Report from 2nd All Candidates Meeting - Vancouver-Kingsway

Report from All Candidates Meeting - October 7th
Collingwood Neighbourhood House

Candidates:

Kimball Cariou - Communist Party
Don Davies - NDP
Matt Kadioglu - Libertarian
Donna Petterson - Marxist-Leninist Party
Doug Warkentin - Green Party
Wendy Yuan - Liberal Party

Format:

- Introductions from the candidates
- Questions from the audience
- Concluding remarks from candidates

Summary

There was a standing room only crowd, with several different media
outlets there. This was a much better format, although it wasn't possible
to ask all of the questions citizens placed into the question box, which
was disappointing, since issues of far more importance than those asked
didn't make it on the radar.

The moderator pointed out, with no small irony, that in her years of moderating these election debates, this was the first time a candidate from a major party had declined to participate. Yes, neoConservative imaginary candidate Salomon "Regular Blood Donor" Rayek was a no-show to meet the voters in the riding for a second time.

The evening started with the moderator asking each of the candidates to promise the constituents of the riding that they would not cross the floor of parliament if they were to be elected. Each candidate very earnestly and emphatically made this promise and were reminded there was now a roomful of people and video footage to hold them to their word.

Some of the questions asked & answered:

What promises to constituents have that the candidates won't cross the floor?
What would the parties do to protect pensions for seniors?
Explain your understanding of the role of the Senate?
Where do you stand on the arts?
What legacy will you leave as a MP and what legacy will your party leave on Canada?
What will your party do to pay down the national debt?
What will your party do about electoral reform?
There was a question about what will parties do about proposed copyright legislation?
How will you support small business?
What is your position and your parties position on the Security & Prosperity Partnership (SPP)?
What will you do to improve immigration?

It's really beyond me to report the answers of each candidate to these questions.
In a general sense, Don Davies, Kimball Cariou & Donna Petterson were the most articulate, knowledgeable and well-informed about the issues and
where their parties stood on them.

Impressions of the Candidates

Kimball Cariou (Communist) is open and states he doesn't live in the riding, he knows he's not a major contender in this election. He is a witty, clever fellow and is interested in challenging the status quo of the market economy and how it's working for working people. He was also able to get a plug in for the
upcoming municipal election in his closing statement.

Matt Kadioglu (Libertarian) also knows he's not a contender, he spoke so low it was hard to hear him most of the time. Like all libertarians everywhere, he positions the party against a lot of rules, regulations, more privatization and self-determination and is not in favour of borders between countries. He was not a crowd pleaser.

Donna Petterson (Marxist-Leninist) is whip smart, articulate and well informed on the issues presented and did a very good job for a party that has no hope of winning. I think she earned some respect from the audience, although
not for the party. Her biggest hook was democratic reform and power to the people.

Don Davies (NDP) was the most well versed, well prepared, articulate, calm, and intelligent in a way that appeals to everyone (ie. not "too smart" as to come across as arrogant). He was able to maintain focus on the questions, didn't get flustered, was concise in his answers and positioned himself and his party as being most concerned about regular working folks and families. He again articulated his commitment to the riding, as a resident himself, and to constituent concerns.

Doug Warkentin (Green Party) is a bright, well spoken candidate. He knows his party's platform and is able to speak on the issues in an informed way. He is the kind of guy you want to invite to a Saturday night potluck, or to your community event. In my opinion, he doesn't have the stuff to represent V-K in Parliament. He's more of of a local and community activist,which the world needs more of.

Wendy Yuan (Liberal) again made a poor showing. I can't help but feel bad for Ms. Yuan. She is earnest, hardworking, but she kept repeating over & over how she came to Canada with $25 and a dream and that got stale. She wasn't able to articulate her answers well, she wasn't as informed about many of the topics and was reading directly from the Liberal platform at one point. She was also lobbed a very mean and uncalled for question that I'm not even going to repeat here and it was unfair this was put in the question box and the moderator should never have even put this question out there. She was also heckled for not answering a question and that was uncalled for as well.

Ms. Yuan was clearly rattled and instead of maintaining focus on her party's positions and promises, she kept going on the offensive and at one point very strangely said she stated she wasn't sure the other candidates had their facts straight (when she was the one who had little in the way of facts to offer) and also said something about not wanting to say too much in case her NDP colleague might say something to attack her, or something odd like that.

Overall, I stand by my position of yesterday, just because someone wants something badly (in this case Ms. Yuan really, really wants to win this election) doesn't mean they are up to the job, or have the knowledge, skills and abilities to do it competently. From what I've seen of Ms. Yuan over the last 2 evenings of debate is that she could barely keep her head above water in these small, relatively benign venues. There is no way in hell she would survive in Parliament, or the cutthroat world of Ottawa.

The Declared Winner: Don Davies - NDP

Mr. Davies put in 2 solid forum/debate performances over the last 2 nights. He is what he is: a hard working, community and family oriented professional. He's not the kind of guy who is putting it on, he's been representing working class folks in his career as a labour and employment
lawyer for years, has connections and has lots of volunteer experience in
the riding and with a diverse range of community groups.