PC, Liberal candidates don’t shine in Burlington

Again Burlington voters are indebted to the Burlington chapter of the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW). They hosted a Meet the Candidates debate Monday night among our four local contenders, ably moderated by Dorothy Borovich.

Alphabetically the four are Andrew Drummond (NDP), Vince Fiorito (Green), Jane McKenna (Conservative) and Eleanor McMahon (Liberal).

Ontarians face the worst quandary in years about how to vote, mostly because of the two main party leaders. A recent chance meeting with an old friend in a supermarket aisle was telling. The issue was whom we disliked more — big spender Kathleen Wynne (Liberal Premier) or boor Doug Ford (Conservative), who doesn’t know or won’t reveal where he’ll find money to fund tax cuts and gas-tax cuts. (Oh, for Christine Elliott as an option)! Ford recently said he would release details. The day before the election so the press can’t check his numbers?

Burlington is Conservative, but in 2014 voted Liberal, so Andrea Horwath (NDP) and Mike Schreiner (Green) factored little in our discussion. Maybe they should have.

Both major parties have so-so local candidates. One-term MPP McKenna had virtually no profile in office, and was defeated in 2014 by high profile cabinet minister McMahon, who earned a reputation for less than stellar constituency response.

My friend is declining her ballot. Our discussion centred on who was the worst, not best! A bystander joined our discussion. She had the same dilemma. When complete strangers share their frustration, it shows the depth of disillusionment.

In between our discussion and Sunday’s leaders’ debate I stumbled upon the advance polling station near Ikea. Voting cards were not available by late last week, even though advance voting was underway. I filled out the form, then got a surprise.

Printed ballots were unavailable. I was told to write the initial and surname of the candidate (no party) on the slip provided. Voting wasn’t easy in 2018.

To my surprise I found Wynne provided the most fulsome responses during the leaders’ debate, followed by Horwath, distantly trailed by Ford, who offered insufferable sound bytes, again refusing details, but he’d find four per cent waste.

The CFUW debate perhaps helped some undecided voters, because it was a chance to compare local candidates’ grips of issues, and their platforms. Four of us attended — three women and a man, none of whom is an ideologue. Two had voted. Two were undecided.

Interestingly our ranking of their performances was unanimous. Drummond stood out because he answered so well, and without constantly referring to notes. We rated McMahon second, closely followed by Fiorito, with McKenna a distant fourth.

On health care, Drummond received chuckles when he noted if you had to go to Jo Brant’s ER, you’d better pack an overnighter.

McKenna said they would not implement the $15 minimum wage scheduled for Jan 1 because companies would close, and move to the States. Drummond countered that in Halton, $18 would be required to live reasonably with few embellishments.

McMahon extolled Liberal investments in all-day kindergarten, green energy, and our Brant hospital.

Because the Greens were excluded from the leaders’ debates, it seems fair to identify some of their issues. On affordable housing, Fiorito stated they would require one of five housing units developed to be affordable. He claimed Hydro rates are so high is because nuclear power plants incurred such high cost overruns and maintenance. “Don’t vote strategically”, he urged. “If you agree with our platform, why vote for someone you don’t like so you won’t end up with someone you hate?”

Candidates didn’t debate each other, but answered questions they had not previously seen — a good format to assess how they think on their feet. Questions included education, tuition, the economy, health care, daycare, hydro, transit, infrastructure, women’s issues, minimum wage, budgets, deficits, and protecting the Niagara Escarpment and Green Belt.

The debate was refreshingly civilized, unlike Sunday’s leaders’ debate, where people talked over each other. What will happen June 7?