Candidates in the upcoming provincial election in Saanich North and the Islands came down firmly within their party lines during a forum in Sidney Monday night.
Albeit, there were a few shades of grey between the same three people who faced off in the 2013 election — as well as a new face at the table.
St. Paul’s United Church in Sidney was almost full during the forum, hosted by the Sidney Residents Association. The candidates — Gary Holman (NDP), Adam Olsen (Green), Stephen Roberts (BC Liberals) and Jordan Templeman (Independent) — were asked 10 questions, including three they were given ahead of time. Moderator Mona Brash, a political science instructor at Camosun College, posed each question in front of a mostly respectful audience.
The main race in the riding is between the three major party candidates. All three squared off against each other in 2013, with only a few hundreds votes separating first place from third. Holman became the MLA for Saanich North and the Islands with only an approximately 150-vote lead over Roberts.
New in the mix in this election is independent candidate Jordan Templeman. A Saanich Peninsula residents, he’s currently in school at Camosun. The crowd reacted well to his comments and inexperience in campaign forums, which may be an indicator Templeman poses little threat to the three main party candidates.
Templeman said he’s running to be a voice for the people of the Saanich Peninsula, “rather than tow the party line.” He added later that the job of each candidate in an election is to provide people with “political options.” He also garnered laughs when Brash — who is also his teacher — forgot to hand him the microphone during the final question.
“I hope I’m not that forgettable at the ballot box,” he quipped.
The three prepared questions included two on issues facing the Saanich Peninsula — affordable housing and transit service — and another asking what the candidates would do to address child poverty in B.C.
Olsen attacked the Liberals’ mantra that a strong economy solves all of B.C.’s problems, while saying that the issue is more complex than that. In his limited response, Olsen added the BC Green Party is interested in looking after people with investments in education and in growing the green economy.
Holman also went after the Liberals’ ‘strong economy’ stance, and added some of what the NDP plans are, should they form government.
“We’re going to review social assistance and disability rates,” Holman said. “We’ll claw back the bus rates increase and fund affordable rental properties through (changing) property tax rules.”
Roberts tried to address the child poverty issue, admitting that there’s a problem in B.C. He said poverty in families can be addressed through helping people get good jobs and pointed to the government’s Single Parent Training Initiative. This, he said, provides people training, transportation and daycare.
‘Thousands of people are taking the training,” Roberts said, “and many are getting jobs.”
Templeman said a combination of prevention and action is needed to combat child poverty.
On the prevention side, education is key, he continued, adding he favours making tuition free for adults who want to get their high school graduation diploma.
Action, he said, include extending child benefits to parents of children between ages 6 and 18 and tie those benefits to the rate of inflation.
A hot button topic in this year’s provincial election is campaign financing and party donations. Olsen noted that the Green Party had already stated it is not accepting union or corporate donations at all.
“We’ve already done it,” Olsen said, going after the Liberals for trying to make the issue about transparency.
“We need to get special interests out of politics.”
He said donations have always been publicly available through Elections BC.
Roberts said that within 10 days of any donation to his party, it’s put online.
Holman added the NDP suggested legislative changes to party donation rules multiple times in the legislature — each one shot down by the Liberals.
Holman, the incumbent MLA, said the NDP proposes following donation rules in place in other provinces and in Ottawa at the federal level.
Templeman said he thinks only people who can vote should be able to make donations — not entities like unions or corporations.
“Then, there needs to be a personal donation maximum for all citizens,” he said.
The candidates were also asked about taxes, seniors services and job growth.
General voting day in the B.C. provincial election takes place May 9.
editor@peninsulanewsreview.com