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D-C all candidates’ debates target aggregates, ‘raise ire’

June 4, 2014   ·   0 Comments

By Marni Walsh – Incumbent MPP Sylvia Jones ran into optics issues at the Dufferin-Caledon all candidates’ debate hosted by the Greater Dufferin Area Chamber of Commerce in Shelburne last Thursday.

Audience member Carol Traintrek asked all the candidates to divulge corporate campaign donors to insure voters there were “no strings attached.”

Ms. Jones would not name corporations, assuring the audience that there were no limits to who could contribute because “there were no strings attached.”

As her allowed question time ended, Ms. Traintrek called out, “What about the aggregate industry?” to which the Progressive Conservative candidate suggested voters could visit the Elections Ontario website if they wanted to know specifics.

Not an easy task. Following the debate, it took a computer expert and some time to come up with the on-line contributions to the Jones campaign from 2011:  the list on bit.ly/Jones2011 included the aggregate names James Dick, Holcim Canada, Lockyer, Greenwood, and Armstrong – a legitimate, but uncomfortable revelation in a riding known province-wide for its grassroots “Food and Water First” campaign focused on fighting aggregate development on prime farmland, and may follow Ms. Jones into the next debate. One Dufferin voter Richard Byford called it “a disaster for Sylvia.”

Carl Cossack, North Dufferin Agricultural and Community Taskforce (NDACT) chair, noted in a separate interview that questions at the earlier Orangeville debate “centred on serving the community, rather than serving the system.” He referenced the lack of representation regarding aggregate zoning issues, highlighted by the Melancthon mega-quarry, the Melrose Pit and the Greenwood purchase in North Mono as the main topics in Orangeville, as well as hydro costs and Tim Hudak’s plan to fire 100.000 people. These topics “raised the ire of many people at the Orangeville debate,” he said.

The same could be said for Shelburne; in fact, Sylvia Jones made a very pointed comment that she saw many of the same faces at Shelburne as at the Orangeville debate.

Thursday night at Shelburne’s Glenbrook Elementary School, it did not matter what your party affiliation was, there was no denying that Green Party candidate Karren Wallace walked away the hometown favourite. Supporters applauded Ms. Wallace throughout the night for keeping her campaign promise to answer every question in “a straight-up manner,” fully supported with Green Party policy.  Her lone ceramic cup in the midst of the other candidates’ bottled water was symbolic of her attention to detail and solidarity with her community in its continued fight to protect the Headwaters area.

The debate focused around the first-time Green candidate, who has 20 years of municipal policy experience and Ms. Jones, who has held Dufferin-Caledon for two terms.

Ms. Wallace was on the offensive, presenting the Green Party platforms on agriculture, water, energy, economy and education, giving many voters in the audience their first taste of Green policy, “This is the most important vote in Dufferin-Caledon in decades,” she told the audience, “protecting our ability to feed ourselves is as important as developing our economy.”

As the incumbent, Ms. Jones stood in defence of her record, as well as Conservative Leader Tim Hudak’s proposed 100,000 job cuts, and in criticism of Premier Wynne’s  Liberals in Queen’s Park, “I want young people to have the opportunities I had,” she said. “That’s why I support the Progressive Conservative Million Jobs Plan.”

The command of party policy demonstrated by the Green and Conservative candidates appeared to be understandably lacking in first-time NDP candidate Rehya Yazbek. Both she and the Liberal Bobbie Daid stressed the urgency to protect farmland, but relied heavily on personal conviction, often without solid specifics of party policy to back their enthusiasm.

Ms. Daid, the youngest of the candidates, presented herself as somewhat of a farm girl, but when she ran in the Ward 5 Mississauga City Council by-election in 2011 she was quoted as calling herself “a product of Ward 5,” where she and her family had lived for over 25 years. The Liberal candidate  says she currently resides at the family’s second home, a farm in east Caledon, which she says inspired her personal passion to protect agricultural land. Prime farmland protection is a top issue in the riding, yet she failed to mentioned leader Kathleen Wynne’s recently proposed Farms Forever program designed to help support young farmers and local sourcing of food as well as to help protect farm land from development.

As the incumbent, Ms. Jones proved she was a seasoned master of the Conservative platform, able to tie policy to her answers without hesitation. She was equally adept at political sleight of hand, redirecting challenging inquiries away from the direct issue, but that led to muttering and calling out, “you didn’t answer the question” on several occasions. Misdirection may have worked in Dufferin-Caledon in the past, but the trials and tribulations of the mega quarry seem to have left behind a much more politically savvy riding; many of the questions targeted at Ms. Jones were more statements of discontent over her absence in the quarry fight and as a committee member of what is seen by Food and Water advocates as a flawed Aggregate Resources Act (ARA) review.

Ms. Wallace, too, came under attack, from voter Steve Cavell who accused her of being a hypocrite, for accepting a donation from Michael Daniher, former front man for the Highland Companies. Mr. Cavell unwittingly gave the Green Party candidate an opportunity to remind her base why they support her so enthusiastically. She recounted confronting Mr. Daniher at the door of a quarry information meeting, and insisting that since it was his company’s fault that residents had to go to the expense of renting the facility and amenities for the anti-mega mine meeting, he could not enter to record the meeting without making a donation. She said it was then that Mr. Daniher handed over $20.

Mr. Cossack challenged Ms. Jones at both the Orangeville and Shelburne debates over allegedly having early knowledge of the impending quarry application without informing the public. But Ms. Jones denied any early meetings with lobbyists and reprimanded Mr. Cossack for his line of questioning, calling it “beneath him.”

That left an opening for Ms. Wallace to assure voters that “as your elected MPP no question would be beneath me.”

Despite being on the defensive for much of the debate, Ms. Jones portrayed a stalwart calmness that embodied confidence and ‘political correctness.’ But for an audience whose mood was one of pent-up urgency it may have worked against her. Voters’ questions for the candidates more than hinted that folks who might have scoffed at the idea of voting Green even four years ago were looking at the party in a different light.

At the end of the night, moderator Ron Munroe, project leader of Dufferin.biz, had the unpleasant job of informing a long line of voters that they would not get an opportunity to ask their questions. Melancthon resident, Merv Parker said it “looked like they were not expecting such an involved audience.”  Even Shelburne Mayor Ed Crewson was left holding his questions on which candidates would fight for Go bus service to Shelburne and whether they supported continued funding through the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund.

In the remaining debate, Ms. Jones is likely to continue to face criticism over leader Hudak’s promise of 100,000 job cuts as well as the PC aggregate contributions, but she has the advantage of riding the rails of status quo in a traditionally Conservative riding.

Liberal Daid can count on the push-back against Mr. Hudak’s plan to bring her some favour; Rehya Yazbek will have to overcome public perception that the NDP’s budget refusal caused an unnecessary, early election, and Ms. Wallace, who has taken The Green Party a long way at 25% in a recent local poll, will have to continue convincing voters that Green policies reach beyond a single issue to satisfy broader concerns.

The next debate is set for tonight (Thursday) at 7 p.m. at James Bolton Public School in Bolton.

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