Local party reps react to federal budget and looming election
By Andrew Zwicker
With an election appearing imminent after the three opposition parties all renounced the Conservative’s budget on Tuesday, the Telegraph set out to get reactions and thoughts from the three (to date) declared Southern Interior candidates. Note: At present there is no liberal candidate declared for the riding.
With the NDP holding the swing vote in the budget approval process, sitting MP Alex Atamanenko is largely on side with his party’s move and is disappointed with the Harper government’s lack of cooperation with the other parties. He questioned the values behind the new budget. “The budget doesn’t really met the needs of most Canadians. I know it certainly fell short of the expectations we had. They seem to be able to find money to purchase new jet fighters but there isn’t enough money to double the CPP? The GIS is only a half measure and there is nothing in there like we asked for around taking the HST off of home heating and certainly no concrete measures for doctors and nurses in our communities. Harper has made a choice here not do to this, and I find it very disappointing.” Stephen Hill, the local candidate for the Conservative party, not surprisingly, supports the budget and sees what he thinks are some real potential wins for the country. Strongly believing our riding is hurting itself by not voting for the governing party, Hill is disappointed that the budget will not likely go through. “I think the budget was fantastic. I think lifting 680,000 Canadians out of poverty and improving energy efficiency of people’s home in BC is wonderful, and I think the budget was very well balanced and very conservative. Bringing us back to a balanced budget situation in 2014-15 is phenomenal. It’s sad that the budget isn’t going to happen now without a miracle. If people want more of the same and to continue to be a protest riding than they should continue to vote NDP. If they want to be part of the government and part of the solution to the problem, then they have to vote Conservative or Liberal. It’s pretty straight forward.” Seeing a looming election as a waste of tax-payer dollars at the present time, Green Party candidate Bryan Hunt would have preferred to see the government work together for the betterment of the country rather than playing what he sees as political games, and costly ones at that. “You know, when I look at the budget I don’t think it’s actually that bad. I don’t think I like the corporate tax rates being cut so much, though, and I think we should be cutting our subsidies to fossil fuels as a whole. It’s not horrible though. For a lack of a better word there is a lot of politicking going on here. I’m not sure anyone thinks it’s a terrible budget but there is an election in the works because people are angry with the current situation. “I’m really itching to work for the riding but at the same time it doesn’t really seem like people want an election right now. It’s like 350 to 400 million dollars roughly to have an election .The polls are saying things are going to stay about the same so that seems like money down the drain to me. With this budget I’d like to have seen more cooperation and collaboration between the parties to move the country forward rather than being so adversarial.” While some aspects of the budget could potentially have been positive gains for this region, such as student loan relief for doctors who practice in rural regions and financial assistance for seniors (albeit not as much as the NDP demanded) Atamanenko sees those potential wins as “crumbs” thrown out to appease the other parties, rather than substantial improvements. “Sure, there were some good points in there; I mean it’s not completely black and white. I think the good bits in there are just half measures. There’s also the fact that they are talking about permanent gas tax revenue to communities. That’s good for us. Overall, however, when you look at this budget, it’s not something that I feel I can support. The other thing–assuming we would have supported the budget, what guarantees do we have that they would have actually brought these items in? They throw out a few crumbs to stay alive and then what happens after that? Can we trust them to follow through?” The issue of trust was one common thread in interviews with the candidates. On the ground, Atamanenko noted the increasing difficulty he was having in trying to work with Conservative party members. “Personally I can tell you though that I’m having a really hard time supporting these guys with all of the scandals that are happening. Even today I was in the agricultural committee and there was filibustering and almost a poisonous atmosphere that this government is creating, and I’m finding it very difficult to work with them. “I really don’t think that this government has made any efforts to work with the opposition parties. I’ve been in there five years and watching and observing this. I think it’s time to hold them accountable. What they are doing its wrong for the voters. There is a lack of information and the fact they were found in contempt–that’s huge! Here’s a government that came into power on the promise to clean things up and it’s getting far worse.” From Hill’s point of view, the “Shenanigans” going on in Ottawa are of no interest to him as he states that his goal is focusing on local issues. “It’s very simple. If Alex is more concerned about the shenanigans in Ottawa perhaps he should move there. I’m more concerned about our schools and the hospitals in our area. I don’t care about the trust issues going on in Ottawa. Why are we concerned about Ottawa issues when we have the worst unemployment in the province in our region? I’m not concerned about shenanigans in Ottawa. Yes we have sideline games in Ottawa but I’m not running for Ottawa, I’m running for BC Southern Interior.” Locally, Atamanenko would like to see more money budgeted towards helping the people through social assistance programs. “Affordable housing is one big area I would have liked to have seen more focus on. We talk about help for those that are unemployed. It would be good to see something in that area as well. We’ve got all sorts of people in our riding that would like to see a national childcare program to help our young people. I was talking to some students just last week and tuition fees are going up again. There is really no help in there for university or college students. Those are the big things I think would have been appropriate to at least start putting into motion through a budget and would have personally helped me feel better about it.” For his part, Hunt would like to see the current government work rather than going through the costly motions of an election. “In a minority government there should be a lot more back and forth and working with opposition parties, but it doesn’t seem to be going that way. With all of the scandals with Bev Oda and things like that there are definitely things going on that are not god for the country, but I don’t think the election will change a lot of things, and believe there is a better way to improve our country.” Taking a different tack, Hill says it’s all about jobs. “George Penfold from Selkirk College penned an article three weeks ago stating that we have the highest unemployment in BC. There’s got be a reason for that. We’re not the second worst, we’re not the third worst, we are the worst riding in BC. We’ve lost 7,000 jobs over the last 10 years in the Kootenays. It’s no wonder our hospitals are closing, our schools are closing and it’s absolutely atrocious. I’m a creator of jobs and that’s what this region needs.” Hunt takes more of a holistic view of things. Rather than focusing on specific agenda items at this time he seems a greater need for helping solve the issues and believes his skill set is tailored to that need. “I’m not really a politician. It’s a strange spot for me. I grew up in Kaslo. What I seem to be good at is fixing things that are going wrong. I don’t love politics, but I see an opportunity where I can make things better for our riding. I would do anything for this riding. If I got the chance to fix things and make things better here that’s what I look forward to doing.” The common thread running throughout the three conversations was that there is a real need for improvement in our region. Where that need lies and how each would come at it differ greatly. For some the lines have already been drawn in the sand as to where they stand. If and when we move into a federal election we’ll no doubt be hearing more from each of the candidates. Before that election fully begins, the Telegraph is asking you, the electorate what issues are important to you in the looming federal election? What changes, if any, would you like to see? Post a comment.
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