All five-candidates vying for the Athabasca-Barrhead-Westlock seat had an opportunity to share their platforms and answer a few questions from the audience last week as the Westlock and District Chamber of Commerce and the Westlock News presented an all-candidates forum April 11 at Memorial Hall.
New Democrat Therese Taschuk was joined by independent candidate Brad Giroux, Alberta Independence Party candidate Buster Malcolm, the United Conservative Party’s Glenn van Dijken and Wayne Rufiange of the Alberta Party in the hopes they could persuade those who had not yet made up their minds as far as who to vote for in the April 16 provincial election.
Around 200 people attended, but undecideds were hard to come by. Many of those who spoke to the News before and after the forum said they had already made up their minds on who to vote for and were only taking in the event to reaffirm their positions.
“I have voted already,” said Brenda Lussier before the forum started.
“I work for Alberta Health Services and I have some questions about short-staffing and the privatization of healthcare and that’s about it. I’m just here for some information.”
Barry Blonjeaux said he was swayed by one of the candidates as his concern was in regard to the NDP government’s implementation of Bill 6, the farm and ranch workplace legislation, shortly after it came to power.
“I just came to see who was the best of the candidates,” he said.
“The most important issue to me was Bill 6. I didn’t like how the NDP put it in and I wanted to hear who would talk about it and what they would do about it. The only one who talked about removing it was the UCP and that’s where I’m going.”
The night started off with a few words from chamber president Graeme Harrington, who passed the mic off to emcee Ken Jersch, whose experience with Toastmasters was evident as he kept the audience entertained with jokes and commentary.
Each candidate was given a 10-minute opening statement, then two minutes each to answer each of four questions which covered pipelines, gay-straight alliances at schools, the minimum wage and agriculture.
The forum then closed with two-minute statements from all five and then moved into one-on-one questions and conversations afterwards
“I had pretty much made my decision before I showed up,” said Mike Taylor after the forum. “Tonight just reaffirmed what I already knew.”
Taylor said his focus is on the economy and that he will vote for the candidate he thinks will best be able to handle Alberta’s current fiscal situation.
“I came to listen to the forum,” said Jeanne Roska.
“It helped to clarify things. I thought it was very well run and I’m glad I came. Jobs are important to me even though I’m no longer in the work force. And education is important, too.”
Election results
As Albertans head to the polls today, April 16, to elect a new government be sure to visit www.westlocknews.com, or our Facebook page, for local results.
The Westlock News will also be following the race in the Lac Ste. Anne-Parkland riding, which includes the Hamlet of Busby.
The five-man race there includes NDP candidate Oneil Carlier, Darien Masse for the Alberta Advantage Party, UCP candidate Shane Getson, Alberta Party candidate Donald McCargar and Gordon McMillan for the Alberta Independence Party.
For the complete story on the election see the April 23 print edition.
