Voters will be casting ballots on Monday, May 2 after the Conservative government fell in the House of Commons on Friday, March 25. The government was defeated following a vote of 156-145 on a non-confidence motion supported by the opposition.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited Governor General David Johnston the following morning to dissolve parliament and set the date for Canada’s 41st general election and fourth in about seven years.
Conservative Incumbent John Weston is seeking re-election in the West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country riding. Also vying for the seat are Liberal Dan Veniez, New Democrat Terry Platt and the Green Party’s Brennan Wauters.
In the October 14, 2008 election, Weston won handily, with 44.6 per cent of the 60,469 ballots that were cast. The Liberal candidate, Ian Sutherland, came second with 26.6 per cent. Blair Wilson, who was the incumbent MP and Green Party candidate, and Bill Forst, the NDP candidate, each had 14.4 per cent. Forst had five more votes than Wilson, so officially came third.
According to Elections Canada, the riding is one of the largest in the country, with 13,259 square kilometres and a population of 129,241. It was created in 1996 by combining much of Capilano-Howe Sound with parts of North Island-Powell River. About 7,000 residents from the North Vancouver riding were added in 2004. Since 1997, John Reynolds held the riding for the Reform/Canadian Alliance/Conservative party. After Reynolds retired from politics, Wilson won the riding in 2006, defeating Weston by fewer than 1,000 votes. In 2008, Wilson was forced out of the Liberal caucus over allegations of election misspending, but charges were never laid after an investigation revealed only minor errors in expense reporting. Wilson sat as an Independent until he joined the Green Party in 2008, becoming the first sitting Green MP in Canada.
Although he thinks the election is unnecessary, Weston said the economy and jobs are the most important issues, “building on the strong foundation that has been established over the last two or three years of the Economic Action Plan and looking to the future of continuing to pull out of the recession to build on the six straight quarters of economic growth and the 480,000 new jobs that have been created since July 2009.”
For the riding, Weston said people want to see strong leadership nationally. “They want to see a leader who can continue to move us in the right direction economically, someone who is respected on the world stage,” he said.
As well, local results are important, Weston added, “working hard for Powell River to reflect local priorities and advocate for them strongly and effectively in Ottawa to continue to shrink the distance between Ottawa and Powell River.”
Veniez said he thinks the most important issue in the election is the government’s competence. He questioned the $10-billion allocation for expanding the prison system, $30 billion for fighter jets and $6 billion a year in corporate tax cuts. There are other pressing priorities, Veniez said, including investments in education, training, seniors, the health care system and critical infrastructure. “I don’t believe that this government’s press clippings on it being sound economic managers are in any way credible,” he said. “This government has presided over the largest increase in government spending in recent history and that was before the recession hit.”
The other issue in the election is respect for democracy, Veniez said, noting the Conservatives came into power promising openness, accountability and transparency. “They have done exactly the opposite and our democracy demands us to pay attention to what they’ve done. They can’t be allowed to get away with it.”
Good government is the priority in the riding, Veniez said, followed by the environment. “This government has been asleep at the switch and an international embarrassment with respect to Copenhagen, climate change and environmental matters.”
Platt said the most important issue in the election campaign is trust in government. “The government that we have right now, it’s as if they are running their own show. They’re telling people only what they feel like telling them and what they do tell them turns out to be not the truth,” she said. “I think a lot of people don’t vote because they are very distrustful of what’s going on. This government says one thing and they turn around and do something else.”
Platt said local employment, affordable accommodations, affordable housing and health care are the priorities in the riding.
“When people say we can’t afford an election, well, that’s the price of democracy,” she said. “Democracy is expensive. Dictatorships are pretty cheap.”
Wauters said he knows the economy is the primary concern for many voters in the riding. “At the same time, the approach of the Green Party, and specifically my interest in serving the riding, is that the foundation of the economy really is the environment,” he said. “It’s a hard leap for people to make because they don’t necessarily see all of the routes that the environment feeds into the economy.”
All economic activity is predicated on a healthy environment, Wauters said. “A healthy environment is ultimately going to equate a positive, successful and sustainable economy,” he said.
People come to the riding because of its beauty and recreational activities, making tourism one of the major economic drivers, said Wauters. “The balance is to say we can retain how beautiful this place is and use it to our advantage for economic purposes,” he said.
Advance polls have been set for Friday, April 22, Saturday, April 23 and Monday, April 25.
Powell River Chamber of Commerce is hosting an all-candidates meeting. It starts at 7 pm on Tuesday, April 26 at Max Cameron Theatre in Brooks Secondary School.
Weston’s bill becomes law
Conservative incumbent John Weston is celebrating the passage of his private member’s bill into law. It was the last private member’s bill to be enacted before the fall of the federal government on Friday, March 25.
Bill C-475 criminalizes the possession of precursors to the synthetic drugs of crystal meth and ecstasy.
“Today’s enactment is all about protecting our youth, building our communities, keeping our streets safer,” said Weston, who represents West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country. “It’s about teamwork and the great progress we can make in public service when Canadians of different backgrounds find common ground. The new law will provide much needed help for law enforcement officials to protect our young people from the scourge of these drugs.”
Weston said he believes this is the 15th time since Confederation that the Criminal Code of Canada has been amended by a private member’s bill.
