Candidates faced off in Chamber forum at Seniors Centre

Photo: Colin Dacre

Liberal party candidate Connie Denesiuk and PPC candidate Sean Taylor (foreground left) speak with voters during a forum Thursday night in Penticton.

Candidates were made to work for every vote during a candidates forum Thursday night at the Penticton Seniors Centre.

Hosted by the Penticton and Wine Country Chamber of Commerce, the night saw all six candidates running in the South Okanagan West Kootenay mix with about 50 attendees. 

The event started with a speed-dating style roundtable discussion that saw candidates go table to table for short talks, followed by a more traditional panel where they answered a handful of business-related questions.

In most cases, the candidates stuck to the talking points and delivered many of the same arguments they did during the forum Oct. 1 at the Lakeside Resort.

When asked how her party would support small business, Conservative candidate Helena Konanz attacked the federal carbon tax, saying it was making everything more expensive for business owners.

“If you increase your costs, you won’t be able to hire more people. It’s plain and simple,” she said, adding it is making it hard for businesses to compete. 

People’s Party candidate Sean Taylor also pointed to the removal of the carbon tax as a way to support small business. 

Neither Taylor or Konanz specified how their party would remove carbon pricing in B.C., a provincial program that’s been in place since the B.C. Liberals brought it in in 2008.

NDP incumbent Richard Cannings pointed to the lack of affordable housing in the riding as the largest barrier to economic growth, saying small business owners are having trouble finding staff.

“Affordable housing is, I think, the main thing we can be doing in B.C. and Canada as a whole to attract more people to fill those positions,” he said, touting the NDP’s plan to “build 500,000 new units of affordable housing.”

Liberal candidate Connie Denesiuk said more education and training opportunities would fuel the economy, “we know that a well-educated workforce is one of the most important aspects of having a strong nation.”

Denesiuk also championed the Liberals planned tax breaks for green-technology businesses. 

The format did not allow for much in the way of back and forth between the candidates, but Konanz directed most of her barbs at Cannings.

“Things like promising pharmacare and things in the future are only going to go on the back of small business,” she said.

Cannings would indirectly respond by pulling out stats in support of the fiscal track record of provincial NDP governments.

During a discussion on intra-provincial trade barriers, and the inability for B.C. wineries to ship wine across provincial borders, Cannings laid the blame at the feet of Conservative provincial governments in Alberta and Ontario.

He pointed to new rules in Ontario brought in this summer that threaten six-figure fines and jail time for wineries caught shipping into Ontario.

Konanz, however, said the blame remains in Ottawa where she says bad leadership is driving the provinces apart, “the relationship between the provinces is in a terrible state, and we are pitting province against province. We need leadership that will make decisions for the entire country.”

Denesiuk said a Liberal government will create a Canada Free Trade Tribunal to settle disputes. 

Candidates also faced questions on crime and homelessness, indigenous childcare, the national debt and transportation. 

Green party candidate Tara Howse and independent candidate Carolina Hopkins were also both in attendance. 

Advance voting takes place all weekend. General voting day is Oct. 21.