Coaldale Chamber welcomes candidates for local election forum

Sunny South News Photo by Kristine Jean. FORUM: All six candidates running in Lethbridge riding for the April 28 federal election took part in an all candidates forum in Coaldale on April 14. The two-hour event was hosted by the Coaldale Chamber of Commerce and featured several questions from both the chamber and members of the public.

By Kristine Jean
Sunny South News

Area residents filled the Town of Coaldale’s Civic Square Atrium for a second all candidate forum, April 14, hosted by the Coaldale Chamber of Commerce.    

The two-hour event welcomed all six candidates running in the Lethbridge riding for the April 28 federal election, including Marc Slingerland (CHP), Rachel Thomas (CPC), Amber Murray (GPC), Chris Spearman (LPC), Nathan Svoboda (NDP) and Clara Piedalue (PPC).  

The forum was moderated by Coaldale residents, Wayne Street and Duncan Lloyd, while two timers from the Sunny South Speakers Toastmasters Club in Coaldale ensured candidates kept their responses on track with the allotted times for each session.  

The first hour of the forum was dedicated to six pre-determined questions from the Coaldale Chamber of Commerce, followed by a short five minute rapid fire session where candidates answered yes, no or maybe to several questions and the final portion of the evening was dedicated to questions that were emailed to chamber prior to the event and questions submitted that evening from the public. 

Chamber president Robert Woolf welcomed candidates and area residents before moderators provided some opening remarks and lead candidates in the first question period, which touched on a variety of topics including trade infrastructure, national debt, affordable housing, agricultural exports and tariffs, the temporary foreign worker program and tax reform. 

Liberal Party candidate Chris Spearman highlighted his party’s initiative that will help improve trade infrastructure.   

“The Liberal party platform is to inject $5 million into a new trade diversification corridor fund to build infrastructure that will diversify our trade partners, create good jobs and drive economic growth,” said Spearman. “The fund will accelerate aging building projects at ports, railroads, inland terminal, airports and highways.”

People’s Party candidate Clara Piedalue said reducing the national debt was one of her party’s top priorities. 

“We have a very targeted plan on how to reduce debt … as you know, the carbon tax has impacted us all so the first thing on the agenda for the People’s Party of Canada will be to leave the Paris Accord – that is an international agreement that has imposed carbon tax so leaving that accord is the number one thing. From there, we would be able to eliminate the carbon tax through the entire supply chain,” said Piedalue, noting they would also “stop investing in foreign aid and focus on humanitarian services” to repay the debt within five years. 

Conservative candidate Rachel Thomas said when it comes to agricultural exports the US tariffs matter but Canadian sovereignty matters more. 

“How do we stand on our own two feet. That’s where we have to look to diversify with other markets,” said Thomas, noting 90 per cent of Canada’s exports goes to the United States. “If we cannot get our commodity to market, including agricultural products, we cease to exist as a nation.  We must expand our trade relationships… our future depends on it and as we proceed to expand on those relationships we must listen to those who are on the ground, doing the hard work and make sure that we are consulting with them, which this current government has very much failed to do.” 

New Democrat Party candidate Nathan Svododa said agriculture has been the backbone of the community through generations of farmers and noted his commitment to realigning the temporary foreign worker program for industries that need it. 

“In terms of the temporary foreign worker policy – that 40 per cent of this labour goes to the hospitality and service industry and that has flight our workforce in a way that’s producing your value power and your value in labour but also acknowledging that in agriculture and seasonal work, that these are very valuable programs,” said Svoboda, noting he would allow fair trade agreements and support industries to ensure a fair price and “rewind our economy to those who actually produce its value.”    

Green Party candidate Amber Murray said when it comes to tax reform, you have to question who the tax cuts are for. 

“We have to talk about wealth and equity, we have to talk about loopholes, we have to talk about all of these things because until we get that fixed, there are no tax cuts for you,” said Murray. “There are no tax cuts for me, there are no tax cuts for the small (business) that are trying to make a go of it in town. There’s no tax cuts until we talk about the rich paying their share and luckily, worldwide, countries are trying to clamp down on this and make a standard corporate tax … no more tax evasion and then we can start having real conversation about it.”  

Christian Heritage Party candidate Marc Slingerland noted the party’s infrastructure program and how it would help people by meeting an immediate need when it comes to affordable housing.  

“We also need to engage in regulatory reform,” said Slingerland, noting changes to building codes and reduction or elimination of foreign purchases of homes, business and farmland. “Land is a non-renewable resource and Canadian sovereignty needs to begin with our own control of our own land base and certainly that applies to housing as well,” he added. “We will attack the other causes of inflation that raise the price of everything, including housing – scrap the carbon tax, mandatory balanced budgets, we will reduce economic barriers to home ownership and affordable lands.”   

Questions from the public that evening pertained to the environment and asked about balancing tourism development and conservation in Alberta’s national parks, what specific measures the federal Liberals enacted for the benefit of Albertans during the last several years, why Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has not obtained his security clearance, views on protecting supply management and a question on leadership asked what qualities each leader has that qualifies him or her to be the next Prime Minister of Canada.        

Lethbridge resident Viviana Lartiga said although there were a bit too many questions from the chamber and not enough from the public, she thought the forum was a “great event” and appreciated the smaller, more intimate setting at the Civic Square Atrium. 

“I think it was a great representation of what each candidate’s platform is,” said Lartiga. “The questions that were asked were really great.”