Coming down to the wire
P.E.I. NDP candidates have final chance to get their message across before leadership convention
Candidates for the provincial NDP leadership got their final chance Thursday night to talk about the issues they say are impacting Islanders, including climate change, First Nations issues and poverty.
Margaret Andrade, Susan MacVittie and Joe Byrne shared the podium spotlight one last time during the fourth and final debate before the party’s upcoming leadership convention.
Next Saturday it will be decided which candidate will take over the post held most recently by Mike Redmond, who resigned as leader in December.
More than 30 people gathered at the Loyalist Lakeview Resort in Summerside to hear from the candidates.
Climate change is a key issue that affects everyone, and the candidates were on the same page when it came to this topic.
MacVittie would like to see P.E.I. work towards a carbonfree economy and continue to invest in renewable energies,
such as wind and solar.
“That’s one of the things that we need to move away from, is our dependence on fossil fuels.”
Andrade, who moved to the Island a year and a half ago after living in Alberta and Ontario, said she’d like for P.E.I. to be a leader in climate change practices.
“My vision is that we become the first province in Canada that is using renewable energy only.”
Byrne said everyone needs to play their part to improve the state of the climate.
“We need to be the change that we need to be,” he said, adding that other nations need to also come on board in order to begin to reverse climate change.
Dr. Herb Dickieson, debate moderator and the party’s first and only member ever elected to the P.E.I. legislature, told the audience the debate was being held on unceded territory of Aboriginal First Nations people, and proceeded to ask the candidates if they could name one Aboriginal Islander.
All three were able to respond and said they have been meeting with First Nations people to learn about their culture, their people and what issues affect them most.
When it comes to poverty, the party’s national mandate talks about the importance of a guaranteed basic income, so the candidates were asked how they would promote this approach.
MacVittie said guaranteed income needs to be for everyone in the province, and that it’s important to work with community groups to find out what situations they face and what their needs are.
Andrade said health should be taken into account when decisions on this issue are made, and preventative health care can play a major role.
Byrne said it is about justice and the economy.
“We live in a country where every single person deserves the right to live in dignity, to nurture their hope and to fulfil their dreams.”