Ashley Metzger, Centretown News
Candidates in Ottawa Centre consider the economy the most pressing election issue.With the federal election less than a month away, Ottawa Centre candidates are busy campaigning and addressing the issues at hand. Each of the five candidates has a different concern, but the economy is on the top of their lists.
For both the Conservatives and the Liberals, the economy is the main concern.
Conservative Party candidate, Damian Konstantinakos, says “the economy is key” because everything else depends on it. He says a sound economy relies on the creation of jobs. “We need to be adding jobs and continuing to add jobs. We need to maintain stability.”
Konstantinakos says the Conservatives will take a number of initiatives to create these new jobs. One initiative will be to reduce payroll taxes if re-elected. “We’ve done that over quite a while. We’re basically going to make it easier to find that next job,” he says. Payroll taxes concern both employees and employers. The employees will see a reduction from their wage and employers will be charged tax for hiring workers.
According to Konstantinakos, other sectors like education, healthcare and infrastructure are also concerns of the Conservatives because they are important for the economy and creating jobs.
Liberal candidateCatherine McKenna agrees that the economy is the main issue. She says it’s a concern she has heard voiced by many citizens when going door to door in the riding.
“You have everyone from seniors who are on fixed incomes to families with children to new immigrants to veterans to young people who are really struggling with unemployment and underemployment who are just very concerned about making ends meet,” says McKenna.
As a solution to the middle and lower-middle class struggles, she says the Liberals want to implement a middle class tax cut.
“The people at the highest top one per cent will be paying a bit more so the people that are struggling will pay a bit less,” says McKenna.
They will also apply a “Canada child benefit” that will not only help families with children but also “lift 315, 000 children out of poverty,” says McKenna.
Infrastructure and affordable housing is another issue that McKenna says is important, especially in Ottawa Centre where she says there are waitlists that are upwards of five years.
Paul Dewar, the incumbent NDP MP, says that the main issue for his party is to prove to Canadians that they have the numbers and the means to replace the Conservative government.
“I’ve been elected since 2006 and I can tell you that since being elected, every campaign there’s concerns that are raised at the door and certainly we’re seeing this nationally but I’ve never felt or seen or heard the motivation for change like we have in this election,” he says.
Dewar says that the party wants to mend the federal government’s relationship with the public service, which he says has been damaged by the Conservative government over the past nine years. He says “the gutting out of environmental regulations, the abuse of veterans and the muffling of scientists,” are some examples of damage. One of the ways the NDP’s planning to fix this relationship is by implementing a code of conduct for political advisors within the ministers’ staff and the Prime Minister’s Office.
“There’s a code of conduct with public servants,” says Dewar, “but there’s nothing for political staffers within minister’s offices about who are they accountable to.” He says taking this action is important to send the public service the message that “ultimately, we serve Canadians.”
The Green Party’s Thomas Milroy says the most important issue for him both locally and nationally is stopping the Energy East Pipeline from moving ahead.
Milroy says the pipe will be crossing bodies of water that empty into the Ottawa River, the city’s water supply.
“The Energy East project is a serious threat to Ottawa’s drinking water supply as the intended pipeline is being retrofitted from carrying liquid natural gas to a nasty brew of stuff including tar sand oil being diluted by very, very toxic chemicals,” says Milroy.
Nationally, leaks are also a concern since they can happen in other regions outside of Ottawa as well, especially due to aging pipe infrastructure, says Milroy.
According to Energy East’s website they will be “converting an existing natural gas pipeline to an oil transportation pipeline” and then link it to newly build pipes. Their route map shows that it’s the pre-existing pipe that crosses through Ottawa.
Milroy says that this is more than just an environmental issue. “It’s an environmental issue but it’s a societal issue. It could cause catastrophic damage if our water supply is interrupted,” he says.
Dean Harris of the Libertarian Party is mainly concerned with personal freedom. “My primary issue is the justice portion of our platform which includes ending the prohibition of victimless crimes in general starting with ending the war on drugs and also legalizing sex work,” he says.
Harris’ other concern is taxes. “We have a plan to reduce the income tax to a flat rate of 15 per cent and increase the personal exemption by 50 per cent, so that people making $17,000 or less aren’t paying incentive tax,” says Harris.
He adds that the libertarian party promises additional exemptions for students, seniors, disabled people and children.