Candidates share their views at Revelstoke all-candidates’ debate

The gloves stayed on for the most part as the prospective MPs for the Kootenay Columbia riding duked it out in an all-candidates forum at the Revelstoke Performing Arts Centre on Monday evening.

A multi-generational crowd of around 150 people turned out to get the first hand scoop on where the candidates stand heading into the October 19 Federal Election. They listened attentively, without showing a definitive partisan bias, as the four candidates in attendance answered a range of questions collected from Revelstoke residents by the media coalition that sponsored the debate.

NDP candidate Wayne Stetski, Liberal Don Johnston, Green candidate Bill Green, and Conservative incumbent David Wilks, took their turns sharing their positions on everything from climate change to childcare. The Libertarian candidate, Christina Yahn was unable to make it due to a last minute conflict.

As the Conservative incumbent, Wilks was on the defensive more than his fellow candidates as he was questioned on his party’s stance on old-age security, child care, and Parks Canada funding. Wilks chose to focus on his accomplishments while in Ottawa, but didn’t shy away from taking the occasional jab back at his competition. He also made sure to note he voted against his own party more than any other Conservative MP in Ottawa.

The topics of child care, climate change and pensions generated a lot of buzz in the audience, but it was when the conversation turned to youth engagement and political representation that the crowd seemed most alert. Stetski, Green and Johnston all expressed their desire to end the current first-past-the-post style of voting in favour of proportional representation — which appeared to be particularly popular with the crowd. They all said that making people feel like their votes count is key.

While the candidates certainly seemed to agree on a lot of issues, they all encouraged voters to check out their full platforms and Stetski used his closing remarks to encourage voters considering voting for the Green Party or the Liberal Party to instead unite and vote for him if they wanted to oust the Conservative candidate.

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Did you attend the debate? What was your impression? About 150 people out of about 8,000 in the Revelstoke area attended — what do you take from that? Please comment below.