Education, the environment, pipelines, health care and drugs of both the legal and illegal variety are some of the issues that concern young people the most.
At least, that’s if the questions students asked at an all-candidate forum hosted by Fort Assiniboine school on Oct. 8 is any measure.
The forum was attended by Grade 5 to 9 students from Fort Assiniboine and Busby School, while Pembina North Community School and Eleanor Hall School students in Clyde participated via the Internet.
In attendance were three of the five candidates vying for the Peace River-Westlock riding — Liberal Party of Canada (LPC) candidate Leslie Penny, Green Party (GP) candidate Peter Nygaard and People’s Party of Canada (PPC) candidate John Schrader.
Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) candidate Arnold Viersen and NDP candidate Jennifer Villebrun were unable to attend.
The forum was part of an Elections Canada initiative called Student Vote, the purpose of which is to increase youth voting. It concludes with participating schools holding a mock election.
Fort Assiniboine junior high teacher Pauline Payne said one million students across Canada are expected to vote.
The forum started with the candidates introducing themselves and sharing the part of their party’s platform that was most relevant to students.
Nygaard said the Green Party believes education is the key for workers to remain competitive in today’s tough job market. That is why a Green Party government would abolish post-secondary tuition fees.
“Students can accumulate huge debts to get a post-secondary degree or diploma. We don’t want that to deter anyone from getting a post-secondary education,” he said.
Nygaard added the Green Party is a proponent of universal health care said that isn’t enough, noting that is why the party has many initiatives to encourage a healthy lifestyle.
He said the Green Party also believes in protecting the environment and lowering CO2 emissions.
“Our platform, which has been fully costed by the Parliamentary Budgetary Office (PBO), has a step-by-step plan to stabilize our economy as well as curb the magnitude of greenhouse gases we emit,” Nygaard said.
Penny, a retired nurse, said health care is near and dear to herself, which is why she is a strong proponent of the Liberal’s pharmacare plan.
“Medication can be extremely expensive and we don’t want people to have to choose between food and getting the medicine that they need,” she said.
Penny said she is also proud of the work her party has done in helping families through the Canada child tax benefit (CCB). The CCB is a tax-free monthly payment made to eligible families to help them with the cost of raising children under 18 years of age
“It helps parents pay for things like figure skating, hockey or nutritious food and it has lifted 300,000 people in this country above the poverty line,” she said.
Penny added the Liberal Party is also concerned about protecting the environment and one of the ways they are doing that is by banning single-use plastics starting as early as 2021.
Schrader, a Westlock County cattle rancher and oil worker, said he is running to give Canadians a brighter future.
“I truly believe that if the Peoples Party gets a majority government, your lives will be better. You will get better jobs and be more prosperous,” he said.
One of the ways the PPC would make people more prosperous is by making life more affordable by eliminating government interference.
“To shape the world you live in you don’t have to look to the government. You do it through your purchases. You want a reusable cup or one that’s plastic? That’s your choice,” Schrader said. “The other parties they always want to take more of your liberties away.”
He also called the other parties’ views on climate change “environmental fear-mongering,” noting that the party will reduce regulation and introduce “results-based, measurable environmental standards.”
“[Climate change] is propaganda,” Schrader said. “When the dinosaurs were roaming the earth CO2, levels were well above a thousand parts per million. Right now we are 400 parts per million.”
He noted the PPC would simplify the tax regime by introducing two flat income tax rates, a 15 per cent rate for incomes ranging from $15,000 to $100,000 and a 25 per cent rate for incomes above that.
While the PPC aims to lower corporate and farm taxes to 10 per cent and eliminate the capital gains tax, they also aim to end corporate welfare.
Education
An Eleanor Hall School student asked Nygaard where the money would come from to pay for the Green Party’s plan to abolish post-secondary tuition.
Nygaard reiterated all the parties have been reviewed and costed by the PBO, but added part of the money would come from the elimination of bursaries and scholarships.
“The Green Party wants to encourage post-secondary education because we believe an educated populace is more involved and productive. We want people to be educated, innovative and on the forefront of technological advancement,” he said.
Penny agrees education needs to be affordable but is against the total elimination of tuition.
“When something is free, we don’t always value it as much,” she said, adding the more important piece is how to make it easier for people to pay their student loans.
Schrader said the PPC is against subsidizing post-secondary education, but more importantly, they consider it a provincial matter.
Cleaning up the ocean
A Pembina North Community School student asked the candidates how they planned to clean up plastic in the world’s oceans.
Nygaard said he hoped that one day technology would be up to the task, but in the meanwhile, it was important not to do more damage by banning single-use plastic.
This sentiment was shared by Penny.
Schrader responded by saying littering was illegal, noting that is what the government is doing when it allows Canadian companies to ship “recyclables” and waste overseas.
“We need to bury our plastics in our communities so that we are not burning diesel shipping, it elsewhere because that isn’t a good environmental practice,” he said.
Private health care
A Fort Assiniboine student asked the candidates their opinion if private health care should be allowed.
Both Penny and Nygaard disagreed with private health care, while Schrader favoured a public-private mix.
Drugs and vaping
Another student in the audience asked the candidates for their opinions on “drugs, vaping and smoking.”
Schrader said he and the PPC are in favour of the current legalization of cannabis, alcohol and tobacco.
He said he supports vaping as a good tool to quit smoking as did Penny and Nygaard. However, both of them said more research needs to be done on the long-term effects of vaping.
Nygaard added vaping needs to be better regulated.
As a member of the Onion Lake Cree Nation, Nygaard said while he recognizes the dangers of smoking, for him tobacco is a sacred plant.
“I don’t advocate smoking. I used to smoke and I quit because it’s unhealthy, but I believe it should be allowed for ritual practices,” he said.
Nygaard added that the party believes for other illegal drugs and narcotics said it is a mental health issue.
“We need to deal with the issues that draw them towards drug use and if we are ever going to make inroads to the drug problem, more supports are needed for those with addictions,” he said.
