Grizzly bears, cannabis and oil pipelines.
These were some of the topics addressed during the two-hour election forum hosted at the Prestige on Tuesday, in which moderator Glenn Hicks grilled the five candidates vying for MLA Michelle Mungall’s seat in the provincial legislature.
Hicks had promised beforehand to be deliberately provocative, though friendly, and he delivered on that promise — poking at such sensitive subjects as the cash-for-access scandal plaguing Premier Christy Clark, the concept of personal accountability in health care, and whether or not bipartisan governance is a real possibility within the current system.
And though there were five people onstage, it was apparent to everyone that the three power players were Mungall, the Green’s Kim Charlesworth and the Liberals’ Tanya Wall. Independent candidates Tom Prior and Jesse O’Leary were given an equal amount of time — out of respect, said Hicks — and they both disagreed with his assertion that they’re unelectable, though it was clear the crowd disagreed.
‘Michelle Mungall makes a living out of attacking people’
If there was a prize for the most incendiary thing Hicks said over the course of the evening, it was probably this comment: “Michelle Mungall makes a living out of attacking people.”
Hicks delivered this zinger following O’Leary’s refusal to criticize the sitting MLA. He was quizzing the candidates on how they plan to collaborate across party lines, mentioning Mungall’s penchant for fiery speeches in the house and her fierce criticism of the premier.
Is it possible, he asked, for everybody to get along? Could Mungall, in his words “knock on Liberal doors” if she needed to get something done?
“Absolutely,” she said. “I’m fortunate enough to be in a party where all voices are heard at the caucus table … I don’t necessarily always agree with my colleagues and we work it out. I bring the Nelson-Creston voice, the Kootenay voice, to that table.”
One point of contention within the NDP’s ranks? The grizzly hunt. Mungall said there was fervent debate on the topic, but the party ultimately decided that if elected they will put an end to it.
She also received a jab from Wall, who said that during her time working for the Regional District of Central Kootenay, she “didn’t have a good working relationship” with Mungall.
“It wasn’t for lack of trying,” Mungall replied.
‘People don’t like Christy Clark’
Nobody has to tell Tanya Wall how unpopular her leader is in the Kootenays — she already knows from going door to door. And over the course of the evening she strayed from the Liberal party line on a couple of different issues.
“Give me something juicy that you absolutely disagree with Christy Clark on,” Hicks said.
“Oh, where do we start?” Wall said, with a laugh.
“I don’t agree with all the fundamentals of Site C. Agriculture land is very critical in our riding and I advocate for agriculture in a lot of ways,” she said.
“When you put yourself in this kind of setting, you are working for the people. And the biggest thing we all need to realize is you have to have trust in that person, for who they are, and have faith in them that we are elected by the people, not the party.”
So how does she feel about the proportional representation voting system, a system opposed by the Liberals?
“My opinion is we definitely need to find a system that works better. I’m not one hundred percent sure. When we look at federal politics and look at provincial politics, it’s disheartening when we watch the election and in the East we already know what’s going to happen in the West.”
She said “the system needs to be reworked.”
Wall spoke in favour of the LNG pipeline being championed by her leader, saying she believes in “the money and the jobs.” She hopes that the pipeline will alleviate some of the dangers around train derailments, which have happened in her backyard.
Is the Green Party irrelevant?
Hicks was blunt with Charlesworth: why should he care about the Green Party when they have no chance against the Liberals and the NDP?
“In the last four years we’ve seen Andrew Weaver in the legislature, and he’s been incredibly effective as a single Green MLA,” she replied.
“He’s inspired people like myself in all walks of life. We have an amazing array of candidates across the province. And we have a leader who has inspired not just candidates but people who see you can actually do politics different.”
Of course the Green party opposes the LNG pipeline project — so does the NDP — but some of their more surprising proposals include the creation of a mental health ministry to help face the opioid crisis and the introduction of a $15-hour minimum wage.
“The roadmap is there, what’s lacking is political will,” she said.
When it comes to cannabis, Charlesworth thinks it should be treated much in the same way as alcohol is, an opinion she shares with Mungall but not with Wall. The latter expressed concern about “keeping it out of the hands of kids” and opposed the idea of selling it out of liquor stores.
‘There are a lot of good things to do with $20 million’
Both O’Leary and Prior were given the opportunity to criticize the current political system, offering opinions that were markedly more radical than their female counterparts’.
For instance, O’Leary repeated his offer to give away half his salary if elected. Prior proposed moving the capital from Victoria to Vancouver “because we’re spending too much money taking the ferry.”
“We’re being robbed,” Prior, who was formerly involved with the Green Party, said repeatedly over the course of the evening. He told the crowd that angels had convinced him to run, he introduced himself as “the only businessperson here” and laid the blame for the area’s poverty on “lazy, corrupt politicians.”
According to O’Leary, the election cycle is “a huge waste of money.”
“There are a lot of good things to do with $20 million other than yard signs and attack ads,” he said. “Think about what you could do with that sort of money.”
Voting day is May 9
By the end of the two-hour discussion, the candidates were sweating under the spotlights. The conversation had remained amiable, with few interruptions, though Prior took a combative posture with Hicks and drew laughs and cheers for some of his more outrageous comments.
Hicks wrapped up the evening by acknowledging that not every topic had been hit on, but he encouraged the 250-person audience to stick around and grill the candidates themselves.
The election is on May 9.
