Carleton candidates weigh in
Cost of living and the environment highlighted as major issues for voters
We asked the main federal candidates in Ottawa-area ridings to answer several questions so voters could get to know them better and get a sense of where they stood on important local issues.
Candidates’ replies to the surveys for Carleton appear below in alphabetical order. They have been lightly edited for clarity and to accommodate print space. Results of the remaining surveys will appear in the Citizen in the days ahead. For more on what candidates had to say, visit ottawacitizen.com.
The riding: Carleton holds most of Ottawa’s southern rural communities, from Stittsville and Goulbourn in the west to Metcalfe and Greely in the east. Previously-elected Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre barely won the newly-created riding in 2015 with 27,762 votes. His primary challenger, Liberal Chris Rodgers, garnered 25,913 votes and is running again in 2019.
KEVIN HUA — NEW DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF CANADA
1. What is the most important local issue in your riding?
The most important issue to them is their cost of living. Despite data indicating that the Canadian economy is strong, many of them do not feel this prosperity and are uncertain about their futures while Canada’s wealth inequality and corporate influence in politics continue to grow.
2. If elected, what would be your top local priority, and how will you tackle it as an MP?
My priorities will be to bring comprehensive and committed fight against climate change in order to secure the future of future generations by removing exemptions for corporations on the carbon tax and to stop $3 billion of taxpayers’ money from funding an unsustainable fuel source. To decrease the cost of living by cutting Canadians’ expenses through a universal pharmacare plan, fighting the telecommunication oligopoly, to seek tax fairness in both eliminating corporate influences in unfair tax enforcement by the CRA and having the wealthiest corporations and individuals take on the tax burden they should carry.
GORDON KUBANEK — GREEN PARTY OF CANADA
What is the most important local issue in your riding?
Traffic congestion due to urban sprawl, as exemplified by the flawed proposal to construct a 10-storey distribution centre with 1,800 parking spots in North Gower.
2. If elected, what would be your top local priority, and how will you tackle it as an MP?
I am passionate about getting serious about our mental health crisis as it connects health, crime and climate policies. This was brought home to me this spring when a friend’s son overdosed on opioids laced with fentanyl in Manotick, and while he did not die (but is brain damaged), two of his friends did. As for crime, over 70 per cent of criminals have mental health problems. Not only are one in five Canadians suffering from a mental health challenge, the rates are higher among youth who also suffer from “eco-anxiety” as they despair for the future because of our inaction on the climate crises. I have personal experience as a family member suffered from anorexia and only because we had the resources to pay for private counselling quickly did she recover: all
Canadians deserve the same.
ALAIN MUSENDE — PEOPLE’S PARTY OF CANADA
1. What is the most important local issue in your riding?
For rural and urban parts, the issues range from respect for legal gun owners to LRT expansion. However, affordability is the most important issue expressed by residents. There is a constant struggle to make ends meet. Taxes are too high and the prices of goods and services keep increasing.
2. If elected, what would be your top local priority, and how will you tackle it as an MP?
The top local priority for me will remain “affordability.” Nationally, the People’s Party of Canada would plan to tackle affordability by: lowering personal and small business taxes; abolishing capital gains taxes; ending all corporate welfare; reducing interprovincial trade barriers to lower the cost of goods; and eliminating the dairy and telecoms cartels that make life unaffordable.
PIERRE POILIEVRE — CONSERVATIVE PARTY OF CANADA
1. What is the most important local issue in your riding?
Local infrastructure. As MP I fought to secure the federal funding for Stage 2 of the LRT for our community. I also secured federal funding for the Strandherd-Armstrong Bridge and the Ottawa River Action Plan, so that we can finally stop dumping raw sewage into our river.
2. If elected, what would be your top local priority, and how will you tackle it as an MP?
We need an MP that will continue to stand up for the community and stand up for you. I will continue to fight for the local infrastructure needs of our community by ending the Trudeau government’s bias against funding roads. The current government’s infrastructure spending in big cities is largely dedicated to funding public transit projects. I will fight for more federal money to fund better roads in our community.
CHRIS RODGERS — LIBERAL PARTY OF CANADA
What is the most important local issue in your riding?
When I’m at the doors, I’m hearing about three priorities: affordability for families and individuals, infrastructure and community services, and taking action to protect the environment. Those are the issues that I’m focused on in this election. People here want a strong voice that’s focused on them.
2. If elected, what would be your top local priority, and how will you tackle it as an MP?
Our riding is growing fast, and we need to make sure our infrastructure and community services keep up. As the next MP for Carleton, I’ll work with all levels of government to get the LRT extended to Stittsville as soon as possible. I’ll work to get a community centre with a pool and activities in Findlay Creek or Riverside South. And I’ll be an advocate for using all the tools available to us to protect the environment so the next generation can swim in the Rideau the way so many of us do now and to hopefully stem the occurrences of extreme weather that we’re seeing. As we grow, it’s important that we ensure that families and individuals have the supports they need: from being able to take parental leave, to affording their first house, to keeping more of their hard-earned money.