Candidates grilled at hustings
FOUR of the six candidates contesting the Caol and Mallaig ward by-election were grilled by the public on everything from independence and Brexit to car parking charges in Fort William at a hustings event on Friday.
The event was staged in Caol Community Centre before a 40-strong audience and chaired by well-known local community advocate, honorary sheriff and chairman of West Highland College, John Hutchison.
Denis Rixon (Lib Dem), Colin Wood (Ind), Catherine MacKinnon (Ind) and Alex MacInnes (SNP) were the candidates in attendance, while both Ronald Campbell (Ind) and Ian Smith (Con) were unable to be present.
Each of the candidates gave a brief introduction to themselves.
Alex MacInnes: Originally from North Uist and a native Gaelic speaker. From a long line of fish farmers and crofters. Mr MacInnes has spent his whole life living and working in the Highlands and islands in the seafood industry. He lives in Achintraid, Kishorn, and is married with three children. He says he knows the Caol and Mallaig ward well, having lived and worked during his career in Invergarry, Lochailort and Corpach.
Denis Rixon: Mr Rixon has lived in Mallaig for more than 40 years and was a teacher at the primary and secondary schools. He also ran his own business in the form of a small bookshop
Catherine MacKinnon: A native of Glen Roy, she has 26 years of experience working with and for public agencies and assisting individuals, businesses and communities throughout Lochaber. She came to Lochaber in 1992 and among her achievements are being involved in the establishment of the rural learning centre at Lochaber College.
Colin Wood: Mr Wood has lived in Lochaber for 14 years. Born and bred in Inverness, he comes from crofting stock on his mother’s side and from fishing folk on his father’s. He moved to Corpach in 2004 to help run the family caravan park and also has a small croft.
One of the questions came from Gillian Sloan, who has a business in Fort William High Street, and wanted to know how the candidates felt about new parking charges being brought in by Highland Council.
Mr Wood felt the High Street was already suffering from the impact of out-of-town centre retail parks and said either parking should be free or charges should be introduced at retail parks.
Mr MacInnes felt there was an access problem to Fort William town centre and this would not be improved by parking charges.
Mr Rixon said the needs of town centre users had to be looked at and that people with maximum needs should be a priority.
Another question was on whether the candidates saw benefits or drawbacks from Liberty’s plans for a new alloy wheels plant in Fort William on the Caol and Corpach areas.
Mr Rixon said: ‘It would be difficult not to welcome so many new jobs. But I would rather see 1,000 new small businesses employing one person each than one business employing 1,000 workers.’
Mr MacInnes said it was good news: ‘It is to be welcomed but will bring its own challenges from the population growth involved. But we can’t knock it back, as we need a diverse economy and we definitely need Liberty.’
Mrs MacKinnon also felt it was good news: ‘It will see a huge influx of people and bring opportunities. But we need to look at the bigger picture of how facilities will cope. We need employment but we also need to be aware of the impact this will have.’
Mr Wood said the major initial benefit was the hundreds of jobs saved. ‘While there is full employment in Lochaber these are not always proper jobs, with proper wages,’ he said. ‘The obvious drawback, however, will be the increase in traffic.’
Other questions lodged by voters included asking about candidates’ political heroes, with answers ranging from the late Labour politician Tony Benn and SNP legend Winnie Ewing to former prime minister Lloyd George.
Candidates were also asked about how they would secure residential care facilities for the elderly, especially in the wake of the recent controversial closure of the Dail Mhor care home at Strontian.
All four candidates said this was a major issue. Mr MacInnes called it ‘worrying’, while Mr Rixon said such provision had to be properly budgeted.
Mr Wood commented: ‘People are falling through the net. It will be one of the biggest challenges and we have to fight it as a community.’
Mrs MacKinnon said care for the elderly had to be prioritised more when it came to budgets. ‘Everyone needs to shout loudly about this.’
The candidates were grilled on how they had voted in both the referendums on independence and Brexit.
Mrs MacKinnon opted to ‘sit on the fence’ over this question, saying as Scotland was not independent the question was now a historic one and, as for Brexit, the UK was leaving Europe and she wanted to see what Brexit would look like.
Mr Rixon described himself as an ‘unreconstructed unionist’ and a remain voter. ‘On Brexit, I think we’ll take an economic hit but in the long term will be fine – although no doubt with a few difficult years ahead.’
Mr MacInnes said obviously as an SNP member he had voted for independence and for remain – the latter because of Europe’s importance as a market for Scottish seafood. ‘I don’t know what Brexit will do to my industry.’
Mr Wood said he had voted for independence and to remain. ‘I don’t think it’s going to be all good,’ he said on Brexit.
Voting will take place on Thursday April 5, with polling stations open from 7am to 10pm.