Candidates match wits in Caboto debate

By Mark Brown/Converged Citizen staff

Hundreds of people watched on Sept 30 as candidates representing the three local federal ridings debated a variety of issues.
Candidates for the Conservative Party, Liberal Party and New Democratic Party participated before a sold-out audience at the Caboto Club in one of the few forums of the election season where candidates from the major parties came together. The event was hosted by Unifor and the Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce. Chamber president and CEO Matt Marchand said questions came from a variety of sources.
“We had a pool of questions that we got from the Windsor-Essex chamber, Unifor and the community…and were allocated to various ridings,” said Marchand.
Craig Pearson of the Windsor Star moderated the debate, which consisted of a 30-minute block for each riding. Candidates did not know the questions in advance. The first riding on the program was Essex, where Conservative incumbent Jeff Watson defended his record on the auto industry and local agriculture against challengers Audrey Festeryga from the Liberals and NDP candidate Tracey Ramsey.
Windsor West was up next with Tory challenger Henry Lau stressing job creation, while incumbent Brian Masse of the NDP discussed a need for Senate reform.
“It’s very naïve to think that we have a modern democracy where people have the right to vote, should be allowed to vote and then have representation from those votes,” said Masse.
Windsor West Liberal candidate David Sundin also attacked the Conservatives’ approach to concerns about the Senate.
“Mr. (Justin) Trudeau has already done more in one day than Stephen Harper has done in the past ten years,” said Sundin.
In the Windsor-Tecumseh debate, Conservative Jo-Anne Gignac attacked the tax proposal from the NDP.
“Mr. (Tom) Mulcair’s 13.3 per cent tax increase will cost 150,000 jobs in addition to the 100,000 more jobs the payroll tax will kill,” said Gignac.
Gignac is running against the NDP’s Cheryl Hardcastle and the Liberals’ Frank Schiller in the contest for the only open seat in the region, thanks to the retirement of Joe Comartin.
Organizers hoped that the debate would help undecided voters make an informed choice on October 19.