Three of the four candidates seeking peoples' votes in Prince George-North Cariboo attended an all candidates forum Oct. 2 at the College of New Caledonia's Quesnel campus.
The NDP candidate Denice Bardua was the only one who was absent from the event.
The Conservative's Sheldon Clare is a history instructor at CNC, former president of the National Firearms Association and served two terms as president of Legion branch 43 in Prince George.
Incumbent Coralee Oakes who is running as an independent following the suspension of the B.C. United campaign has been MLA for over a decade and served as a cabinet minister in several portfolios.
Randy Thompson is the B.C. Green candidate. He works for the City of Quesnel and is a farmer who owns and operates Oddball Garlic Co.
Throughout the forum candidates were asked questions regarding healthcare, the economy, crime and reconciliation.
The full video from the forum can be found at the Quesnel and District Chamber of Commerce Facebook page. The answers below are small excerpts from it on key topics.
North-South Interconnector
On a question of the North-South interconnector project that's been in the works for decades, all of the candidates agreed it was vital. Thompson admitted he doesn't know if it's part of the Green Party's plans, but said, "they're not stupid and they know what needs to be done."
Clare said he's told B.C. Conservative leader John Rustad about the importance of the project.
"It's important that people who (will be) displaced by the construction of the interconnector need to be treated with respect," he said. Clare added that if infrastructure isn't invested in, it will deteriorate.
Oakes highlighted that the interconnector wouldn't just benefit Quesnel but would help the whole province.
"If something happens to that bridge the economy of northern British Columbia shuts down. This is not a Quesnel project, this is not a Prince George-North Cariboo project. This is a provincial project," Oakes said.
The project was funded for preliminary design in 2019, but no funding has gone into building the interconnector.
Crime Prevention
On a question surrounding crime, candidates discussed how they would work to implement crime-prevention and reduction policies.
"We need to make sure that youth in particular are given opportunities, economic opportunities, so they're not tempted to follow paths of crime and that they are able to work and prosper in their communities," Clare said. He added that he believes police and bylaws departments are doing good jobs but are under-resourced.
Oakes also pointed to targeting investments in youth as a way to prevent crime.
"I am concerned that we do not have all the necessary services to support our young people and our early childhood here," she said. "The fact that an educational assistant makes $31K, that is ridiculous. We need to be looking at how we make the investments in our school system to make sure our kids are supported." She added there should be a prolific offender program to target repeat offenders.
Thompson said police are overloaded with responsibilities.
"They are social workers, they're going to domestic disputes, somebody's breaking into a house. There is a million things. And they're not trained to be mental health workers," he said. "Police do their work, they do the paper work, they file the charges and the Crown goes 'um no. We're not going to charge that.' And that happens over and over and over again." Thompson added that there should be opportunities for people to break cycles of crime and work towards improving themselves.
Reconciliation
A question about reconciliation brought one of few moments of a candidate directly responding to another.
"If we're going to have true reconciliation we need to be listening to our elders. We need to be understanding their experiences. We need to be respecting them enough to listen," Oakes said. "When we have people that challenge their experiences, Sheldon. And put out words that cause pain to our elders. I think it's up to all of us to stand up to that."
Oakes referenced an article by PressProgress which shared screenshots from Clare's Facebook account. In those posts, Clare stated that "myths" about residential schools need to be challenged. Clare has since posted that there is no doubt residential schools harmed Indigenous people who attended them as well as their families and communities.
At the forum, Clare did say that residential schools caused harm.
"It was modelled in large degree on other educational models at the time and they didn't really fit well with what was going on. Governments of the day were bringing together people from different nations. Some of whom were not compatible, some of whom were very compatible," he said. "They made a terrible mess. They didn't have the resources to be able to run it as a government program so they gave it to the churches. So you had different churches in this and I think it's very important to understand and work with native communities to make sure their needs are met."
As for Thompson, he said he's worked with Indigenous people and learned about Indigenous spirituality, joking he's been in more sweat lodges than most Indigenous people.
"It's a huge part of Canadian history and it was hidden because it is ugly and it is nasty," he said of residential schooling. "It has a long lasting, to this day, effect on the self esteem of very many First Nations people. I am all for giving power and culture back to First Nations so they can heal the wounds that, quite frankly, colonialism inflicted on them."
Seniors
A question about support for seniors saw candidates respond to some of the key concerns like affordability and health care.
"Our seniors who built our communities deserve much better and one of the things that I've heard very clearly is that we need better mixed options for housing for our seniors," Oakes said. "Never in my lifetime would I imagine that we would be in a situation where a senior is coming into my office not able to afford medication because they can't afford (to put) food on their tables."
Oakes added she has seen positive change when people have come together to support one another in the past.
Clare said he wants to ensure seniors who would like to stay in their homes can be supported to do so as long as possible.
"My parents, who passed away in the last two years, were fortunate to be able to stay in their homes," Clare said. "I was heartened to see that they were able to do so with a heck of a lot of family support and a little bit of support from community care. But not everyone has access to that and it's very difficult in rural communities for seniors to be able to have that access."
He added that the Conservative party will increase access for beds at facilities and bolster transportation for health care needs as well as reducing inflationary measures to help seniors keep money in their pockets.
Thompson launched his answer sarcastically stating seniors should all be thrown in old folks homes.
"That was a form of humour which I actually say the opposite of what I really mean. Our products, our cities, our infrastructure was built by seniors," he said. "There's big chunks of land that you can build a village of community and have small mini-homes." Thompson pitched those villages as having central areas that include kitchens and nursing or medical facilities easily accessible.
"So that people, when they're getting long in age, they feel like they belong to something and they're part of something."
Health care
On a question about how to alleviate the burden for people who need to travel for health care needs, the candidates agreed the best solution would be to ensure services were available within peoples' communities.
"Doctors and nurses are leaving our community and we need to be able to attract those professionals to be in the communities," Clare said. He added the B.C. Conservatives would create, "Incentive programs to bring doctors and nurses into the community so they can be there for people in their community so they don't have to go through the rigours of travel."
Thompson said he'd push for a model that would see 93 facilities created across the province that would have spaces for different types of care.
"It would be doctors, psychologists, nurse practitioners and they can do a myriad of services and refer within, out. So that instead of having to go to Prince George or having to go to Vancouver or wherever, more facility services would be available in one place," He said the locations would keep patient files and allow them to see whichever doctor is available. "It's not an urgent care clinic. Those are the worst of the worst because you can't really make an appointment."
Oakes said Northern Health is the only Health Authority in B.C. to not have a cardiac unit.
"That is ridiculous. We need the new patient tower in Northern Health and we need to make sure we're delivering a strong message to Victoria that there needs to be equity in health care and right now it does not exist," Oakes said. "If you look at the amount of money that we send to Victoria as a region we should deserve some level of service." She said in the past she has worked with Northern Health and all levels of government to keep doctors from leaving but a Northern Health "gag order" has prevented her from doing that again.
Inclusivity
In one of the most powerful parts of the evening, Thompson shared that his two sons drowned in a swimming pool. The one who survived has a brain injury and is also gay.
"The attack on the LGBTQ2 spirit community is horrendous, disgusting and mind your own business," Thompson said to applause. "They deserve as much right to respect as anyone else does." Thompson added that conspiracy theorists who spread lies and misinformation infuriate him.
Thompson went on to explain the meaning of the letters in LGBTQ2S to a member of the audience who asked what they all meant.
The other two candidates thanked Thompson for sharing and being open and vulnerable.
Oakes said she wants to protect all children from bullying.
"I want to ensure that all of our communities are safe for our kids. No one wants our kids to be bullied. No one wants are kids to feel unsafe. No one wants our kids to feel that they just don't want to go to school because they're scared," she said. She added she'd like to see more supports for students in schools and that whoever becomes MLA will have parents in their office seeking support.
Clare said he wants to represent everyone regardless of their background, gender or orientation.
"I'm a great believer in 'live and let live.' I'm not one to judge or tell people how their lifestyle is or anything like that. I believe that as a government representative that's your job, to help everybody who needs help," he said. "It doesn't matter what kind of background they have that they're coming from. If they're disabled or needy or they have a particular orientation regardless of whether it's something that is of interest to me. It's my job to represent them."
Get ready to vote
The election will be held Oct. 19.
People can vote in advance from Oct. 10 to Oct. 13 and Oct. 15 and 16 at St. John the Divine Anglican Church in Quesnel.
Voting can also be done ahead of the election at the District Electoral Office located in West Park Mall.
For more information on the election check Elections.bc.ca.
