Five of the six candidates on the Souris-Moose Mountain ballot for the October 21 federal election shared their views at the Federal Candidates Forum put on at the Legion Hall by the Estevan Chamber of Commerce tonight.

Ashlee Hicks of the NDP, Conservative Robert Kitchen, who has represented the area in Ottawa since the 2015 election, Judy Mergel of the Green Party, Nationalist Travis Patron, and Phillip Zajac of the People's Party all made their opinions heard. Liberal candidate Javin Ames-Sinclair was not in attendance, despite the Chamber's attempts to contact him.

The first question was given to the candidates beforehand. It asked if they, and secondly their party, oppose the use of coal for power generation and if they do, what their plan for power generation is in 2030, and how do they propose to stabilize and grow the local economy which will have been paralyzed by that decision.

Hicks was first to answer the question, stating that the NDP’s new deal for climate action and good jobs will be a fitting transition for energy workers. She also mentioned the transition to a low-carbon economy will be another big focus for the NDP. The aim is to fight the climate crisis while growing the economy at the same time and ensuring that Saskatchewan remains a leader in renewable energy.

"Our plan will reinvest billions of subsidies given to big fossil fuel companies into renewable energy projects across the country. We’ll ensure workers get the training they need to fill the 300,000 good new green jobs our plan will create," said Hicks.

Zajac took a different stance, focusing on the Paris Accord (as he did throughout the night) and what they could mean for communities like Estevan.

"In the Paris Accord, there is $100 billion that they have requested that resource-rich countries provide to less-developed countries to fight their co2 emissions and if you really believe that money is being used to exclusively fight co2 emissions, something's really wrong."

Patron proposed that instead of sending money to help others, they would focus on Canadians first and foremost. He added that the Nationalist Party, which he's the leader of, is also looking at opportunities to revive units 4 and 5 of Boundary Dam by using new coal technology to clean up emissions.

Patron also sided with continuing the coal generation, saying that the party plans to work with the federal government to make a new plan in conjunction with our oil and gas infrastructure. They also believe that looking at renewable resources that have worked in other countries, such as geothermal, as something that would be worth consideration.

"You can rest assured the Canadian Nationalist Party will do everything in its power to make sure that the people here and the industries here are empowered by a government, at a regulatory environment, that recognizes coal-generated power," he said.

Kitchen also spoke towards the future of coal, and on on why carbon capture and sequestration will play an important role in continuing the use of coal and reducing emissions, in not just Estevan and Saskatchewan, but around the world as the technology develops.

"The part that needs to be remembered here is that this business of coal, of energy, and of oil and gas are all needed here because the trickle-down effect, affects all of the community."

Lastly, Mergel said that their party will look at developing green jobs along with renewable alternatives such as hydro, solar, and wind.

"The Greens believe that future is renewables and just as the stone-age didn't end because they ran out of stones, there will be a time to put an end to the use of coal but not because there is no more coal but because there are cleaner alternatives."

She continued to compare the transition to cleaner energy to that of the industrial revolution when many people holding jobs that were phased out adapted and continued to where we are today.

Questions were then turned over to the public - with upwards of 60 people in attendance. Here are the point-form answers from each candidate for a handful of those questions.

The Chamber's executive director, Jackie Wall, was impressed with how the candidates and public handled themselves.

"The night went very very well. All of the candidates were very well-spoken. They really respected each other's opinions, respected the time that each of them had, and as well as the people that attended - the questions were very good. There were some passionate questions and all of them were handled very very respectfully, so I don't think the evening could have gone any better quite honestly, except we could have had the Liberal candidate here, which would have been nice, but having five out of six is really phenomenal."

Wall added that it was great to be able to help the public make informed decisions during the election.

"It is an honour for the Chamber to take this responsibility. It's very important to our members to hear what each candidate has to say, and the community as a whole. And we're really honoured that we have that opportunity to do that. It's really important that people have that opportunity to come to a forum such as this, hear from the candidates, and then also hear how they handle those questions that we're all wondering about."

Chamber Board Member and VP of Strategic Development at Southeast College Jeff Richards was the mediator, and candidates were limited to two minutes for their answers. Questions from the floor had to be concise. The order in which candidates spoke was based off random numbers pulled from Wall's hand just before things kicked off. It changed as the event went on.

This was the third forum in three days, after Weyburn yesterday and Moosomin on Tuesday.

Here are video clips of each candidate's opening remarks.