From left are: Seth Malina, Cyndi Mills, Emma Butler (myFM), Eileen Whyte, Andrew Dick (myFM), Randy Briand, Stefan Klietsch.
The “All Candidates Debate” hosted by myFM last night at Festival Hall featured five of Algonquin-Renfrew-Pembroke’s seven federal election hopefuls going head to head in an informing and thought provoking discussion of the issues.
Notably missing from the debate was Conservative incumbent Cheryl Gallant whose absence was noted in a handful of carefully crafted comments, however, each of the participants clearly came out to stand on their own merits rather than attempt to diminish the current regime.
The topics ranged from homelessness to Highway 17 twinning to taxation, but apt to the venue each candidate took a moment to discuss their stance on the arts and heritage as matter of concern.
The response order was determined by roll of the dice, so Randy Briand made the first comment noting how integral the arts is to a community.
Independent Stefan Klietsch took a different stance claiming that he believed that the issue was outside federal purview:
The other Independent candidate present, Seth Malina, chose to focus on sports in the region as a matter of concern:
Liberal hopeful Cyndi Mills harkened back to her childhood when talking about the importance of Canadian institutions such as the CBC as critical to the cultural landscape:
Representing the NDP, Eileen Jones-Whtye took a bit of a different tack, choosing to focus on the importance of community when discussing the arts or any other issue that affects a region:
The debate lasted just shy of 2 hours giving the ample audience in attendance a final look at what their choices will be come Election Day. The polls open on Monday at 9:30 a.m. and close at 9:30 p.m.
(Written By: Richard Evans)