Stating his record in representing the federal constituents of St. Paul-Westlock "speaks for itself," incumbent Brian Storseth said he is proud of his accomplishments as the Member of Parliament over the past five years.
But Liberal challenger Rob Fox and Green Party candidate Lisa Grant disagreed saying it's time for a change and new leadership in Ottawa during an all-candidates forum Tuesday evening in the gymnasium at Dr. Brosseau School in Bonnyville.
The forum, co-sponsored by the Bonnyville and District Chamber of Commerce and the Bonnyville Nouvelle, attracted close to 100 citizens Tuesday evening, less than a week before millions of Canadians go to the polls for the fourth time in seven years in a federal election.
Local former high school principal and well-known community volunteer Vic Sadlowski acted as moderator for the forum and did a terrific job asking questions and ensuring the candidates answered questions in a timely fashion.
The candidates talked about clean water, doctor recruitment in rural Alberta, their position on allowing Western Canadian farmers to opt out of the Canadian Wheat Board, immigration policies to bring more workers and physicians to this province and taxation of oilsand multinationals.
Members of the audience were given the opportunity to ask questions for about 45 minutes near the end of the nearly two-hour forum.
Fox, 54, who worked in the oil and gas industry for 25 years in the Bonnyville area before starting his own consulting company, said the current Conservative government should be replaced and the Liberals provide the only viable option.
His party's fiscal plan would reduce the national deficit and create tens of thousands of jobs and could include policies such as a new family tax benefit, increased seniors pensions, increasing the guaranteed income supplement to seniors by $700 million, introducing a national childcare program across the country, while increasing the corporate tax rate to 18 per cent, while lowering taxes for working class Canadians, said Fox.
"This is a Canada we can support," he said.
Storseth told the audience it "has been an honour and a privilege" to serve the constituents of this area over the past five years and how everything he has learned about being a politician comes from community leaders in this area like Denis Ducharme, current Town of Bonnyville mayor Ernie Isley and Alberta's longtime Speaker of the House Ken Kowalski, who grew up in the Bonnyville area.
Storseth said he's "proud of my record" since winning a seat in Ottawa, adding he's worked hard to bring $8 million of federal funding to the Bonnyville area since 2006.
Liberal promises to spend billions of dollars should they form the government following Monday's election would be devastating and put Canada back into a recession, said Storseth.
"There's only one taxpayer and that's you and me," he said.
The Tories have a solid fiscal plan to create jobs, continue to grow the national economy and he will personally continue to ensure the concerns of rural Albertans are his top priority, he said.
"Our party has provided $500 million to the agricultural sector in the last year alone," he said.
Grant, a newcomer to the political scene, said "people are tired of bickering, partisan politics" and the Green Party has become a viable alternative to the traditional party system in Canada.
"I care about the people of this country and I want to do what's best for you," she said. "I want my children to grow up in a clean, safe, productive country."
When asked about the Canadian Wheat Board, Storseth said it's his "clear position" Western farmers should be able to "opt out" and market their own products if they so choose, while allowing those who wish to use the board to continue to do so.
"Being able to opt out gives them marketing freedom and allows the Wheat Board the ability to continue ... I believe an opt-out clause is a solid middle ground," he said.
Grant said she "happens to agree with the Conservatives for once" and supported an opt-out clause for wheat producers across Canada.
Fox said wheat farmers hold an open vote to support the board and "single desk marketing" has proven to be the most effective method to market wheat products and opt-out strategies in other countries has failed and produced chaos.
Asked about protecting Canada's precious freshwater resources, Grant said the Green Party is a clear leader on strong environmental policies and protection of natural resources.
"We would make sure the resource is there for generations to come," she said.
The Green Party would make changes to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to proclaim "drinkable water and breathable air" are mandatory for all Canadians, she said.
Fox said the Liberals have discussed a "national freshwater strategy ... and this is a resource we can never take for granted."
The Liberals would introduce legislation to ban foreign export of fresh water, he said.
Storseth said the Conservatives would also ban export of bulk water outside Canadian borders and ensure fresh, safe drinking water for all citizens in legislation.
On the topic of recruiting doctors and other health care professionals to rural Canada and allowing more qualified foreign doctors to practice here, Fox said more than 25,000 doctors are needed in small towns across this country and the Conservatives have funded less than 100 over the past year.
Liberal policy would allow student loan forgiveness of $8,000 per year up to a maximum of $40,000 for any doctor willing to practice in rural Canada and $4,000 per year for nurses, he said.
Storseth said the Liberal plan is a direct rip-off of Conservative policy on student loan forgiveness to attract physicians to small towns.
The Conservatives are committed to implementing policy to recruit more qualified, foreign-trained physicians and health care professionals to rural Alberta, he said.
Grant said the Green Party would "fast track" bringing qualified, foreign-trained medical professionals to Canada to solve the recruitment problems to rural Canada.
All three candidates agreed the time has come to change immigration policies to allow more foreign workers to come to Canada who are willing to work hard and fill jobs that can't be filled by Canadians.
All three parties have consensus on providing language skills training to foreign workers free of charge and allowing an extension of the current four-year limit on foreign workers.
"As long as they don't take jobs from Canadians, we should be letting them in and stay as long as they want" if they remain productive citizens, said Grant.
Allowing foreign trained workers into Alberta has helped fill thousands of positions that otherwise would not have been filled and as long as workers from out of country obey the law and work hard, his government will work to bring more foreign workers to Alberta and Canada to fill jobs that otherwise can't be filled, said Storseth.
Fox said because of Canada's geography, thousands of jobs can't be filled by Canadians and policy must continue to bring in more foreign workers to fill those positions.
On the issue of corporate tax rates, Fox admitted the Liberals are in favour of raising them to 18 per cent, which he says will allow corporations to continue to be profitable, while generating billions of dollars in revenue for programs that will create jobs and improve the life of average Canadians.
These taxes would only apply to the upper echelon of Canadian businesses and would not be passed on to small business owners, he said.
Most of the industrialized world has far higher corporate tax rates than those in place in Canada and all of those countries are productive and thriving economically, he said.
Storseth disagreed saying 200,000 Canadian businesses would be directly affected by the Liberal corporate tax hike, including thousands in Alberta.
The Conservatives support "reducing corporate tax rates and taxes for all Canadians in general" to continue to job creation and encouraging new businesses to open in Canada, he said.
Grant said her party is in favour of high corporate taxes and big business "will come to where the resources are and will pay what they have to pay to get access to those resources."
All three candidates closed the meeting urging people to endorse their democratic rights and get out and vote on Monday.
The Nouvelle will have local election results in Tuesday's May 3 edition.
