The Liberal and NDP candidates vying for Ottawa Centre's seat at Queen's Park largely stuck to the dog-eared pages of their campaign scripts during a post-secondary-themed candidates' debate at Carleton University Tuesday.
Liberal incumbent Yasir Naqvi championed his party's marquee pledge to reduce undergraduate tuition fees by 30 per cent, and quickly rang off spending figures for the McGuinty government's initiatives to bolster colleges and universities — including investments in buildings at Carleton.
The tuition pledge "is going to mean a reduction of $1,600 per year for undergraduate students," he told the crowd of about 80 people packed into an impromptu seating area in the busy school atrium.
Naqvi and NDP challenger Anil Naidoo, widely seen as the only candidate capable of taking the Liberal's seat, took a few shots at each other as they answered students' questions during the debate.
Naidoo pointed out the province has seen tuition fees skyrocket to the country’s highest during the Liberals' eight years in power. He said the province's debt load would make it "imprudent" to immediately reduce tuition fees.
He cited the NDP's promise to freeze tuition fees and have the province stop collecting interest on student loans. "Education is a base public good. Europe understands this but Canada and Ontario does not," he said. He added that students shouldn't forget the Liberals hiked the tuition fees before promising to cut them.
The debate was mostly positive in tone, focusing on the province's future and the creation of high-skilled jobs. But Naidoo took issue with Naqvi's charge that the NDP voted against the Liberals' all-day kindergarten legislation.
In fact, the only party to vote against the program was the Progressive Conservatives.
Local Green and Communist Party candidates, Kevin O'Donnell and Stuart Ryan, also made their pitches for students' votes at the debate.
Tory candidate Rob Dekker did not participate in the debate. He has declined invitations to several all-candidates debates during the campaign.