Ask Our Federal Candidates
According to CBC, over 4 million Canadians tuned in to watch the English version of the federal leaders debate last week. Now if only we could figure out a way to vote via television on May 2nd, Canada might have a chance at improving our deplorable voter turnout. While 62% of Kingstonians exercised their democratic right during the last federal election in 2008, which was just over the national average of 59.1%, it remains to be seen as to whether or not our new overlords will once again be elected by a minority of Canadians. Further, with the local race being labelled as too close to call, thanks in part to the strength of the candidates and the retirement of Mr. Milliken, Kingston and the Islands’ representation at the federal level is equally unclear.
Have you taken the time to get to know the local candidates? Rather than simply regurgitate their bios, we thought a better approach would be to send each of them a few questions, six to be exact, and help people make their decision before election day. Whether you want to know where our candidates stand on re-opening prison farms, the necessity of a third crossing, or what they think Kingston will do about aging infrastructure once all that federal stimulus money dries up, send us your questions by commenting below. While all of the candidate may not participate, I’ve already received confirmation that two of them are ready and waiting to answer six questions.
Please ensure that your questions are applicable and directed to all parties, giving each candidate an equal opportunity to respond. As a bit of incentive, if we end up using your question, we’ll send you one of our fantastic, impossible to get anywhere else, Kingstonist tees. What are you waiting for, drop off your questions now.
Thanks to Eric Walton for today’s photo, which was uploaded to our ever-growing Flickr group.
I have two questions. The first is about Usage-Based Billing, and where each candidate stands on the issue, beyond "I believe everyone should have access to the Internet."
Secondly, I'm curious about military issues. Not just spending (jets vs. ships) but care, services and support for military members, their families and communities.
In December 1988, The Report of the Special Joint Committee on Child Custody and Access was tabled http://www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publicat…. Since that time, none of the recommendations contained therein have been implemented. What would you do to rectify this situation?
Here is my question…
"It is increasingly argued that changes to the electoral process need to be made in Canada. The most popular proposal for electoral reform is mixed member proportional representation (or MMP). What are your feelings towards this kind of reform and do you feel it will encourage more people to vote?"
A simple question that goes to all four candidates: what is the biggest challenge you see facing Kingston and the Islands residents over the next five years and how would you – as our federal representative – solve it?
Just a very open question: What's your opinion on gay rights and what would you change?
The Conservative Party has proposed a change to allow couples to lower their taxes by splitting income. For the case of a couple in which one person stays home with children and the other works, if the person who stays home dies, they would no longer be able to split the income and would suddenly have a tax increase of thousands of dollars, which would then be used to lower the taxes of 2-parent families. If you look at all affected groups, it looks like this program is really transferring money from 1-parent families to 2-parent families. Will you support this tax change?
Income splitting will only work (for the couple) if the action lowers the tax rate of one or both of them. What is critical is the definition of a couple.
Since there aren't very many questions posted so far I might as well toss a second one in that I'd like to hear responses on…
"In a world of increasingly destablized energy supplies many nations are working towards energy independence. What do you see Canada's future energy policy looking like? What actions would you take to promote energy independence for Canada?"