We asked all the candidates the same 11 questions on a wide range of issues plus one specific to their party. Over the six weeks leading up to Election Day, October 19, we present their answers unedited and in their entirety.
This week’s questions:
3. Local mayors, chambers of commerce, the Province and many other organizations have identified the infrastructure deficit as their most pressing issue; how do you intend to ensure this is a priority for your party?
4. Although somewhat diversified, Yorkton-Melville is still primarily an agricultural region; what is the key element of your platform that will help the agricultural industry in this riding?
Brooke Malinoski - Liberal
3. Only a few weeks ago, the Liberal Party saying that we are going to be investing in infrastructure and we’re going to be releasing the largest investment in infrastructure in Canadian history. So, I think that that demonstrates it’s really important for our party to invest in infrastructure especially right now when interest rates are at the lowest that they have ever been. Because of this I think it will really be able to grow our economy. By investing in infrastructure and things like that you will be able to create more jobs for people in the community and kick-start the Canadian economy. I think that’s especially important right now when you look at the state of the economy and the recession they’re predicting.
4. My family comes from a farming background. The entire side of my mother’s family are all grain farmers and I think it’s always been an important part of my life. I see that as being a very, very important part of our culture in the Yorkton-Melville riding and it’s a really important part of our identity and I promise I will voice those concerns. It’s important that the food producers are a cornerstone of our economy and that their voices are heard. I would say as a candidate, coming from Melville, coming from a family with a farming background I will voice those concerns and I will make sure they are heard in Ottawa.
Cathay Wagantall - Conservative
3. I do hear a lot about that as well. Communities across this country actually have fallen behind in dealing with infrastructure and I did hear the mayor’s report at the Chamber about some of the issues Yorkton itself has. He showed a picture of a manhole that’s still brick from generations ago. There are definitely issues for our communities and we try to help with that with the gas tax, putting a certain amount of that aside a specifically for infrastructure and, of course, in Saskatchewan we’ve really been hit hard with a lot of water so our highways are a concern, so I think that’s part of the picture of what we talk about that we want to invest in infrastructure around our country as part of our plan economically to increase jobs. So, I appreciate that it is a concern and a huge one for our municipalities and our cities and our province as well. There’s got to be a combined effort on the part of everybody, and I know from a small town where water is an issue, drinking water, folks say, “I don’t want increases in my taxes, I’ll drink it the way it is” kind of thing, but at the same time you get to a point where it’s not healthy any more and we have to think about the next generation, so it’s definitely something that I see as a priority and a concern. My approach is going to be, where there are issues, I would like to hold roundtables where the stakeholders all come together and have a good conversation really identify the problem and identify ways that we can work together to solve these issues. Then you can take that to Ottawa and you’ve got something you can really sink your teeth into and work with as opposed to just having a town hall meeting where you get a little bit of everything that can’t really come up with good solutions.
4. From the conversations that I’ve had with the farming community, their concerns when it comes to the federal government really have to do with moving their products and with having places to sell their product. Of course, we’re very focused on free trade and making sure there are as many opportunities as possible for our products to be sold and we listened really well to what the farming community wanted as far as the opportunities to make those decisions for themselves and so have opened up their options there for them to decide how and when and who to sell their products to so I think that’s a mandate that’s important to them and then also still working with them and the transport systems to make sure that we don’t face the same situation we did the last time around when the cars weren’t available for them to get their goods shipped out. So, that’s huge thing that I’ve been hearing and water management is very important, too, we’ve had a lot of water and we have a lot of land that’s nice and flat and there’s a lot of marshland and that’s important to them too. Actually, it was interesting to hear, they want to know that preservation is important to our government and we have some interesting things coming up as far as possibilities for us to work together on as well.
Doug Ottenbreit - NDP
3. That’s why we’ve dedicated and said in this campaign that one cent of the gas tax will be devoted to infrastructure spending. We’ve also committed to improving the transit systems throughout this country including those things that would apply here in Yorkton-Melville. Transit and other infrastructure programs are a key part of our program. You can see, all you have to do is take a look and drive around the highways here, near Melville, and see the kind of terrible condition they’re in. That’s because the federal government has ignored its infrastructure obligations in my view and we intend to ensure that’s a priority for the next government.
4. I think a couple of things we have to deal with. I’m sure you will recall last year there was the issue of transporting grain out of this region and the railroads and the federal government, frankly, did not do a very good job. One of the reasons for that is when they sold the Wheat Board to U.S. and Saudi interests. One of the things the Wheat Board used to do was coordinate grain transportation in this country and out of this region and that function is gone. That has to be improved. We have to improve farm supports for existing farmers and individuals who want to get into it. There used to be free pasture use that was taken away. I think all of these things, we’ve committed to these things and I think that will greatly help the farmers. I think we also deal with the whole issue of the way we deal with excess water in the region. I went to a farm discussion a couple of months back and that was a big, big topic with farmers. I think all those things are important and if we act on those things it will certainly strengthen position of farmers in this region.
Elaine Hughes - Green
3. That would be a number one also on my list. Things in this country are one to two hundred years old and everything is crumbling, we need to improve our rail system and get back to public transportation, which will do a whole bunch of things, create jobs, improve service and cut back on greenhouse gases so that is a big issue and that certainly could have been started yesterday, investment in energy efficient buildings whether they be government buildings or private buildings or homes. We used to have a program that was supported for fixing leaky windows and all that and we waste a third of our energy now so that would be another job we could have started yesterday with good paying jobs; we don’t have to depend on gas and oil for everything.
4. On my wish list is the elimination of the poison that’s going on our food and in our water and air. There are untold miseries and diseases caused by the pesticides and poisons in our food and everything. I’ll never live to see that happen, but that would be my number one issue. The destruction of the Canadian Wheat Board rankled thousands of farmers and the fact that they had their assets stolen, that would be another thing if I had the opportunity I would certainly advocate for restitution there. Those assets belonged to the farmers who paid for them and they were stolen. Illegal ditching, rampant ditching, where water goes onto my land and destroys my well or whatever, that is still going on even though just the other day the Saskatchewan government released a new program that’s going to devote more attention to that so I’ll be watching that one because we’ve been there and done that before so we’ll see. Diversification, yes, there’s all kinds of things we could be growing, we don’t need GMO canola, we don’t need gigantic corporate farms. We support the local farmers and I buy my own vegetables almost exclusively from a local producer who does not use pesticides and all that, so that’s very important to my health and to my well-being because I know it’s clean and fit to eat. And, of course, I’m deadly against pig factories. It’s inhumane and obscene that we should be treating animals the way we do. The list is long.
Fact-checking the candidates
By Devin Wilger
N-R Writer
In terms of refugees, the Government of Canada’s official commitment, according to Citizenship and Immigration Canada, is to resettle 23,000 Iraqi refugees by the end of 2015 and 11,300 Syrian refugees by the end of 2017. Of those numbers, 22,494 Iraqi refugees and 2,374 Syrian refugees have been resettled.
As for whether the country has “one of the best” records for bringing in refugees, as claimed by Cathay Wagantall, Canada is ranked 41st in the world for refugees per capita according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, with 4.2 refugees to 1,000 inhabitants. Most refugees tend to go to countries that neighbor conflict areas, such as Lebanon or Jordan with 232.39 and 87.16 refugees per 1,000 inhabitants respectively. Canada also trails behind Austria, (6.52) the Netherlands (4.91) Sweden (14.77) and Norway (9.24).
On Doug Ottenbreit’s claim that employment opportunities for young people are lacking, using the most recent numbers from Statistics Canada, people in Saskatchewan between 15 and 24 make an average of $16.16 an hour. This is down from August of 2014, when the average wage was $16.70 an hour for the same demographic. The number of employees in that demographic also went down, to 90,100 from 92,100. This is the only demographic that saw a numbers decrease in either category in the province. So there are fewer young people working than there were last year, and they are making less money.
That said, wages in Saskatchewan for people 15-24 do beat the national average, which is $14.53 an hour. The numbers could also be interpreted to say that people are less young, as the 25-54 demographic saw an increase of over 10,000 employees, 295,700 in 2014 to 306,000 in 2015.
Ottenbreit also said that the majority of new job opportunities are part time, and there has been a significant increase in part-time employment over last year, 72,400 in August 2015 from 60,600 in August 2014, an increase of 11,800 employees, which was much larger than the increase in full time employment in the same period, which went from 401,500 to 402,400, an increase of 900 people.
On Cathay Wagantall’s concerns about the Canada Pension Plan and small business, the Liberals do intend to roll back the retirement age to 65 and increase the benefits seniors receive—reforms to the CPP are a big part of their overall campaign—but they have not officially said whether or not contribution obligations will actually increase.
