Trevor Crawley

While election season officially began last week, it hit home for Cranbrook voters on Tuesday night as JCI Kootenay hosted the city’s first all-candidate debate at the Key City Theatre featuring all four provincial party candidates.

Tom Shypitka (BC Liberals), Randal Macnair (BC New Democratic Party) Yvonne Prest (BC Green Party) and Keith Komar (BC Libertarian Party) all sat down a table on stage, fielding crowd-submitted questions from moderator David D. Hull, the executive director of the Cranbrook Chamber of Commerce.

There were no controversial policy positions taken or announced; each candidate lined up behind their respective party positions on issues ranging from education, health care, fiscal responsibility, carbon taxes, party financing and the environment.

However, everyone had their moment to deliver one-line zingers as well.

Unsurprisingly, Tom Shypitka took the most heat for representing the B.C. Liberals’ record over the last 16 years. Running in his first-ever provincial election, Shypitka took fire from the other three candidates over education funding, the provincial debt, and especially rising MSP fees.

In response, Shypitka took on Macnair and the NDP over the party’s record in government in the 1990s and slammed their opposition to the Kinder Morgan pipeline project.

“I just want them [the audience] to get the sense that I really care about the economy,” said Shypitka post-debate. “I care about job creation, I care about education, I want to make sure B.C. residents are taken care of in the future and I want to make sure our region is well represented in Victoria.”

Shypitka admitted that the BC Liberals aren’t a perfect government — “no government is” — he said, but he highlighted the Liberal record on job creation, the strength of the provincial economy and a 50 per cent reduction in MSP fees.

Macnair noted that he is from Fernie, which thrives on the coal mining industry and is not opposed to natural resource development. Diversifying the economy to add tourism and knowledge-based industries has helped the city grow, which needs to be mirrored around the province, he said.

“We need a government that cares for the people of British Columbia, a government that is actually working for the people of British Columbia, not some foreign corporation,” said Macnair.

“We need government that is transparent, straightforward and honest with the electorate and we need a government that is going to involve the people of British Columbia in the decisions that are going to be made to take our province forward.”

Keith Komar, representing the B.C. Libertarian Party, argued that government needs to get out of the way of entrepreneurship and get rid of regulations that are barriers to business. He pointed out that provincial debt under Christy Clark ballooned from 20 billion in 2008 to over 65 billion currently.

Kumar also took issue with a proposed carbon tax from the Green Party, calling it a redistribution of wealth.

“I think where we stand out the most is the carbon tax,” said Komar, on what distinguishes the Libertarian Party from the rest of the pack. “I think that would be the biggest issue for people in the valley to know that if the Libertarians got in, we would definitely repeal the carbon tax. It’s punitive, it doesn’t help anybody, it certainly doesn’t do anything for the environment and we can find better ways to fund government than redistributing wealth like that.”

Prest, who just recently jumped into the Kootenay East election race, touted Green Party initiatives such as their carbon tax, a tax designed to go right back into the pockets of British Columbians, she said. The Green Party will also eliminate the MSP and roll it into income tax. On daycare, the Greens will have free presechool for 3- and 4-year-olds, free daycare for children up to 3-years-old with working parents and up to $500 a month for families with a stay-at-home parent and child up to age two.

Prest, hailing from Elkford, also had the best one-liner of the night, noting that she was glad to hear the B.C. Liberals are building hospitals after closing over 200 schools.

In terms of her message to East Kootenay voters, she assures that the Green Party does not want to shut the coal mines down.

“I felt like that was a bit of a vibe tonight and that is just not true,” Prest said. “What we want is accountability and sustainability. Of course we are pro-mining because we live in a mining town. Our friends are miners, my students’ parents are miners. If they weren’t here, I wouldn’t have a job that I love and I wouldn’t be in the community that I love.

So I just want people to know that yes, we’re here for the environment, but we’re also here for industry. We want to create partnerships. That’s what it’s all about for the Green Party.