Even More Questions from the All-Candidates Meeting

That’s right, even more from my notes on last week’s all-candidates meeting. In case you missed them, here are my earlier entries on that meeting:

• All-Candidates Meeting: Opening Statements
• All-Candidates Meeting: First Two Questions
• More Questions from the All-Candidates Meeting

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Question Seven: The Gun Crime Question

What are you going to do about gun crime?

Peggy Nash, New Democratic Party   

• This is a question that I hear repeatedly, and there are no simple fixes for this problem

   

• Nobody needs a gun

   

• Many of the guns are coming from south of the border [remember, American readers, to us, “south of the border” means “America”]

   

• The border is unpatrolled in many places and there isn’t enough staff to cover all of it

   

• Gun crimes need to be treated with mandatory jail time

   

• Also need to work on communities — “poverty by postal code”

Sam Bulte   

• Key gun crime laws died on the table because of the vote of non-confidence [which led to this election]

   

• We need more police — both local and RCMP

   

• We need to work with youth as well — there has to be some prevention — can’t just be “law and order”

   

• We should ban guns

Lorne Gershuny, Marxist-Leninist Party   

• We can’t resort to an “iron-fisted approach”

   

• Society has to live up to its responsibilities, and individuals have to live up to their responsibilities

   

• We have to balance going on the offensive with respecting people’s rights

   

• “Arc of poverty” — one-quarter of the people in the city live below the poverty line

Jurij Klufas, Conservative Party   

• This is possibly the most important issue

   

• There’s a “big business” running the streets — the drug trade

   

• The drug trade and guns are intertwined

   

• Tougher laws and mandatory sentences for gun crimes

Terry Parker, Marijuana Party   

• mumble mumble mumble Legalization of marijuana will end organized crime mumble mumble

Rob Rischinsky, Green Party   

• We already have strong gun laws

   

• The problem is with illegally-obtained guns

   

• Let people who want to have gun collections keep them, but make it so the guns in those collections are non-functional

   

• Gun sport enthusiasts can also keep their guns, but store them at the place where they are used [e.g. their shooting range]

   

• We believe in restorative justice

Question 8: What will you do for seniors?

Sam Bulte, Liberal Party   

• Many of the programs in place for seniors were put there by the Liberals

Lorne Gershuny, Marxist-Leninist Party   

• Here in Canada, we have the resources to provide for all

   

• Unfortunately, providing for everyone’s needs is not a principle we follow

Jurij Klufas, Conservative Party   

• We will give patient care gurantees

   

• We want to expand the definiton of “caregiver” so that more people who take care of the elderly qualify for benefits

Peggy Nash, New Democratic Party   

• We would like to commit $1 billion a year over the next four years to programs that would give more seniors the ability to stay in their own homes rather than go to old folks’ homes

Terry Parker, Marijuana Party   

• mumble mumble Revenues from marijuana mumble mumble mumble

Rob Rischinsky, Green Party   

• Some reasons that older people need help: pollution and our lifestyle

   

• Wait till the boomers hit the system

   

• We want to provide universal access to senior care

Question 9: The Environment

[My notes on the question are bunged up, but it’s a question about the environment.]

Rob Rischinsky, Green Party   

• We can have both economic prosperity and environmental health

   

• Look at Sweden: since 1990, their GDP has gone up 54% while pollution has gone down 25%

   

• Kyoto [the accord] is the first step

   

• Note that there was no mention of the environment in the televised debates

Peggy Nash, New Democratic Party   

• The NDP has made sure that money was given to the TTC and the energy retrofit program

   

• We stand for:
  • Clean air
  • Clean water
  • Making polluters pay
  • National energy retrofit program

         

• [The way we’ve implemented] Kyoto is a national shame

Terry Parker, Marijuana Party   

• mumble mumble hemp mumble mumble forests mumble mumble fuel

Sam Bulte, Liberal Party   

• The Kyoto Accord — led by the Liberal party

   

• Funded Great Lakes cleanups, targeted Toronto

   

• We have invested $5.1 billion in the environment

Lorne Gershuny, Marxist-Leninist Party   

• The type of economy we live in will always clash with the environment

   

• As long as the profit motive exists, that clash will always exist

Jurij Klufas, Conservative Party   

• Kyoto is a disgrace

   

• We’ve missed every deadline

   

• Now we have to buy credits

   

• We proposed tax credits for people who take public transit

   

• We will invest in renewable fuels