All Candidates Forum

I checked out the all candidates forum last night at the Polish Community Centre at Fraser and 24th. Interesting format... the room was divided into tables, with two tables discussing one of 4 issues: Child & Youth, Poverty Reduction & Housing, Women's Issues, Immigration Issues. Each issue had a candidate assigned, and they would visit each of the two tables, and participate in the discussions and take notes. Then they went to the front and summarized their issues. This was followed up by a traditional round of questions from the floor, and then a summary from each candidate. Here's my impressions from each candidate: Donna Peterson: she visited my table (Child and Youth), and kept trying to steer the conversation to talk about what she thought was important. Some of it was on topic (military recruiting in high schools, and Harper's mandatory sentencing for 14 year olds), but then she went off on a tangent and talked about changing the political system. Her summary to the rest of the room was more of the same, with barely a mention of what our table thought was important. She kept talking about how she wanted 'the people' to represent themselves in government, but she seemed hypocritical when she brushed off our issues to push her agenda. I guess this is what the Marxist-Leninist party is all about? Kimball Cariou: This Communist looked like Santa Claus. (is that a bit ironic?) Unfortunately, he didn't seem to get assigned an issue, so we didn't hear him talk much. Doug Warkentin: He seemed like a nice guy, not a typical politician. But I don't seem to remember much else about him, so I guess he didn't stand out in my mind. He's tempting for vote for because he's a Green, but he probably won't win. Don Davies: Being a lawyer, he was by far the best speaker. He seemed confident and aware of the issues. There was a bit of a heated exchange between him and Yuan. He wanted us to know that she is only renting an apartment in the riding, and still owns a house in Richmond. This NDPer has been living here for about 10 years, I believe. Wendy Yuan: This Liberal businesswoman stepped aside last election to let David Emerson run in our riding. And we all know what happened after that. She promised that she wouldn't do the same if she were elected, and there's no reason to not believe her. She admitted that she's only been living in the riding for "over a year". There were some Falun Gong supporters there who were upset with some remarks she apparently made the previous day saying she doesn't support their cause, and they accused her of being a "mouthpiece" of the Chinese Government. She basically confirmed this when she said that she can't support 'illegal' organizations in other countries. Those issues aside, she didn't seem to come across as sincere as Don. At one point she gave us an awkward line about how we are all in her heart, or something like that. Salomon Rayek: This Conservative candidate didn't even bother to show up. Have they just given up on this riding? Matt Kadioglu: Another no-show, I guess this Libertarian believes in so little government that he doesn't even need to be there? Conclusion: I'm voting for Don Davies from the NDP. As this site says, this seems like a safe riding, with the Conservatives in a distant third. The real race appears to be between Davies and Yuan, and for the reasons already listed above, Don seems to be the better choice.