Local federal election candidates agree, but mostly disagree, in Stratford debate
- Connor Luczka
- 33 minutes ago
- 5 min read
CONNOR LUCZKA, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
With the federal election in the home stretch now, the local race here in Perth-Wellington is heating up.
The four candidates in the riding went head-to-head on the debate stage at the Stratford Rotary Complex on April 15. David Mackey of the Liberal Party, John Nater of the Conservative Party, Kevin Kruchkywich of the New Democratic Party (NDP), and Wayne Baker of the People’s Party of Canada (PPC) were invited by the Stratford and District Chamber of Commerce to participate.
Kicking it off, Aaron Martin, general manager of the chamber, asked the candidates if they support the construction of a trans-Canada pipeline. Mackey, Nater, and Baker were all in favour, though Mackey clarified that it would have to be done in consultation with the provinces.
Kruchkywich, on the other hand, said it is important “not to go backwards” and to invest in a “new green economy” rather than the oil industry.
Later in the evening, when the topic of curbing greenhouse gas emissions was brought up, Nater said that farmers across Canada, and in particular the local community, were already doing the hard work to be more sustainable, though hardly get the recognition for their efforts.
“If you look at the statistics for the agriculture community, they on their own have lowered their intensity. They have increased their sustainability, but they don't get credit for it when the government comes calling,” Nater said. “And then, thirdly, let's actually plant trees. The Auditor General reviewed the so-called two billion tree program, and you know what the Auditor General found? She found there was actually no requirement the trees stay in the ground.”
“I don’t understand what’s being said here,” Kruchkywich said in response. “We just had two parties talk about increasing pipelines to increase leaning on oil, fracking for natural gas, more oil, more gas. That's our industry. But also we're going to hit 50 per cent (greenhouse gas emissions reduction). I don't know how it's possible.
“The government should invest in clean renewable energy, not lean on oil and then turn around and say, ‘Let's plant some trees,’” Kruchkywich went on to say. “Trees aren't going to do it. We've had enough of that lip service. We really have. I don't want to get too fired up, but I just can't believe that we heard about investment in pipelines, pipelines, pipelines, but also we really care about the planet.”
“I care about the planet, and I think we should invest in pipelines,” Baker retaliated, arguing that most of the greenhouse effect is caused by gas that humans have “absolutely no control over.”
In the face of economic uncertainty, Mackey said that to promote the economy the Carney-led Liberals would invest in Canadian infrastructure and build an “east to west trade corridor.”
Nater agreed that the interprovincial trade barriers were a detriment to the economy at the moment. In 2017, 2018, Nater served as opposition critic of internal trade when the Liberal government negotiated a Canadian free trade agreement. Nater claimed that half of the the 300-page document were exceptions to free trade. His motion to scrap the exceptions and have true free trade did not pass.
The CBC was also on the table during the debate, when Martin asked the candidates what their party is doing to assist the civil society in the riding and nationwide. On that subject, Kruchkywich argued that it was important to invest in Canadian culture and “who we are.”
“We can’t do that if we cut CBC,” he said. “I grew up in Southern Alberta. I only knew about Newfoundland through the CBC, but I have a real sense of what Newfoundland is because we had a national cultural institution that taught us about each other and unified us.”
“I grew up with the CBC. I was a very firm advocate for the CBC until it became a propaganda tool for the government,” Baker said to a smattering mix of laughter and applause.
Nater, who went first during that question, did not respond to the question of defunding the CBC, though Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has long promised to defund the national broadcaster.
Mackey, who serves on the Stratford Public Library board, said that through his time there he has learned that librarians have superpowers.
“They are able to tell fiction from non-fiction,” Mackey said. “We need to make sure the politicians listen to the librarians. I also think it's important that libraries tell stories, that we tell Canadian stories and our local stories. The CBC is an institution that does tell Canadian stories, for a long time in the past and for a long time to come in the future. It's about protecting our national identity, defending from the American threat that we make Canada strong. We need to protect our culture from the winds of politicians by enshrining into law the right for the CBC to exist without interference from politicians.”
When asked about retaliatory tariffs in response to the steep U.S. tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump last month, Baker said he does not support them.
“We’re just not going to win, so why play the game?” Baker argued.
Mackey supported the tariffs, as did Kruchkywich, but Nater did not plainly state if he is supportive or not, though said that Canada needs to be strategic in how it fights the trade war, listing a few incentives like cutting GST on Canadian made new vehicles as long as the auto tariffs are in effect.
On the carbon tax, Mackey and Kruchkywich reiterated that their parties are in favour of scrapping the consumer portion. Baker and Nater said that they were in favour of scrapping the whole tax.
“I think it's a cruelty tax, especially for Canadians,” Baker said. “With the technology and environment we live in, we're dependent on carbon fuels.”
On the topic of the COVID-19 pandemic, and potential lessons learned from the crisis, Kruchkywich said that it is important to not politicize science, which Mackey agreed with, while Baker said he never understood how the Germans fell into the throes of Nazism until he lived through the COVID-19 pandemic, saying that it was a dictatorship and “mass psychosis.”
Nater said one of the lessons he learned was the fragility of the Canadian supply chain.
“Over the last number of decades, under multiple governments, we've lost that capacity to manufacture things in Canada,” Nater said. “So one of the greatest lessons learned, I think, is the need for us as Canadians to stand up once again and reinforce the need for us to build things, make things, and develop things here in Canada.”
Many more important topics were discussed in the one-and-a-half-hour debate. To view it in full, visit https://www.youtube.com/live/bWO6_jsO7tY?si=Bz87F6b4eNutewJB.
Election day is April 28. To find out more on how and where to vote, visit Elections Canada’s website.
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