Six of seven federal candidates in the Courtenay-Alberni riding took turns answering audience questions during an all candidates meeting Tuesday, April 15 in Port Alberni.
The forum took place at the RimRock Casino, hosted by the Alberni Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Alberni Valley Transition Town Society. Although the meeting took place in Port Alberni, the Ucluelet and Tofino chambers of commerce and Teacher's Union partnered to sponsor a live stream of the event that can be viewed on .
Alberni Valley Chamber of Commerce CEO Jolleen Dick explained this was done to make the meeting "more accessible" to residents across the riding.
An animated audience booed and cheered throughout the night as candidates rose to answer questions, which were submitted in real-time. People in the audience could "vote" virtually to determine which questions should be asked of the candidates. The questions were ultimately moderated by David Wiwchar of 93.3 The Peak and Mike Youds of the Alberni Valley Transition Town Society.
Multiple questions were submitted on the topics of Indigenous rights and reconciliation. Liberal Party candidate Brian Cameron, NDP candidate Gord Johns and Green Party candidate Chris Markevich said they supported the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and the implementation of all calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
"It's an important question and it's one, in this riding, that we need to be prepared to answer on a daily basis," said Markevich.
While Johns acknowledged that the Liberal government passed the UNDRIP Act in 2021, he said more still needs to be done.
"We've got a long way to go," said Johns. "UNDRIP is now law, but Indigenous people in many places still don't have clean drinking water. Here in our riding, some don't have adequate housing...or they're homeless."
People's Party of Canada (PPC) candidate Thomas Gamble, meanwhile, railed against the United Nations, calling it "a bunch of unelected bureaucrats" and stated that decades of "top-down" governance from the federal level have failed Indigenous communities. He said the PPC supports repealing "federal dependency structures" so Indigenous communities can have "real independence."
When asked whether they would support a law criminalizing residential school denialism (similar to the criminalization of Holocaust denialism), Cameron, Johns and Markevich reiterated that what happened to First Nations people in Canada was a genocide and said they would support this law.
Christian Heritage Party candidate Jesse Musial and Animal Protection Party candidate Teresa Knight shied away from support for such a law, while Gamble said a law like this would restrict freedom of expression for Canadians.
"Even our hate speech laws as they currently exist probably shouldn't exist," he said.
He also said there are "multiple sides to the story" when it comes to Canada's history of residential schools, which drew a chorus of boos from the audience.
In response to the topic of attracting more doctors and nurses to the riding, Cameron emphasized the importance of breaking down inter-provincial trade barriers, and "levelling the playing field" by making wages even across the country.
"That will help keep our doctors in our province so they're not going to other provinces to make a better wage," Cameron said.
Markevich and Johns said their parties are pushing for a guaranteed livable income and affordable housing, which will help to recruit health-care workers to the riding. Johns also said that the NDP has made a priority of increasing health care transfers to provinces, which will help with the recruitment of doctors and nurses, and fast-tracking immigration processes for doctors immigrating to Canada.
"Good timing, because now we have American doctors who are going to want to hopefully come to Canada," Johns added.
Gamble and Musial emphasized the need for more diversity in the healthcare system, and the ability for provinces to make their own healthcare decisions. Musial added that doctors need to have freedom of conscience when it comes to participating in vaccine mandate or medical assistance in dying (MAiD).
When asked about women's abortion rights and access to contraception, Cameron, Johns, Knight and Markevich all expressed their support for a woman's right to choose what she does with her body. Gamble says the discussion about abortion needs to be re-opened, which also received some boos from the crowd.
Musial, meanwhile, emphasized that the Christian Heritage Party is Canada's only pro-life political party and said this is the "single-biggest issue" for his party.
One of the questions was submitted by a 13-year-old Courtenay-Alberni resident, who explained they have trans friends and wanted to know how candidates will stand up for trans rights. Cameron, Johns and Markevich identified themselves as staunch advocates of the 2SLGBTQI+ community, while Knight said she believes in "everybody being themselves."
Musial said he believes in advocating for the "weak and vulnerable" in society, but also personally believes that God created only two genders 鈥� male and female.
Gamble said it's a "complicated issue" but suggested that "gender ideology is being forced on kids."
Other questions were asked about seniors' taxes, CBC funding and the temporary foreign worker program. Markevich drew one of the biggest rounds of applause of the night by stating that capitalism needs to be dismantled.
"We are always chasing the most money, and it doesn't matter what the cost is to human life, to animal life or to the plant life around us," Markevich said.
Conservative Party candidate Kris McNichol declined to attend the event on Tuesday. It was the second time McNichol had declined to participate in an all-candidates meeting in the riding, after choosing not to take part in a . Several audience members submitted questions about McNichol's absence, although moderators chose not to ask these questions out of fairness to a candidate who wasn't present to defend himself.
Cameron, Markevich and Johns all expressed disappointment that the Conservative candidate wasn't present to answer questions. Cameron said he found McNichol's absence "very rude" to the people of the riding.
In his closing remarks, incumbent Johns compared the all candidates meeting to a job interview.
"Do you want to send someone to Ottawa who doesn't show up? You send me back to Ottawa, no one's stopping me from fighting for you," he said.
McNichol did not respond to an Alberni Valley News inquiry about his absence, but he sent out a press release explaining that he had been at a town hall meeting in Nanoose Bay on the same night. This town hall meeting was scheduled after the all candidates meeting.
McNichol also posted a video on social media stating he has chosen not to attend "some" all candidates meetings in the riding.
"I believe listening to the community is more important right now than delivering rehearsed speeches," he said. "That's, unfortunately, what these are."
The federal election is set for April 28, 2025. Advance voting will take place on April 18, 19, 20 and 21. For more information about when and where to vote, visit .
