The all-candidates forum happened and there’s a few days left until Election Day. Still some time for you to make up/change your mind about who you’re going to vote for, if you haven’t already voted.
We seem to be keener on voting ahead of Election Day these days, which isn’t a bad thing. A record number of voters taking advantage of the advance polls used to indicate something, now I think it just means people want to vote and be done with it.
Did you catch the big debate last week? No, not the federal leaders’ debate, but the local all-candidates forum, hosted by the Fernie Chamber of Commerce. It was a packed house.
So, who were the big winners and the big losers? Hard to say, as it was forum as opposed to a debate.
Independent candidate Jim Weidrick, oozing the charm, calm, and intelligence of the emergency room doctor that he is, was doing pretty well until he was asked about abortion. He said he is governed by his faith and, just as he does in the hospital, would abstain on the issue of abortion and medical assistance in dying.
The public’s attention quickly went elsewhere.
Conservative candidate Rob Morrison, whom the abortion question was likely aimed at given some Conservatives’ penchant for wanting to bring the issue forward even though the party has repeatedly said it won’t, had one of the most surprising answers of the night. He said the issue of abortion is between a woman and her doctor and if the party brought the issue forward, he would resign. Hopefully we won’t have to hold him to that promise.
Overall, however, I was underwhelmed by Morrison. For someone who has been an MP for six years, I guess I was hoping for more.
Green Party candidate Steven Maffioli had the best line of the night, even if it was unintentional. The candidates were asked about climate change, an issue near-and-dear to the Greens. He pointed out that some people still think climate change isn’t real. They’re wrong, he said, casting a quick glance at Morrison and then adding, in true Canadian fashion: “Sorry.”
Liberal candidate Reggie Goldsbury is certainly well-spoken and eager, but if you made a drinking game out of how many times he pointed out his website, no one would have walked out of there.
Goldsbury twice encouraged progressive voters to avoid giving Morrison a free ride to power, which they would do by splitting their votes between the Liberals and the NDP (Liberal being the best bet, of course). That would likely only work if one of two dropped out and everyone vote for the remaining progressive candidate. In 2021, Morrison won the riding handily with 28,056. The Liberals and the NDP, combined, garnered 29,856. In other words, vote-splitting likely didn’t hand Morrison the win.
Which brings us to the NDP and candidate Kallee Lins. If I were to pick a winner from Thursday night’s forum, it would be Lins. She was on top of the issues, spoke well, and would definitely be considered a serious candidate.
Her problem, however, is this riding is still Morrison’s to lose. Canada 338, a polling aggregate firm lists the riding as “Conservative safe.”
The new riding alignment lops Golden and Revelstoke off the riding and adds Trail and Fruitvale. Hard to say if that will make a difference in the end result one way or another.
The only way to have an effect on the result, is to get out and vote. If you have already, good for you. If you haven’t yet, get out and vote on Monday.
Born and raised in Fernie, Bill Phillips is an award-winning journalist and columnist. He was the winner of the 2009 Best Editorial award at the British Columbia/Yukon Community Newspaper Association’s Ma Murray awards, in 2007 he won the association’s Best Columnist award. In 2004, he placed third in the Canadian Community Newspaper best columnist category and, in 2003, placed second.
