Wednesday's provincial election all candidates meeting in Gibsons saw local candidates answer tough questions like how their parties would tackle the deficit, their stance on liquid natural gas (LNG) pipelines and how they would fix problems with BC Ferries.
While views at times were opposite, incumbent MLA New Democrat Nicholas Simons, Liberal Patrick Muncaster and Green Richard Till were respectful during the two-hour debate put on by the Gibsons and District Chamber of Commerce at the Gibsons Legion May 7.
Candidates were asked what their parties saw as the problem with BC Ferries and how they proposed to fix it.
Till said one problem he sees is the lack of action by BC Ferries to implement recommendations from local advisory boards.
"So somehow there's a disconnect here," Till said. "Groups are organized to advise, but the ferry corporation is not listening and paying attention to what needs to be done, so that needs to be fixed" he said, adding the Greens want the ferry service to be treated the same as other highways in B.C.
He surprised some when he ended with, "I see absolutely no reason why ferries can't be built here."
Muncaster pointed to strengthening the economy as the way to tackle ferry issues.
"You can organize in a lot of different ways, but that's kind of like moving the pea and the shell. The key issue in the province is do we have a strong economy that's going to support that ferry system?" Muncaster asked. "If the budgets are constrained because the economy is not strong enough, that will be a continuing problem."
Simons was quick to jump on Muncaster's response.
"Well I don't hear people saying you should shut down the roads when the economy is weak. We have strong transportation infrastructure in order to support a strong economy," he said.
Simons said fares have risen 86 per cent in the last 12 years, and noted the NDP party plans to freeze fares while they fully investigate the issues with BC Ferries.
When asked how their parties would tackle B.C.'s deficit, Till admitted he didn't know.
"I don't know how you could ever dig your way out of that kind of debt except with a lot of very, very hard work and some brilliant innovation and an agreement amongst us to stop this left, right, blame, blame. Every time we go from left to right we end up losing," he said.
Muncaster pointed to Norway as the answer.
"We've got a lot of resources in this province and if we're prudent and careful and we act at the same time quickly, we can move in the same direction of Norway. They've created a sovereign fund and it has hundreds of billions of dollars in it," he said.
Simons said the Liberals' plan is focused on putting in liquid natural gas pipelines.
He said the Liberal government wants to "put all our eggs into the basket of LNG and I think that's a mistake."
He said cutting spending by government would help reduce the debt and pointed people to the NDP website to learn more about their plan.
The final question was the most divisive. Candidates were asked what their personal position was on pipeline projects shipping bitumen from the tar sands and the risk of spills.
Till said the issue deeply concerned him. "We keep hearing about the pipelines. What we need to be concerned about really is the transport of bitumen products like synthetic bitumen, diluted bitumen and, as most of us know by now, nobody knows any technology or any method of cleaning these materials up when they're spilled," Till said. "If you can't clean it up, don't bring it here. There should be no bitumen in this province."
Simons agreed there were dangers, but said the NDP party would investigate the pipeline proposal more.
"We believe that it's a danger. We believe that it's not worth the risk. We would still put it through a process where it would be evaluated," he said. "We have a lot to discuss, probably outside even the political arena because this is a societal issue."
Muncaster was for the pipeline.
"Clearly a new pipeline is better than an old pipeline. As far as I know in Vancouver, most of the vehicles continue to be gasoline fed," he said.
"It's going to be quite a while before we get to a hydrogen economy, and then one of the things is we're going to have to depend on the existing fossil fuels. That's just the reality. Either that or we're going to bring it in from the U.S. and buy their gas."
The meeting was taped by Coast TV and will air on May 10 at 5:30 p.m., May 11 at 7 a.m. and 10 p.m., May 12 at 5 p.m. and May 13 at 4:30 p.m.
Election Day is Tuesday, May 14.
