A two-hour forum for the candidates contesting the Langley riding was a well-attended, but subdued, event with more than 200 people showing up to watch a generally polite exchange of views by incumbent Liberal MLA Mary Polak, Conservative Party leader John Cummins, NDP challenger Andrew Mercier and Green Party hopeful Wally Martin.
The Thursday night event at the Kwantlen Polytechnic University auditorium on Glover Road was sponsored by the university, the Greater Langley Chamber of Commerce and Fraser Valley realtors.
The restrained tone was set early on when the moderator cautioned the audience against taking up too much time by applauding after Martin drew laughs by saying the Green party is not a collection of “pot-smoking tree huggers.”
“I’ve actually never hugged a tree,” Martin said. “And unlike Bill Clinton, I did inhale once.”
The rest of the debate was more sedate, with the candidates staking out positions that appeared to closely follow party lines.
Polak, the incumbent, talked about taxes and the risk of them going up if the NDP get into power.
She said the Liberals have been able to make their budget goals every year except one, when the international recession hit.
“Nobody did that year,” she said.
The NDP’s Mercier had a different perspective, accusing the Liberals of mismanaging government finances.
“Do we want more of the same or do we want change?” Mercier asked.
Conservative leader Cummins took swipes at both the Liberal government and New Democrat opposition, saying his party is the only one that represents real change.
“For far too long, there have been two choices in this province,” Cummins said.
“They’re both singing from the same song book.”
The debate covered a wide range of issues, everything from the need to control medicinal marijuana grow-ops to legislating smoke-free parks and beaches and the need to fight apathy among young voters.
And in those particular cases, all of the candidates agreed something should be done.
One clear split emerged over the prospect of increased oil and gas tanker traffic along the B.C. coast, with the NDP and Green candidates against the notion while the Conservative and Liberal observed there is considerable traffic already, carried out under regulations that protect the environment.
A question about banning cosmetic pesticides produced the briefest exchange of the debate, with one-word responses by Cummins (“no”) and Martin (“yes”) while their rivals gave more nuanced support to the idea, both leaning toward yes.
It was a question about reducing child poverty that created one of the biggest ranges of responses, with Cummins saying the real problem was “parent poverty” and the fix was creating an economy with more high-paying jobs.
Martin said the problem would require a long-term focus on creating a “sustainable economy” of renewable industries, which moved Mercier to say that something needed to be done right now, not in the distant future, then go on to say the plight of needy children was “one of the real legacies of this government.”
Polak responded by citing statistics showing the degree of child poverty has “gone down dramatically in the last five years.”
All the speakers agreed that TransLink has not been keeping up with public transit needs in the Langley area.
The NDP would make TransLink more accountable by restoring the Lower Mainland mayors’ council that used to oversee the service, Mercier said.
Cummins talked about bringing light rail to Langley by moving the freight lines that run through the city to industrial areas, leaving the tracks free for transit.
“I 100-per-cent agree with John,” Martin said.
Polak said the provincial government was committed to overhauling TransLink governance and make it more responsive to the need for improved “inter-suburban travel.”
