All seven candidates vying to serve as MP in the Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo riding had a chance to speak their voice in front of about 350 people who attended the TRU Grand Hall for a local election forum.
The SNC Lavalin Scandal was among the topics to be broached. When to comes to how the situation was handled all seven candidates had an opinion.
Liberal Candidate Terry Lake defended the actions of his party.
“This is a question of fighting for jobs all across Canada. And not just jobs, but for pensioners, for investors and people that had nothing to do with any kind of action in 2006. There was no undue pressure on the Attorney General. She said that there was nothing illegal that occurred. And I will tell you this, fighting for jobs is something that a Prime Minister is supposed to do.”
Communist Party Candidate Peter Kerek fired back saying “that jobs thing is hogwash and if you listen to people in the industry they say we would have got the jobs elsewhere anyway. Some other Canadian corporation would have been given the jobs not SNC Lavalin.”
Incumbent Cathy McLeod too chimed in.
“A decision around a prosecution agreement is not for Justin Trudeau, it is not for cabinet, it is not for Bill Morneau, it is for the director of public prosecution and that’s what was interfered with.”
The Green Party’s Iain Currie says “the ethics commissioner report makes clear what happened and the rule of law is not something that can be bargained away and that can be sacrificed and prosecutorial independence is something that can’t be sacrificed for political expedience.”
Following up that discussion candidates were asked how they would vote if they were forced to choose between walking party lines or for what they truly believe in.
Kira Cheeseborough with the Animal Protection Party of Canada said she thinks it is very important to address any corruption and MP’s should be voting in these instances with morals and upholding the dignity that people are relying on when they are looking at a party, they are expecting a party to uphold people’s dignity.
Currie says he wouldn’t feel pressure to vote a certain way. “As a lawyer for 25 years and a prosecutor for 18, I would definitely vote to preserve the rule of law… and thankfully, the Green Party does not whip votes.”
Peoples Party of Canada candidate Ken Finlayson agreed with that sentiment.
“Our system is clearly broken. We have way to much power concentrated in the [Prime Minister’s Office]…. the leaders operate like virtual dictators, doesn’t matter whether they’re conservative or liberal. Like the Greens our party does not have whipped votes.”
NDP candidate Cynthia Egli says she would vote how she feels ethically and morally.
“I would do what I felt was right, but I also have absolutely no doubt the Jagmeet Singh is in it for you and for people like us.”
The candidates for the two party’s that are leading the polls had a bit of a difference of opinion on that question.
“You agree, once a decision is made, to go forward as a team. If you have disagreements, then you have those behind closed doors. And if you can’t abide by what the team decides, then of course, you make your way out” Lake said.
McLeod said that she would like to think, if things were that bad, she would vote for what she believes in.
“There’s discussions in caucus, absolutely you have discussions in caucus, and you come out united. But, there comes a time when you have to stand on your principles and this is about undue pressure, found guilty by the ethics commissioner and blocking RCMP from doing their job.”
