shown to be the best mechanism for reducing oil consumption without harming the economy. Sweden did it in the nineties and in the interim reduced oil consumption by 9 percent while their economy expanded by 40 percent. Denmark invested in wind power and now sells that technology to the world. The US continued pigging out and is in shambles. Harper knows a carbon tax would work but is protecting Big Oil. The substantial carbon tax revenue would go back to the communities to support projects on climate change and adaption. A win, win.

Pendleton: I strongly support community initiatives on the environment and other issues. With the environment in particular, we will not be able to come up with solutions unless local people choose to promote and participate in them. Top down, government led initiatives will not fix a global challenge. The Kimberly Clean Air Project created an innovative campaign of “anti-idling” to educate citizens on the negative impacts of idling, and how people could meaningfully change their action for the benefit of the planet. I am keen to both promote and encourage this and other community climate change initiatives.

Nationally, the New Democratic Party not only supports the Kyoto Accord, but we have also passed the Kyoto Plus Bill. This bill adopts science-based targets to cut carbon emissions and commits to an 80 percent reduction from 1990 levels by 2050, with interim targets every five years. We also passed the Clean Air and Climate Change Act, which ensures that the largest polluters pay for their damage. We need to focus on these issues jointly at the local, provincial, federal and global level. Real change requires all Canadians to take meaningful steps together. I will use local initiatives and extend their reach to the national level.

Kootenay News: The local forest sector is struggling with scheduled shut-downs and mill closures dominating the recent development. What initiatives and policies would you pursue to help the industry if you were elected?

Moore: After years of Americans ignoring the rulings of the NAFTA dispute panel, the Canadian Manufactures got into the American Supreme court and won! But the Americans knew the probable outcome. So Bush phoned up Harper and said "Lets make a deal little buddy".

A day before the ruling that ordered the return and elimination of duties and the end of quotas, Harper accepted an agreement that allowed the Americans to keep enough money to cover their legal bill and top up their war chest and continue quotas and duties. Treason! Anyone involved in the forest industry may comment on Harper's betrayal on Oct. 14. We must start by dumping NAFTA.

Pendleton: The forest industry is one of the top concerns for the New Democratic Party and for me individually. The local economy of the Kootenay Columbia and the greater economy of British Columbia have benefitted from quality forestry jobs for many generations. The industry has been artificially depressed by illegal US softwood tariffs for too long and neither the Conservative Government nor the Liberal Government fixed this crisis.

The NDP will not only make enforcing NAFTA a top priority, but we will be prepared to act if the US presidential candidates act on threats to reopen NAFTA in favour of the US. It is time to keep quality Canadian manufacturing jobs in Canada instead of shipping raw resources out in exchange for manufactured goods. That economic model does not work.

Should the Americans force us to reopen NAFTA, several items must be addressed. We need meaningful labour and environmental standards. We need to reform energy provisions which require the export of fossil fuels to the US even if there are shortages in Canada. Reopened or not, we need to fix NAFTA’s dispute resolution mechanisms so that our interests are respected. International law, not US law needs to apply to anti-dumping disputes.

Kootenay News: The Kootenay-Columbia region has been developing and growing at a fast pace in the last while. This has emphasized numerous infrastructure issues. Some of them, such as the Canadian Rockies International Airport, were addressed. Others are still not solved. What would you do to help solve them?

Moore: Again with infrastructure issues the carbon tax revenue would be available as well as a portion of the GST. If we quit subsidizing Big Oil and withdrew from Afghanistan where we are supporting a corrupt government dedicated to the illegal opium trade, we would have the resources to address the crumbling infrastructure across Canada. I believe the money spent on the airport is wasted. Flying will soon be a luxury even for those in denial of peak oil and climate change.

There are many other issues such as the Security and Prosperity Partnership that would meld Canada and the US. Can you imagine anything stupider than integrating with the American economy? Most important, though, is for conservative voters to find out what their government is doing behind the scenes; actions and policies that are not in the Conservative traditions.

Pendleton: As I mentioned above, the New Democrats have concrete solutions for infrastructure funding by redirecting gas taxes. If elected to lead the government, we will re-direct 5 cents per liter of existing gas taxes to the local governments facing daily infrastructure shortages. Local governments need long term, sustained financing in order to budget for the long term.

A great deal of funding is wasted when we employ emergency funding for roads, bridges, housing and other needs. We need to look beyond four year campaign terms to focus on five, ten, twenty and fifty year needs for our growing and aging population. Long term planning for infrastructure will ensure citizen’s tax dollars are used wisely and for the benefit of the largest number of people.

The New Democratic Party also has a plan to move one percent of the GST directly to infrastructure needs. Rather than increasing the burden of homeowner property taxes, this existing GST funding would be redirected to increased public transit, affordable housing, expanded health care, environmental retrofits, improved highways networks, sewer systems and water treatment facilities. These issues should not remain the sole burden of local governments. Together we can achieve meaningful change.