Tension, fireworks, and laughter filled the Clova Theatre for a provincial election all-candidates meeting Oct. 7.
Hosted by the Cloverdale District Chamber of Commerce, many attended the nearly two-hour Q&A with candidates from three Cloverdale-area ridings: Surrey-Cloverdale, Surrey South, and Surrey-Serpentine River.
Scott Wheatley, the Chamber’s executive director, booked seven candidates for the meeting. He booked Surrey South candidate Haroon Ghaffar (NDP). He booked Surrey-Serpentine River candidates Baltej Dhillon (NDP), Linda Hepner (Conservative), and Jim McMurtry (Independent). He booked Surrey-Cloverdale candidates Mike Starchuk (NDP), Elenore Sturko (Conservative), and Pat McCutcheon (Greens).
Candidates were given one minute to introduce themselves and then each candidate was given one minute to answer questions that were submitted by the public. In the cases where parties had multiple candidates present, such as the B.C. Conservatives and the B.C. NDP, only one candidate per party answered the question.
Several questions into the evening, some emotional fireworks erupted when McMurtry (Independent) accused McCutcheon (Greens) of insulting him and his children and told McCutcheon to “Go to hell!” McCutcheon shot back off mic and some light fireworks ensued between the two. McMurtry was apoplectic as moderator Rebecca Smith attempted to calmly diffuse the situation.
“I’d like to remind people that this is a civilized, respectful debate,” Smith said. “I’m not willing to allow this to be diminished in any capacity.”
Then, an audience member shot back at her. “I feel diminished! I feel diminished!”
While McCutcheon and McMurtry were at odds, (they were sitting beside each other in the second of two rows with Ghaffar to their left), Smith again tried to restore order. The other candidates' faces (all-seated in the front row: Sturko, Hepner, Dhillon, and Starchuk) were wide-eyed and dour, bewildered with what was going on.
As comments continued, Smith pleaded for all to “play nice” in the singular moment she raised her voice. She asked both audience and panel to be respectful. She warned if the panel members, or audience members, couldn't be respectful, they would be removed from the Clova.
“If it happens again, you will be ejected,” she said.
Again, someone from the audience blurted out and again Smith gave a warning. She then gently harangued the entire theatre for a minute or two as she bought time for the fireworks to burn out.
A question later, Surrey-South candidate Ghaffar’s slip of the tongue brought some much-needed comic relief to both the attendees and the panel.
As Smith asked her next question, the tension in the room could've been cut with a knife.
“What is your party plan to make life more affordable for the people of Surrey?" she asked.
McCutcheon answered first and then it was Ghaffar’s turn.
“The B.C. NDP is really working hard to increase the cost of living,” he said. At which point the audience erupted in laughter.
“To decrease the cost of living,” Ghaffar said as he grinned after correcting himself. The inverted words cast smiles on all and the night’s tension loosened up a little bit.
Each candidate, or party, had their say on a variety of questions over the course of the one-hour and 45-minute session. Here is one answer from each candidate on one of three random questions.
Question
What is your party’s stance on universal child-care funding and would you continue the current $10-a-day plan?
Jim McMurtry, Independent candidate for Surrey-Serpentine River:
“I certainly would. I think it’s very hard for young people, others have talked a lot already about affordability issues in the city. And I think it's absolutely essential to do everything we can to help young parents.”
Pat McCutcheon, Green candidate for Surrey-Cloverdale:
“Absolutely. The B.C. Greens are entirely committed to rolling out $10-a-day daycare. We are committed to having it in place by 2026…. We will also commit to expanding before and after school care and would also commit to universal accessibility to the early childhood education model.
Mike Starchuk, NDP candidate for Surrey-Cloverdale:
Currently, the model that’s there is at $17-a-day with a goal to get to $10-a-day. I think with our plan that we have, when I take a look at what people have been paying in the past, and what the previous person, John Rustad, and how they were talking about moving off of that mark that was there, I go back a number of years ago and people were paying in there, around $57-a-day. So, going to a $10-a-day is going to be life changing for those people that are there.”
Question
What are your plans to work with business to make the economy better?
Haroon Ghaffar, NDP candidate for Surrey-South:
“Working with businesses, collaboratively, is the goal. The B.C. NDP is working on it…. Businesses are struggling these days. That’s understandable. There are so many things. We have just gone through the pandemic. The facts of the pandemic are still, some businesses are still facing that impact. The national interest rates, they have quite increased with global inflation. So all these factors are impacting our businesses, but at the same time we need to work very closely with business to give them some ease.”
Linda Hepner, Conservative candidate for Surrey-Serpentine River:
“The NDP have added so many fees and taxes over the last seven years, 33 of them. So, one of the first things we’re going to do is we’re going to cut the small business taxes in half. Secondly, we’re going to cut the carbon tax—and by pure example, that will reduce 26 cents off of every litre of gas. When businesses are travelling around the community with their product, that’s a big difference. We will reduce red tape that is crippling small business”
Question
Surrey had the largest school district in the province and at our current growth rate of 1,000 to 1,500 people per month, this district is not getting any smaller. How will your party facilitate more schools in our city?
Elenore Sturko, Conservative candidate for Surrey-Cloverdale:
“Unfortunately, after seven years of the NDP, 80 per cent of our schools here are over capacity and we definitely need to build more schools here. We want to be able to open new schools when families are moving into a neighbourhood. Eight years ago, B.C. NDP said it was a flawed funding formula. They knew it then, they did nothing. We will be changing the funding formula to make sure that districts can have their funds approved faster so they can have projects shovel-ready sooner.
Baltej Dhillon, NDP candidate for Surrey-Serpentine River:
“The B.C. NDP has been doing a lot—8,000 new seats, student seats here now—10,000 more on the way. We’re building schools … where they’re going to have pre-fab attachments to it. That’s happening quicker than traditional schools. So, there is lots to be done. Hiring more teachers. Their plan is to add 20 per cent to the classroom sizes. That's going to impact education. That's going to impact our kids. That’s going to impact our teachers … The other piece here is that years of under-funding that we’re trying to catch up to. This didn’t happen in the last seven years. This happened previously to that. And the last four years of John Rustad’s government, zero seats, zero seats.