Between 250 and 300 area residents packed the Fergus Legion hall on Oct. 7 as Wellington-Halton Hills federal candidates attempted to sway voters for the Oct. 19 election.
Janet Harrop welcomed those attending on behalf of the Centre Wellington Chamber of Commerce.
Candidates were Harvey Anstey of the Canadian Action Party, Brent Bouteiller from the Green Party, Michael Chong of the Conservative Party, Anne Gajerski-Cauley from the NDP, and Don Trant of the Liberal Party. The night’s format included written questions only – from both the audience and the chamber.
Trans Pacific Partnership
When it comes to trade, the TPP came to the forefront early on in the debate. While the deal provides some agricultural sectors with increased market access, other sectors will have to deal with increased access to Canadian markets.
Candidates were asked what action they would take to ratify the deal.
Trant contended there has not been enough time for people to have ‘seen’ the deal. “While some of the details have been announced … the whole deal hasn’t,” he said.
Trant asked if business people would sign a deal they had not had a chance to review.
“Liberals, in general, support trade but you need to see the details … to make sure it is correct,” he said.
Trant contended Stephen Harper has signed 38 trade deals during his decade in office – yet Canada remains in a trade deficit position. He said the deal should come before Parliament for open discussion and debate.
Gajerski-Cauley maintained the best trade era in Canada was under Lester Pearson’s government in the 1960s.
“The NDP is not going to ratify this trade deal unless it is in our favour,” said Gajerski-Cauley. She added, “we are absolutely not going to allow our dairy farmers or chicken farmers to become unemployed.”
Chong said he would be proudly voting for the Trans Pacific Partnership. He described the TPP as the largest trade deal negotiated by the government, involving a trade block of 12 Pacific Rim nations, which is going to open up opportunities and economic growth throughout Canada.
He added he believes the government deserves a lot of credit for protecting supply management while also opening up markets for beef and pork producers. Chong foresees further expansion of agricultural opportunities throughout Wellington County.
He said the government has passed more free trade agreements in the past decade than any other time since the Second World War.
Bouteiller said the Greens are not in support of the TPP.
“We would work to stop that trade agreement at this point,” he said.
Bouteiller added some of the agreements mean that if a federal, provincial or event municipal government makes a decision considered to have a negative economic impact on foreign corporations considered part of the deal – those corporations can sue Canada.
“You end up in a situation where you can no longer make a decision for your country without thinking of that economic impact,” Bouteiller said, adding the Greens do not believe such deals are “fair” to Canada.
“We want fair trade, not free trade, which would keep Canadians working and businesses strong and healthy.”
Anstey said the Canadian Action Party “would not go ahead with this treaty at all.” He pointed to a situation in Fort St. John in BC where a municipal service was bid on by a Chinese company.
“They didn’t get the contract so they are suing the Canadian government for future loss of income.”
Anstey said there is something fundamentally wrong with any deal negotiated through “a secret tribunal.”
“If it was so good, why isn’t it being dealt with above board? Why should we watch our jobs go away every day?”
Anstey contended “Canada has some of the brightest people in the world and it’s time we started using them.” He said “On a fair level playing field, we can compete with anybody.” But “how can Canada compete with countries using child labour for 12 hours a day. How are we going to compete with that? We can’t.”
Religious freedom
One of the final questions of the night asked candidates how they felt about the use of the niqab and whether women should be taken to court for wearing the religious headdress.
Anstey said if he understood correctly, the niqab is not actually part of the Islamic religion and wearing them is up to individuals.
“As far as I am concerned, if you go in for a citizenship oath, you should be showing your face. We have to draw the line somewhere. What’s next … a hockey mask?”
Trant said the government “has no role telling women how to dress.” He added “we need to talk about the real issues facing Canada … such as the widening gap between the rich and the poor or high employment and poor job prospects for young people.”
Gajerski-Cauley responded, “In Ontario, I could take my top off right now and be topless and it would be perfectly fine.” She said Stephen Harper is desperate and the issue was brought forward as a red herring, adding, “the Supreme Court has already ruled on this.”
Paraphrasing former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, Gajerski-Cauley said “just as government has no business in the bedrooms of this nation, I would say this government has no business in the religious life of its citizens.”
Chong said the Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees religious freedom. “However the charter also includes limits on those freedoms in a free and democratic society.” He said “it is a reasonable limit for the state to require a person to reveal their face for the moment they become a Canadian citizen. I believe it is a reasonable limit for a court to require that a person reveal their face while in a witness box providing testimony in a trial.”
Bouteiller said, “Generally the process for identifying yourself works like this. You walk into a citizenship ceremony, present your identification and they compare your face to what is on your identification.”
He then clarified “what you want to do before or after that point … is up to you … but you must identify yourself … as you would with a driver’s licence.”
At the same time, Bouteiller said “I do not believe we have the right to tell people what to wear. It is up to them.”
Bouteiller added “the entire discussion about the niqab is a smokescreen, distracting from the real issues of unemployment – and deals like the TPP will make it worse.”
