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Candidates for the upcoming provincial election were put in the hot seat in Jasper Monday night.
Passionate residents grilled the West Yellowheadians on topics like the environment, tourism, education and healthcare at a forum hosted by the Jasper Park Chamber of Commerce.
Travis Poirer, of the newly-reformed Alberta Independence Party, introduced himself as “not a politician” but said he got into politics to “stand up for the little guy”. His party fights to increase the independence of Alberta within the Canadian confederation.
Paul Lupyczuk is the candidate for the Alberta Advantage Party, a new party in this election cycle founded by former members of the Wildrose Party who want lower taxes, a revised education curriculum and a restructured energy sector in the province. Lupyczuk said “I can listen and I can talk. I am proud to be a part of the party and your representative in West Yellowhead.”
The United Conservative party (UCP) candidate, Martin Long, said he got involved in politics in 2015 “because I didn’t want to be one of those who sits idle while Alberta is being treated with disregard”.
“Something has changed in Alberta,” he said. “Some say it is bad luck, some say its is bad policy. Our group is creating sound policy and listening to concerns about Albertans. The UCP is building a plan to better the economy.”
Kristie Gomuwka, of the Alberta Party, says she believes in “rolling up our sleeves and getting the work done”. Her party includes candidates with diverse political leanings and has the highest number of candidates with indigenous or Métis roots. She said: “We can grow our economy and create jobs, but also protect the rights of individuals and provide an excellent education system.”
Jasperite Paula Cackett is running for the Alberta New Democratic Party (NDP), which is proposing to expand $25-a-day childcare across the province, and provide full drug coverage for low- and middle-income seniors. Cackett, a nurse, said: “I see how important it is to invest in healthcare. Quality of care shouldn’t depend on how much money you have in your pocket. I care about the future of my children and the children of Alberta.”
She said she is advocating for good jobs, good schools and strong public healthcare.
On the grill
The candidates assembled at the Jasper Activity Centre April 8 gave opening statements starting shortly after 6:30 p.m. and responded to questions from the public until about 9 p.m. Some questions were directed to one or a selection of candidates, others were posed to all five.
They were asked their views on the use of Strychnine, a poison authorised for use in Alberta to control large predators like coyotes, wolves and bears “when livestock is threatened and wildlife populations, like caribou, have been killed or there is risk to people”.
Poirer said the chemical shouldn’t be used to kill anything because “once it kills the first thing, it kills all the other things”. Cackett agreed, saying having grown up in Jasper she loves the wildlife and said she will advocate to stop this.
Lupyczuk said having worked as a wildlife officer for 15 years, he had seen the poison’s effectiveness and said its is managed with “very serious guidelines and restrictions” so he will not stop this unless there is another option to take care of agriculture and wildlife.
Long said he would “see people involved and come up with the best solution”, and Gomuwka said there would be a full review in terms practices and processes around the poison.
Learning to learn
A member of the public asked the candidates how they would change our education funding model, which currently gives money per pupil enrolled, which she said penalises rural schools like ours in Jasper.
Gomuwka said she has “a huge passion for education” and knows the system needs to change for rural schools. She said: “Education is not a choice it is a right and whether you live in a 100,000-person community of live in a rural village you have a right to school and an education and shouldn’t have to drive in a bus for two hours to get there.”
Long, whose wife is a teacher, said the UCP wants to make sure rural schools have funding in a fair way.
Whippersnappers
A young man took the microphone to put to Long: “Ageism is illegal in Canada, so you can’t discriminate because of age. You want to cut the minimum wage for people under 18, how is that not ageism?”
Long replied: “We have 35,000 unemployed youth in our province. Business owners are not liking hiring youth on $15 an hour, they believe it is not the right value for people starting a new job. We are presenting to lowering minimum wage to $13 an hour for age 17 and under starting their first job to get them into the workforce and building skills and moving forward.”
Resorting to politics
In British Columbia, 14 municipalities have resort status which recognises resort-oriented communities’ needs to provide visitor services, infrastructure and amenities. The government gives extra money to these communities from funds collected from a provincial hotel tax. A member of the public asked the five candidates if Jasper could have a program like this.
Cackett said the NDP wants to continue to provide “world class destinations” and create new jobs so Albertans can earn a good living. She said the suggestion has a lot of merit and “it is certainly an issue I will bring forward in government”.
Gomuwka said her party leader, Stephen Mandel, was interested in looking at hotel tax going back to tourist areas for better infrastructure and encouraging new and existing tourism through advertising and development.
Long said there would be a tourism partnership fund to provide support for tourism and “make tourism responsible”.
Dwain Wacko, owner of the Chaba Theatre and a former town councillor, asked the candidates for further comments on how they would support the commercial industry in our community with regards to tourism.
Cackett said having been born and raised in Jasper, she knows the importance of Jasper’s tourism industry. She said she would get together with residents and businesses in town and see “what you think we should do as a government to promote our town”.
Lupyczuk said his party would be working “very hard” with the tourism branch to get adverts out in Eastern Canada. Long said the UCP would work with Travel Alberta to create a new 10-year strategy with a goal to double tourism in Alberta by 2030. Gomuwka said the Alberta Party would go back to having a ministry just for tourism and put hotel tax towards infrastructure and “increasing diversification in Jasper”.
Fight the pipeline
A woman holding her newborn baby asked the candidates how they could morally support the expansion of the Trans Mountain Pipeline, part of which already runs beneath Jasper.
Cackett said the NDPs will not stop fighting until the pipeline is built. She said they can produce more product and more jobs.
Poirer said the world’s demand for oil is not going to change any time soon. Gomuwka’s response was similar, she said: “We need the pipeline but also want to reduce emissions. I just don’t know we can do it as fast as we need to and right now the issue is we can’t live in Alberta without the energy sector.”
Long said the UCP would contribute to innovation and technology in Alberta, and Lupyczuk said we “have to take care of our children and seniors, education and healthcare and jobs”. He said the energy sector is necessary to keep people alive and healthy.
The provincial election takes place on April 16 and you can vote at the curling rink from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Advance polls will be open April 11-13 in the multi-purpose hall at the JAC.
