Any candidate looking to get elected this year in Ottawa Centre should have a strong community connection, says David Blaine, president of the Centretown Citizens’ Community Association. He says his group wants an MP who will stand up for Centretown in Parliament.
“We applaud someone who does that,” he says.
While NDP incumbent Paul Dewar has brought forward several private member’s bills pertaining to Centretown during the last parliamentary session, his rivals for this election are all strong community leaders.
Conservative candidate Brian McGarry and Liberal candidate Penny Collenette have been involved in community events for years. Green candidate Jen Hunter also has volunteering experience in the area.
“I think you have an amazing slate of candidates in Centretown,” says Peter Honeywell, executive director of the Council for the Arts in Ottawa.
“They’ve helped in the community, and they’re who the community knows.”
The arts have become a big issue for candidates after the prime minister made statements downplaying their importance.
Honeywell says that the cuts to arts funding brought in recently by the federal government should be reversed by whichever party takes office after the election. A movement toward this needs support at a local level, especially in the city’s urban core.
“It’s cutting in a growing area,” says Honeywell.
“If we continue with the Conservative government, I hope to see from them replacement programs.”
Dewar’s efforts to keep the National Portrait Gallery in Ottawa were a good demonstration of support for the local arts scene, says Honeywell.
The portrait gallery has also garnered support from the other Ottawa Centre candidates as well during the campaign.
While those in the arts community are worried about funding, small business associations in Centretown say that on a federal level they’re being completely ignored.
Although small businesses are a primary source of jobs in Canada, Gerry LePage, executive director of the Bank Street Business Improvement Area says they don’t get the tax incentives and available capital that large corporations do.
Lowering high taxes and operating costs for small businesses would help make the economy stronger, says LePage.
“The best way is to stimulate growth at the grassroots level," he adds.
Grace Xin, executive director of the Somerset St. Chinatown Business Improvement Area, says candidates in Ottawa Centre need to push for policy changes in Parliament to help out the large number of small businesses in the riding.
The issue hasn’t been addressed very often even though businesses and entrepreneurs in the community need support, she says, and candidates should address this.
“They need to listen to what small businesses are saying, what challenges they’re facing,” says Xin. “They need to be on the ground.”
But LePage says even though this issue has been around for a while, he hasn’t heard anything from the current MP, Dewar.
After the election, he says he hopes whichever candidate wins the riding will begin to work with the small business community.
As the City of Ottawa has recently attempted to find a feasable new transit plan, transit funding has become an issue that actually has been discussed during the campaign.
It’s one of the top issues for the many post-secondary students living in Centretown, says Brittany Smyth, President of the Carleton University Students’ Association.
Smyth says the routes that go through the area should run later and the federal government should be paying attention to municipal transit. New projects often need the support of MPs to push the city into action, she says.
“We get a lot of students complaining that they’re waiting for the [route] four or the seven and by the time it gets to the edge of Centretown it’s full,” she says. “Students really do rely on transit, and it’s getting so expensive.”
Blaine says the area needs support from the federal government for a transit plan that “makes sense,” so Ottawa Centre will need an MP who is willing to talk about an efficient transit plan as well as funding.
Issues including responsible development, poverty and environmental protection also need to be discussed by candidates, says Blaine.
He says he thinks Ottawa Centre needs someone that will take ideas from within the community and present them in the House of Commons in order to make a difference.