The Revelstoke Chamber of Commerce hosted their federal all candidates forum at the seniors centre last Thursday.

The forum was held at the same time the leaders of the major federal parties faced each other on national television, which forced some community members to decide which debate they were going to take in live.

Unlike the televised debate, where the leaders of opposition parties teamed up to attack incumbent Prime Minister Stephen Harper, local Kootenay-Columbia candidates didn’t have the opportunity to have a go at the local incumbent.

Conservative MP Jim Abbott was a no show at the event, sending in a prepared statement instead. Betty Aitchison (Liberal), Ralph Moore (Green) and Leon Pendleton (NDP) attended the forum.

The event opened up with an introduction from chamber executive director John Devitt, with introductions of each candidate.

This was followed by an introduction of the format by moderator Terry Crane. The format allowed for a five-minute introduction from each candidate, followed by a 15-minute break during which the audience of about 50 people was invited to write down questions to be asked by the moderator. The written questions were interspersed with direct questions from audience members, followed by a three-minute reply from each candidate. The forum more or less followed that format until 9 p.m. when it concluded.

Other than a couple of pointed barbs from Aitchison, the tone for the evening was generally polite and respectful.

When Crane announced he was going to read a prepared statement by Abbott to start the debate, an audience member objected, saying that it was unfair that the other candidates had made time to travel here, arguing that the statement be disallowed.

Aitchison agreed, but Moore and Pendleton favoured allowing the statement to be read. After some discussion amongst the candidates, moderator and crowd, a democratic method was chosen to solve the issue. The audience voted the statement be allowed by a show of hands.

Introductions:

Jim Abbott (Conservative)

Jim Abbott said he received notice nine days earlier and had a previous engagement in Creston. He noted his many accomplishments in the riding over the years.

“With regard to public housing in Revelstoke, I have already made a public commitment to assist the acquisition of project funding to assist renters,” he wrote.

He said he expected to hear from the city and renters’ advocacy groups about housing projects suitable for funding. He also mentioned the first time home buyers’ tax credit, which will amount to a tax rebate of $5,000 for first time buyers.

He emphasized tax cuts for fuel, saying NDP and Liberal plans would increase fuel taxes.

He said he would stand by the softwood lumber agreement, and attacked NDP leader Jack Layton’s statements that he would scrap the deal.

Leon Pendleton (NDP):

Pendleton emphasized his commitments to the environment, noting he had created a successful health and nutrition store. He said he lived off the grid, and that he knows what it’s like to live in a self-sustainable fashion. He said he believed in balanced budgets, and practised it himself.

He noted his role in creating a number of co-ops, mostly in the Slocan Valley. “So I know what it is to create community. That is one of my big strong points. I understand what communities need, and I’m willing to work very hard as I have in the past, to see that communities thrive.”

Ralph Moore (Green):

Moore opened with a critique of points made in Jim Abbott’s opening statement, saying “most of them just don’t hold any water at all. First of all, Abbott told you all the wonderful things he’s doing. That’s his job. Anybody who’s elected to do that job better be able to do it.”

He said the fuel tax reductions encourages consumption, and said carbon taxes would encourage conservation and have a better long-term result. He said the softwood “fiasco” was a fraud perpetrated on the people of the Kootenays, saying the prime minister caved in one day before a legal ruling favourable to Canada, saying, “That was treason. Anybody in the forest industry who will accept that the softwood agreement is good for us [are] fools.” He said as a logger, the deal made him angry.

He attacked Harper’s record on global warming, as well as the NAFTA deal in general, saying a detailed analysis had found Canada had lost ground on a vast majority of items regulated under the agreement.

Moore said the current government had blocked GMO food labelling, an international treaty on cluster bombs, ecosystem protection and had trashed the Kelowna Accord. He said the Conservatives had closed women’s shelters, cancelled culture and arts programs, the Canadian Wildlife Service and had stifled the Canadian Wheat Board. “The laissez faire mentality is what Harper proposes, and it it bad for us,” said Moore in conclusion.

Betty Aitchison (Liberal):

Aitchison said she was running because 52 per cent of Canadians are women, and they have not been well served by the Conservatives, and it was a cause for concern. She attacked Abbott for his role as Parliamentary Secretary to Heritage Minister Bev Oda, who cut funding to women’s programs. She said the federal child care program had been axed by the Conservatives. She then talked about the the openly polygamist community in Bountiful, B.C., calling for action on under federal criminal law which outlaws polygamy. “Our representative has not done anything towards helping this out.” She spoke in harsh terms regarding the group, condemning polygamy. “I don’t know how much responsibility you feel sitting here tonight, how much responsibility you owe to women, but I tell you one thing, I think you owe them a lot.” She went on to say that Jim Abbott had received donations of $1,500 from a Bountiful community leader. “It’s disgusting,” she said.

Following the introductions, audience members asked questions, and moderator Terry Crane read written questions submitted by the audience. What follows is a selection of the questions (sometimes paraphrased) asked and the replies from the candidates.

What is your position on the softwood lumber agreement?

Betty Aitchison said that MP David Emerson, who defected from the Liberals to the Conservatives soon after the last election, had mishandled the deal. “”David Emerson was put in charge of this, and he blew it. There’s no two ways about that and you can thank him for not being able to come off with a good result.”

Leon Pendleton said NDP leader Jack Layton had said he’d scrap the deal “because he was angry,” he said. “He is angry that this government produced something so stupid as the softwood lumber agreement.” He said we need to get out of the agreement “as best as we can,” saying it was a horrible deal for the lumber industry.

Ralph Moore said that Canadian industry representatives had worked to win several trade rulings prior to the deal, but the Americans had chosen to ignore the rulings, “which pretty much tells you what NAFTA is worth.” He said that Canadian manufacturers got into the United States Court of International Trade, where they were winning the dispute. “It was at that point that Mr. Bush phoned up Mr. Harper and said, ‘Hey little buddy, let’s make a deal.’ And they made a deal, and like I say, a day before the ruling came down a deal was made that knocked the legs out from under the Canadian manufacturers,” saying Canada would have got all of the tariffs collected by the U.S. back, but the prime minister sabotaged that.

What is your perspective on strategic voting, or voting riding by riding to pool votes to avoid splitting votes?

Leon Pendleton said he wasn’t a fan, but said this was a high-stakes election, giving the Security & Prosperity Partnership (SPP) as an example, saying the plan for deeper integration between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico was dangerous. “Maybe in this election it might be a good idea,” he said.

Ralph Moore says he used to tell people it’s better to vote for what you want and lose, than vote for what you don’t want and win. “And I’ve changed my stance here. I’m going to vote for Leon. The reason I’m saying that, is that I believe if we get a Conservative majority, we can kiss our country good-bye. We won’t have a country in five years. We’ll have an appendage of the U.S.” He went on to criticize the SPP as well, saying, “This is madness, to tie ourselves to the most hated nation on earth with security and the most irresponsible in prosperity.”

Betty Aitchison disagreed with some of Moore’s statements on the SPP saying her experience as a disaster planner leads her to believe the partnership isn’t as nefarious as Moore described as far as emergency preparedness cooperation goes. “That doesn’t mean they’re coming into our country just to take over,” she said.

Please comment on Mr. Abbott’s and the government’s approach to the housing crisis. What are your plans for affordable housing?

Moore said to implement housing plans requires resources and that a carbon tax would reduce oil consumption and provide funding for these types of programs, giving the example of Sweden and suggesting we have a carbon tax that could bring in resources for housing projects.

Aitchison said that the Green Shift isn’t a bad deal as far as affordable housing goes. She said those in low income brackets will benefit from the program through tax reductions. She went on to say Fernie, Cranbrook and Kimberley were also suffering. “You people haven’t hit the fan yet,” she said. “It’s going to get worse before it gets better.”

Leon Pendleton said Mr. Abbott had done nothing on the housing file and that the Conservative government was approaching the issue piecemeal, saying we have money available now. He said Layton would give 5 cents of the fuel excise tax to the communities. He said the cap and trade system was endorsed around the world, and that it was the accepted system under the Kyoto protocol. “We have to inject environmental values into our economy, and that’s going to be the way of the future if we are going to survive as a culture and a society.”

We’re in a war right now, and it doesn’t seem to make the news. It’s a very expensive war -- it’s a 20-billion dollar war. What’s your plan for Afghanistan?

Pendleton said the government didn’t know what they were doing, creating confusion. He said nearly 100 Canadians had died, not to mention countless Afghani civilians. “We as Canadians have forgotten how to wage peace. This is our mission in the world as far as I’m concerned. This is why I came to Canada from the war mongering U.S. We have a mission to learn how to wage peace.” He said we need to get out of Afghanistan as soon as responsibly possible and that we are in the middle of an Afghani civil war.

Moore said that Hamid Karzai was previously employed as a U.S. oil company lobbyist and was installed by the U.S. Moore added that his government lieutenants are corrupt drug lords, and that Human Rights Watch has estimated that 80 per cent of Karzai’s government are criminals, and that many in the country feel that way. He want on to say that during the Taliban’s last year in power 160 tonnes of opium was produced in the country, and it is now over 5,000 tonnes. “And it is being produced by the Afghani government. We are protecting the illegal opium trade in Afghanistan. That’s what we are doing.”

Aitchison said the original idea behind entering Afghanistan was protecting the rights of women, but we are not even doing it in our own country. “It’s sad that people are dying, but all three parties got together and said that they would be willing to stay there until 2011, and at that time they would withdraw,” saying that we were likely to remain in Afghanistan until 2011. She said the cost of the war would lead to cuts in other government services.

Kootenay-Columbia candidates speak to members of the audience following the Revelstoke Chamber of Commerce’s All Candidates Forum held at the Seniors Centre last Thursday evening. They are (from left) Betty Aitchison (Liberal), Ralph Moore (Green) and Leon Pendleton (NDP). Conservative candidate Jim Abbott did not attend the forum. Aaron Orlando/Times Review