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London’s stubbornly low labour force participation rate and worries about climate change fueled questions and crowd reaction at a candidate forum Tuesday.

THE BACKDROP

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An historic London music venue, Aeolian Hall, has been turned over for three nights of debates by candidates running in London’s three stand-alone urban ridings in the federal election (a fourth seat, Elgin-Middlesex-London, includes St. Thomas and Elgin County). Tuesday night, the spotlight was on candidates running in London North Centre, a seat held in the last Parliament by Liberal Peter Fragiskatos, who is seeking re-election. Other candidates there: Sarah Bokhari (Conservative), Carol Dyck, (Green Party), Salim Mansur (PPC), Dirka Prout (NDP) and Clara Sorrenti (Communist Party).

BIGGEST TAKEAWAY

A good crowd, more than 100 people. Hot on the heels of last week’s Global Climate Strike, the first topic was climate change. The Greens, Liberals, NDP and Communist Party all outlined ways to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Meanwhile, the Conservatives took aim at the federal carbon tax, with the PPC vowing to remove Canada from the Paris Agreement. “If you’re going to fight climate change, you’ve got to fight like you want to win it,” said the NDP’s Prout.