Liberal candidate Lloyd Longfield was in full rebuttal mode at Wednesday night’s federal candidate’s debate.
The incumbent MP used his rebuttal card to respond to other’s answers on six different occasions during the two-hour, 16-question event at Guelph City Hall.
The other four candidates taking part used their rebuttal cards to address the comments of others a combined three times.
“They keep talking about our government, so I have to keep clarifying,” said Longfield in an almost apologetic tone after his sixth rebuttal.
He wasn’t wrong.
In particular, Conservative candidate Dr. Ashish Sachan, who criticized Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on three separate occasions.
At one point he called Trudeau “an international embarrassment” and that the key to getting rid of trade barriers was “we change the prime minister.”
“We all recognize that the Liberal government elected in 2015 proved to be quite different than what it was packaged to be,” Sachan said.
He went on to say that Canadians “all can have an honest understanding that we cannot expect to have what is better government” if Trudeau is reelected.
Longfield’s rebuttals focused on policy, although there was one jab at former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Wednesday’s debate, hosted by the Guelph Chamber of Commerce and Guelph and District Association of Realtors, featured five of the nine local candidates in the federal election: Longfield, Sachan, Steve Dyck of the Green Party, Aisha Jahangir of the NDP and Mark Paralovos of the People’s Party of Canada.
Two independent candidates, Kornelis Klevering and Mike Wassilyn, Communist candidate and the Christian Heritage Pary’s Gordon Truscott were not invited.
Prior to things getting underway, Klevering was escorted out of the room by Guelph Police after continuing to hand out notices regarding an all-candidates forum planned for Oct. 17 at Royal City Mission despite being asked to stop by organizers because it contravened the rules of the evening.
The council chamber’s gallery was not-quite full for the event.
Candidates did not receive any of the questions prior to the debate and after opening remarks were given 60 seconds to answer questions delivered by the moderator.
Given who was putting the event on, most of the questions centred around the economy, international trade, a trained workforce and housing concerns.
For the most part it was the usual reiteration of party policy, platform and promises.
Longfield went on the offensive at one point, firing a broadside at Dyck after Dyck had spoken of the Green Party plan to form a non-partisan climate commission.
“Is it more important for the Greens to have an non-partisanship or effective action?” Longfield said.
Dyck offered a rebuttal.
“We should all be working forward on this. This should be a non-partisan issue,” he said.
Longfield appeared to have prepared the attack on the Greens, given that seconds after it happened his campaign team sent a press release to media focused on the exchange during the debate, complete with quotes from Longfield.
The NDP’s Jahangir, a mental health nurse, seemed most comfortable when discussing healthcare, mental health and pharmacare.
“We have not only a shortage of beds, we have a shortage of nurses and health care professionals, so we need to make sure that we have more funding and that our healthcare system is adequately funded,” Jahangir.
She added that at least one non-partisan expert had called the NDP healthcare platform “miles ahead” of the other parties.
“I want to give hope to all those people in the margins, hope that they will have a representative in government that will listen to them, no matter where they come from,” Jahangir said.
Dyck talked about the Green plan to offer 30-year mortgages for new homeowners.
“Housing needs to be about homebuyers, not speculators,” he said. “Housing needs to be about homes, not about profit.”
He also stressed the need for increased green-based business and investment, both domestic and international.
“Greens are about economics. Ethical economics. Non-exploitive economics. Economics that work for hard-working Canadians. Economics that provide opportunities for Canadian businesses that put people and planet first,” Dyck said.
Paralovos touched on his party’s platform of fewer immigrants, saying that provinces and municipalities are being “overwhelmed” all over Canada by “too many people” arriving.
“We don’t have the infrastructure to keep up, from housing, hospitals, road capacity … they’re all falling behind,” he said.
“The solution is not more people, it’s responsible management of our borders and systems, that includes the immigration system,” Paralovos said.
“A federal government’s job is not to make sure you succeed. That’s your job,” Paralovos said. “The federal government’s job is to set the right conditions, to make sure that the table is set and that there are opportunities, so that when you choose to engage with those opportunities, you can be successful. But it’s your choice.”
Paralovos also said the PPC would get rid of the federal deficit in two years.
The next all-candidates meeting is being hosted by the Guelph Muslim Society on Thursday night.
