Yorkton This Week recently sent a list of six questions to the Yorkton-Melville federal election candidates representing the Green, Liberal, NDP, and Conservative parties. Candidates were invited to reply by the end of April 4 and to restrict their responses to 350 words per question. Responses to the six questions will be printed two per week across the April 6, April 13, and April 20 editions of Yorkton This Week.
NDP candidate Doug Ottenbreit's responses join those of Conservative Garry Breitkreuz and Liberal Kash Andreychuk for the second and third weeks of the feature.
Questions three and four are printed below.
3. Besides the ones already mentioned, what is an issue you feel has not received enough attention on the national stage?
Garry Breitkreuz: An issue that has not received enough attention at this point in the campaign has been the Conservatives' efforts over the past five years to make our streets and communities safer by getting tough on crime.
Since 2006, over 20 law and order bills have been passed by Parliament resulting in safer communities for Canadian families. Most recently, we ended sentence discounts for multiple murders, and passed legislation to repeal the faint hope clause for murderers and legislation to protect children from online sexual exploitation.
With the opposition parties forcing an unnecessary federal election, another 10 bills that would have further strengthened our tough on crime agenda, died on the Order Paper.
If re-elected, our government will continue to introduce legislation that provides the safety and security Canadians deserve.
Kash Andreychuk: An issue that I feel has not received enough attention on the national stage is "does contempt of Parliament matter."
The Harper government claims that its contemptuous approach to Parliament doesn't matter. The second part of the argument is that since it doesn't matter, the election wasn't needed. The absurd conclusion is that the opposition parties should have accepted the government's refusal to tell elected MP's the full cost of the crime bill, and moved it along in Parliament without the cost information.
How can the government so profoundly disdain the democratic process at home, but be willing to sacrifice Canadian soldiers to bring democracy in Afghanistan?
Doug Ottenbreit: An issue that is not receiving enough attention is the poverty level in which many of our seniors now find themselves trapped. That 300,000 seniors are living at or below the poverty line is reprehensible in a wealthy country such as ours. It is deeply disturbing that so many seniors are not able to enjoy their retirement years in peace and security after working for years, contributing to this society and building our nation!
New Democrats are committed to creating and supporting programs that assist seniors in maintaining their dignity. An NDP government will immediately increase the Canada Pension Plan benefits for those living at the poverty line. Working together with the provinces, the majority of which have already committed their support for the initiative, an NDP government will double the CPP benefits that are received by Canadian pensioners. This will be paid for through readjusting the priorities of the government's budget. Let us move away from unnecessary and exorbitant expenses for untendered military jets and move the funds to make individual Canadians' lives more secure!
4. Are there any changes you believe are needed to our country's system of government -- for example, electoral reform or senate reform? Why or why not?
Garry Breitkreuz: I believe that we should stop funding political parties using taxpayers' money.
Currently, for each vote it receives, political parties are funded $2/year from public funding. While this would affect all parties, if this funding were to cease, the Conservative Party of Canada would be the most affected. Canadians should not be forced to fund political parties that are unable to secure funding from their supporters or whose purpose is to break up our country.
Senate reform is needed to make it a more effective institution and that is why I support electing Senators and introducing term limits for Senators.
Kash Andreychuk: Steven Harper has vowed to end public financing of political parties. I absolutely disagree.
If parties that represent the less fortunate are denied public financing, the party that represents the rich, financially supported by the rich, would be the only party that can finance a winning campaign.
This is what Stephen Harper wants.
Public financing of political parties provides a level playing field for all parties, allowing all opinions and all points of view to be heard. This is the fairness that Canadians demand in their political system. But meanwhile, Stephen Harper has been showing nothing but contempt for democracy, in Parliament and out.
Doug Ottenbreit: I believe that Canadians are frustrated with our present system of elections whereby a minority of people select their local representative or the government in an all or nothing, first past the post mechanism. As a result, I don't hear the opinions and views of the balance, the majority of the population, represented in sufficient numbers. I would favour holding a referendum on electoral reform that invited people to consider moving towards a system of proportional representation. I see such a system would create a more representative parliament, where the number of votes received by a party is reflected in the number of seats that party holds. In this way we would truly have a national government representing people from coast to coast.
The final two questions will be printed next week.
