CANDIDATES SPAR OVER HOUSING, CLIMATE CRISIS
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com | Opinion
GRAVENHURST — The “bogey man” came late, but didn’t scare anyone.
Scott Aitchison was, well, conservative compared to Gord Miller’s “the house is on fire.”
Trisha Cowie was Justin Trudeau in a drag; and Tom Young was an old democrat.
A Gravenhurst Chamber of commerce all-candidates meeting tonight, sans the PPC, was a tame affair (with no questions from the floor), save for Miller’s fiery shout-outs to Gretta Thunberg.
The Green candidate accused Aitchison being the “bogey man,” which the Tory candidate himself admitted in saying he was “tired” of his party being pegged as the bad guy in the federal election Oct. 21.
Miller said Conservatives are “letting down the world” by letting off Big Oil.
Indeed, Aitchison did say that Canada could cut its carbon emissions to zero and it still wouldn’t do any good with China and India still polluting.
That was the extent of the fireworks in a pedestrian 100-minute campaign marathon that shed little new light on party policies heard ad nauseam since Sept. 11.
What it expectedly showed was the diversity of the member of Parliament aspirants, the dire nature of the housing issues in Parry Sound-Muskoka and the collaborative divisiveness that exists in the tiny riding.
Aitchison stressed his 25 years of council experience, the past five as Huntsville mayor.
He said municipal politicians do well as MPs.
Cowie had one of the best retorts, when the Hiawatha First Nations member called out Aitchison for saying immigrants are the “backbone” of Canada.
She said Indigenous people are the “backbone” of Canada.
But it was Young, who said “I have lived your life.”
He said he wasn’t a lawyer, like Cowie, a politician like Aitchison, or a career bureaucrat like the former Ontario environment commission under four premiers like Miller.
Young said he “never had a silver spoon.”
He said he’s running for the NDP because “they’re in it for me — the average person.”
Miller opened the night with the burning question of the election, the Green’s lament for Earth’s future due to the “climate crisis.”
Cowie agreed the environment was among her priorities, along with the affordable housing crisis, high-speed internet, reconciliation, and the fight against child poverty.
Young highlighted his street cred as a municipal public works superintendent in Strong Township.
Aitchison opened saying taxes are up and Conservatives would lower them with cuts to the GST. He said technology, not taxes will create jobs.
And he said he was proud to be out at last Friday’s climate protests.
14 QUESTIONS:
See more on the 14 questions posed by the Gravenhurst Chamber of Commerce, Thursday on MuskokaTODAY.com
And, see video clips of the candidates’ closing remarks elsewhere on MuskokaTODAY.com
