With voters headed to the polls on September 20, Doppler invited the Parry Sound-Muskoka candidates from the five main political parties to participate in a Q&A. Each day this week, we’ll be posting their replies in random order.
Today’s question: What part of your party’s platform do you disagree with?
New Democratic Party, Heather Hay
parrysoundmuskoka.ndp.ca
I have grown up in an NDP home – silk screening signs in the barn, knocking on doors, answering the phone “NDP headquarters” in high school, attending conventions as a youth rep to set party policy, and now I am following in my father’s footsteps to run as the NDP candidate for Parry Sound–Muskoka.
I have huge respect for the party, its members, and the platform. As progressive as many of the NDP’s ideals are, I think there is more work to be done to challenge the patriarchal, colonial, racist systems and ways of thinking we have inherited.
Liberal Party, Jovanie Nicoyishakiye
jovanienicoyishakiye.liberal.ca
Did not respond.
Conservative Party, Scott Aitchison
conservativepsm.com
I am comfortable with 99 per cent of my party’s platform. I have a minor quibble with some corporate tax treatment in the non-profit summer camp sectors. Discussions continue.
Green Party, Marc Mantha
marcmantha.com
I am in full agreement with the six guiding principles to which all Green Parties around the world subscribe and on which all Green Party policies are grounded: Sustainability, Ecological Wisdom, Respect for Diversity, Non-Violence, Social Justice, Participatory Democracy (greenparty.ca/en/party/values).
If as your MP, I ever believed that a specific policy put forward by the party was not the best for Parry Sound-Muskoka, as a Green MP I would be free to speak and vote for a better solution.
People’s Party, Jim Tole
peoplespartyofcanada.ca/james_tole
There are no policies in the party’s platform that I disagree with, in fact I support all of them wholeheartedly! In fact, my personal values and beliefs mesh exactly with those of the party.
The People’s Party of Canada brings together common sense, populism, classical conservatism, and libertarianism to create solutions adapted for the challenges of the 21st century. Our beliefs are succinctly summarized in our four founding principles: Freedom, Responsibility, Fairness, and Respect. These principles guide and inform the policies of the People’s Party.
See the candidates’ answers to previous questions at the links below:
- Why do you believe you are the best candidate to represent Parry Sound-Muskoka?
- What skillset or experience would you bring to the table?
- What issue do you feel is of greatest importance for residents of Parry Sound-Muskoka in the immediate future and how will you work to address it?
- What part of your party’s platform do you believe is most critical as we emerge from this pandemic? How would you work with other parties to implement it?
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Allen Markle, this is my comment on your excellent analysis of the line-towing candidates: ditto.
Proportional Representation would be indeed much more democratic.
BJ
The first 4 questions were kind of boiler plate. The answers uneventful. I thought of my own answers to the questions and know none of my responses would have resembled what was professed by the candidates. Try it yourself.
But this question 5 really adds a chuckle to the morning. To paraphrase: the query was, ‘Do you disagree with any of your party’s platform???’
The answers given, “huge respect for the party, its’ members and the platform”, Did not respond(which fits in here), “comfortable with 99%”, “in full agreement”, and “no policies in the party’s platform I disagree with”. Ho Hum.
Can you imagine everyone in a group, being in full agreement with everything the others in the group said? Although one candidate did claim a 1% latitude. Lotta nerve! We have had family dinners that aroused more dissention!
These answers vary little; in my estimation, the candidates are interchangeable, IF these are really their answers. But we all know how our Canadian ‘elected dictatorships’ work.
So if I were a candidate and had to answer this question, it might come out something like: “Of course I agree. What are you trying to do, get me banished to one of the outer rings of Jupiter? You don’t dissent or disagree with the leader. Can’t you remember instances where that turned out badly?”
We need proportional representation, as Wikipedia describes it: “proportional representation to the degree that parties honestly describe their goals”. My, but that sounds refreshing!
It may be that we will get another minority government and that’s fine with me since I have no love for some petty potentate (read majority leader) proroguing assemblies or calling elections whenever they get a pout on.
We need governments that represent more than just 35 or 40% of the people and if a minority government, where politicians have to work together, is as close as we can get, I find that better than the option.
We can surmise what the ‘Did not respond’ answer would be and shouldn’t be so dismissive of that candidate. Just pick any one of the other answers and say ‘ditto’.