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Penticton  

Less polished, more civil

The candidates were not as polished as their party leaders, but considerably more civilized during an all candidates forum for Penticton nominees held at the Lakeside Resort on Thursday night.

Incumbent B.C. Liberal Dan Ashton, Penticton city councillor and B.C. NDP candidate Tarik Sayeed and B.C. Green Party candidate Connie Sahlmark took a wide range of questions from a panel in front of more than 300 voters.

Ashton was on the defensive for most of the night, with Sayeed attacking the B.C. Liberal government for balancing the budget at the expense of social services. With the exception of campaign donations, Sahlmark also pointed most of her guns in Ashton’s direction.

“I’m sorry Dan, it’s been 16 years since the 90s,” she said to large applause, after Ashton attacked the NDP for not creating doctor education spaces while they were in government.

When asked if he would reimburse the City of Penticton for the cost of a byelection (Ashton did in 2013) should he win on May 9, Sayeed told the audience he is still considering holding seats in both council chambers and the legislature.

“I can tell you Tarik, and I say this with the utmost respect, you can never be an MLA and a councillor at the same time,” Ashton said as the audience clapped.

Ashton openly admitted his government mishandled the potential closure of West Bench and Trout Creek Elementary – “to be frank, I was wrong” – going on to state the whole province is dealing with similar challenges as less kids enter the school system.

Ashton referred to the audience, which was mostly grey, as indication that demographics in the region and province are changing.

After Ashton and Sayeed exchanged party rhetoric about campaign donations, Sahlmark hit them both, touting that the Green Party has declined all donations from both corporations and unions.

“Ladies, if a guy is buying you drinks all night, are there expectations?” she said to laughter and cheers.

She was later asked to clarify the response, and was asked about misogyny in politics. NDP operatives online pounced on the metaphor, accusing Sahlmark of perpetuating rape culture, and calling on her to apologize. 

The Green Party candidate was on the receiving end of perhaps the hardest question of the night; asked about the possibility of vote splitting, “unless Mr. Ashton or Mr. Sayeed get caught cutting down trees together to Skaha Lake Park, chances are one of them is going to win,” remarked Herald reporter Joe Fries. 

Sahlmark said it was “presumptuous” to state she had no chance of winning, which prompted the crowd to cheer, adding that “you should be able to vote for your values.”

Sayeed took the chance to pitch his party’s promise to bring in proportional representation, stating that if the NDP forms government, other parties will have a greater chance of rising to the top in the following election.

When asked about the rising property crime rate in the city, Sayeed said the NDP has committed to ramping up funding to a judicial system that he called starved.

Ashton took a different stance, and stated that “the judicial system needs to step up a little bit,” giving his approval to a small set of protestors outside the courthouse this week calling for stiffer sentences of prolific offenders.

Sahlmark called crime a product of other underlying issues, saying it takes about eight days to access a recovery bed in B.C. right now.

The candidates also sparred on MSP premiums, affordable housing, and the Skaha Lake Park fiasco (which they all disavowed).

For more on the local candidates, watch Castanet for one-on-one video interviews over the next week. The first, with the Green candidate, is already up.

The election is May 9.



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