There was a packed house at the Heritage Playhouse Tuesday as Gibsons Chamber of Commerce hosted the first major all-candidates forum of the provincial election on the Sunshine Coast.

Nicholas Simons, NDP incumbent for Powell River-Sunshine Coast, Liberal Mathew Wilson and Kim Darwin of the Greens were on hand to answer questions from the Chamber and audience members. Cascadia Party candidate Reuben Richards was expected, but did not appear.

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In a sure sign BC Ferries has emerged as an election issue, it was the first topic, and just asking the question, “How will your party reverse the trend of poor service and high prices?” drew enthusiastic applause.

Drawing on his experience as a commuter, Wilson acknowledged that “it is difficult for this community to be able to sustain itself with the ferry service the way it is.”

“We need a plan,” Wilson continued. “We need someone who’s going to roll up their sleeves and get out there and fix this ferry.”

He said solutions lie in working with Ottawa to continue to make infrastructure funding available and provide operating subsidies that are in line with those for ferry operators in Atlantic Canada, and in getting Transport Canada to be more flexible on crew levels to help with labour costs.

“There’s no reason why Washington and Alaska have comparable runs that operate with fewer crew – there’s absolutely no reason.”

Wilson said the Liberal plan for a loyalty program and interim tax rebate will make a difference.

Darwin said the Greens will bring BC Ferries back under full government control, with a regulatory body along the lines of BC Utilities Commission, and she’d advocate for hourly service with smaller ships for Route 3.

Darwin also cited the need to push for equity with Atlantic Canada when it comes to federal subsidies and to get Ottawa to help pay off the BC Ferries’ debt, joking that she had a plan to get MPs from central Canada onside.

“We’re going to invite every one of them to Powell River on July 1st, and they’ll have to take the ferry.”

Simons said the problems with BC Ferries can be traced to 2003, when the governing Liberals introduced the Coastal Ferries Act. “It said that we would have better service, better jobs, and stable fares … Strike one. Strike two. Strike three,” Simons said. “As far as I’m concerned, this is a government that has not listened. This is a government we have right now that is past its best-before date, who have really lost their way in terms of transportation infrastructure.”

Simons said the NDP plan to roll back fares by 15 per cent on Sunshine Coast routes would give an important boost to the economy, noting that then-premier Gordon Campbell made fare reductions part of his stimulus plan in the wake of the 2008 economic downturn.

“The minister knows the problem, the premier knows the problem. They’ve known it for a decade … We have not seen any positive action.”

The question of a fixed link came up later in the forum.

Darwin said if the government fixes the ferries there’s no need for a bridge, and she worries the highway around Howe Sound idea might be an excuse for a provincially funded road to service Woodfibre LNG.

Simons called the whole thing a “distraction” designed to take pressure off the government on the ferry file and other infrastructure needs on the Sunshine Coast.

And Wilson said whether a fixed link ever goes ahead should be a local decision. “It is not good enough for me that this is ‘Vancouver’s bridge to the Sunshine Coast.’ It has to be our decision locally – we have to be engaged.”

What the party platforms say on Ferries:

The Liberals say they will, if re-elected, “work with BC Ferries to develop a frequent use/loyalty program that will give a break to people moving back and forth on BC Ferries. Until that program is up and running, we will implement a new tax deduction for people living in ferry dependent communities. Individuals will be able to deduct 25 per cent of the value of their ferry fares up to a maximum amount of $1,000 annually from their net tax payable to the province.”

The Liberals are also promising $1 million for BC Ferries to “improve capacity and reliability” of onboard WiFi.

The NDP platform says, “We will roll back ferry fares on small routes by 15 per cent, freeze fares on major routes, and restore the 100 per cent seniors weekday discount.”

The NDP confirmed in a later press release that the Langdale to Horseshoe Bay route is included in their proposed rollback.

The NDP also promises to require BC Ferries, as well as BC Hydro and ICBC, to “conduct comprehensive operating reviews to look for inefficiencies, fiscal mismanagement and cost savings that don’t impact services. Every dollar saved will be used to keep rates and fees down.”

The Greens have been releasing their platform plank-by-plank, and haven’t yet released anything specific to BC Ferries or transportation.

Liberal candidate Mathew Wilson speaks at the all-candidates meeting on April 18. - Justin Samson Photo

Shorncliffe, Totem Lodge and long-term care

Another question that many in the audience seemed to be anticipating was where the candidates stand on the Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) decision to shift long-term care from Shorncliffe and Totem Lodge to a new private, for-profit facility in Sechelt.

Wilson said he sees the additional beds as good, but not enough and supports VCH repurposing the older facilities and calls their commitment to do that “good news.”

“I will continue to work with anybody who wants to expand health care services in our community,” Wilson said.

Simons said the NDP strongly disagrees with the privatization of health care and said, “The joke about keeping them open and misleading seniors should be clarified once and for all. They’re closing two public health care facilities. They’re laying off 300 workers. They’re going to build a for-profit, private facility, and the workers who are being laid off will be offered a chance to apply.”

Simons said he fears a repeat of the contract-flipping for cleaning services. “We know a large number of people were not rehired. This is not how you treat workers in our community.”

Darwin pointed to the Green Party’s recently released health care platform that calls for a $40-million investment in new long-term care beds. She also said she has tried to encourage the backers of the private facility to consider a not-for-profit model, similar to Christenson Village in Gibsons.

What the party platforms say on long-term care

The Greens “will invest $40 million in new long-term care facilities to increase the availability of beds in acute care facilities.”

The NDP platform says, “We will invest in new hospitals and care facilities in communities … We will reduce the demand on acute care and emergency beds by investing in home care and quality long-term care for B.C. seniors.

And the Liberals are promising to “invest $500 million to ensure seniors in residential care facilities are provided with a minimum of 3.36 care hours per day [and] build and publicly fund an additional 500 long-term care beds across British Columbia by 2022.”

Corporate and union donations

The topic of “big money” in B.C. politics came up when the candidates were asked to “explain how a candidate or a party isn’t beholden to a donor after donations of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, or more, are given.”

Wilson said it’s a question of integrity and honesty that starts with individual candidates, and he pointed to the Liberals’ move to speed up the timing of disclosure of donations. He stopped short of supporting a ban on corporate or union donations.

“The alternative being offered is tax subsidization to political parties. That is wrong,” he said. “We should not be spending your hard-earned tax dollars on subsidizing political parties.”

Darwin said she didn’t know who’s proposing a subsidy, but it isn’t the Green Party. She also said her experience with watching what happens behind the scenes when groups like the BC Chamber of Commerce meet has convinced her a ban is needed. “I watched the lobbying, I watched the big industry, and you know what? Big corporations are influencing the decisions in the B.C. Legislature.”

Simons said none of the parties has earned the right to wear a halo when it comes to donations, as they’ve all at one time or another taken corporate and union money and money from foreign donors, which is all allowed under the current rules.

But Simons said an NPD government would follow through on a promise to move quickly to ban corporate and union donations. “Sixteen years of this government raking in record amounts of money, and you can see a relationship between that money and their policies … We have a government that is beholden to the oil and gas sector, that is beholden to the largest corporations and the biggest donors in this province. That has got to stop.”

What the party platforms say on corporate and union donations

The NDP pledges, “Our first piece of legislation will take big money out of politics. It will ban corporate and union donations, and set limits on individual contributions. We’ll also ban out-of-province donations and require transparency from outside organizations advertising to influence the outcomes of our elections.

The Liberal platform promises amendments to the Elections Act to require real-time disclosure of donations to political parties, and to “commission an independent Election Act Review Panel to review proposals on political fundraising reform, in B.C. and across Canada, and make recommendations to improve the system.”

The Green platform says the party will ban members of the Cabinet from engaging in partisan fundraising activities, and explore similar restrictions on MLAs as well as, “ban monetary and non-monetary contributions from non-individual entities, including corporations and unions, and non-residents of B.C., [and] place annual limits on individual contributions that are in line with current federal limits.”

Minimum wage

A question on the minimum wage highlighted clear differences between the candidates.

Simons defended the NDP’s plan to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour by the end of the term, noting that the people working full time at the current minimum wage ($10.85 an hour) are still below the poverty line, and saying it won’t harm the economy as critics claim. “It isn’t the doom and gloom scenario that’s often painted by people who prefer to see wages low. This is something that will allow for more money to circulate in our community … The minimum wage raise would raise everyone’s boat and I think that’s the key.”

Darwin said the Greens recognize raising the minimum wage can have an impact on small business owners and has to be approached very, very carefully. She said the party’s main approach will be a pilot project on guaranteed annual income, similar to one tried in Dauphin, Man., in the 1970s. “It virtually eliminated poverty … [There were] higher graduation rates, kids were not going to school hungry. It reduced reliance on social programs, on medical [services] and policing.”

Wilson said society needs to recognize that living on minimum wage is not easy, but the more incremental approach to raising the minimum wage favoured by the Liberals is the best way to go. “Increasing minimum wage is a difficult burden on some of those small community-based businesses that hire people,” he said. “One of the things that we’ve done is said let’s reduce small business tax to put more money back into the pockets of the people who own those small businesses so that they can incrementally increase that wage – and they do.”

What the party platforms say on minimum wage

The Liberal platform says “a $15 minimum wage leads to higher prices for consumers, fewer jobs for minimum wage employees, and less opportunity for small business owners.” It promises to “increase minimum wage in a stable, affordable, and predictable way.”

The NDP is promising to “bring in a $15/hour minimum wage by 2021, with increases each year. Phasing in the increases will allow businesses to adjust, ensuring that jobs aren’t at risk and that employment in minimum wage sectors actually increases … Once we reach $15/hour, we will index the minimum wage to inflation to ensure that we don’t fall behind.”

The Greens say they will “launch a basic income pilot project that will test its ability to reduce poverty, improve health, housing and employment … [and] establish an arm’s-length fair wages commission to recommend a new minimum wage and oversee regular rate reviews.”

Affordable housing

“How will your government provide programs to deal with the increasingly unaffordable entry-level housing costs and the non-existent available rental housing on the Coast?”

Darwin said the Greens would implement a plan to increase the supply of affordable housing, and tackle the upward pressure on prices. She cited a policy she wrote that was adopted by the BC Chamber of Commerce to “study, track and analyze the affects of non-resident [real estate] purchasing … Before we implement strong measures, we ought to know what we’re talking about.”

Darwin drew a lot of applause for the Green plan to widen the foreign buyer tax to all of B.C. and increase it from 15 to 30 per cent. She said in her work as a mortgage broker she met lots of clients whose rental units had been sold as the market heated up. “I heard about a lot of people moving off the Coast because they couldn’t [rent or buy a home].”

Simons said it’s no exaggeration to say there’s a housing crisis. “People were aware of it for about two years before this government decided to do anything.” He said an NDP government would tackle housing supply by building 114,000 new units of rental, co-op and social housing.

Simons also said an increasing number of homeless people has become the most visible sign of the crisis. “We have a crisis now, and the premier actually had the nerve to go to Powell River and proudly announce that she would fund a homeless shelter. We never needed a homeless shelter before, and to me that’s a sign that the government hasn’t been doing what they needed to do.”

According to Wilson, the Liberal government has made the largest investment in B.C. history in affordable housing – an accomplishment he’s proud of. He said a re-elected Liberal government would work with municipalities to speed up approval for housing projects, and continue with its BC Home Program, which offers interest-free loans to aid with down payments.

“That is what an MLA does. Go out there and work with local government, work with the provincial government to make sure that the money that is provided provincially for housing comes into our local riding,” Wilson said.

What the party platforms say on affordable housing

The NDP, Liberal and Green platforms all go into a lot of depth on housing issues. Here are some of the highlights.

The NDP is promising to form partnerships to build 114,000 new rental, social and co-op, and owner-purchase housing units, and provide a refundable renters’ rebate of $400 dollars per rental household each year.

The NDP also pledges to “close the loopholes that let speculators dodge taxes and hide their identities and we’ll require them to pay their fair share of tax on their empty houses through a yearly two per cent absentee speculators’ tax. We’ll direct the revenue from the absentee speculators’ tax into a Housing Affordability Fund.”

The Liberals say they will “increase housing supply by working with municipalities to speed up permitting and open new opportunities for housing [and] expand the Home Renovation Tax Credit eligibility to those renovating their home to accommodate a secondary suite.”

Other Liberal promises on housing include raising the threshold of the First Time Home Buyers’ Program exemption to $500,000 and investing $700 million in the BC Home Partnership program to provide mortgage down payment assistance loans to an estimated 42,000 first-time home buyers over the next three years.

As well as applying the foreign buyer tax to the whole province and increasing it to 30 per cent, the Greens promise to implement a provincial housing plan for affordable rental accommodation, and invest up to $750 million per year to create approximately 4,000 units of affordable housing per year.

They’ll also introduce a sliding scale for the property transfer tax, and transition the homeowner grant to being income based instead of based on property assessments, and offer incentives for “the construction of, and/or conversion of existing buildings to rental property.”

The forum, as well as the Sechelt Chamber of Commerce forum on April 19, were carried live on Coast TV, Cable 10. Check the listings or www.coastcable.com for rebroadcast times.

Throughout the election Coast Reporter is running feature interviews with the candidates in our Coast Beat podcast. You can listen to the podcast on coastreporter.net, via iTunes, or through Soundcloud.