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Moderator:
Good evening again to everyone, and welcome to our second Virtual Town Hall With Eric Walton. My name is Nancy Salay,
campaign manager, and I'll be your moderator again tonight. Sorry about the delay -- the site went down momentarily right at 8:00! Green Party candidate Eric Walton here, and he's ready to hear your questions and comments.
I'd like to remind you that while we welcome questions and comments on any topics that interest you, no submissions
containing obscenities, personal attacks, hateful or discriminatory language will be permitted. Feel free to ask
follow-up questions if you regard the answer posted as insufficient. Of course, depending on time constraints, we may not be able to address every question that gets posted.
Shall we begin...?)
From: Katie
Historically, in Kingston, the poverty-wealth division has created a criminal element that is enhanced by the number of Institutions in the area. As our candidate, what action is proposed to clean up our notoriety as the heroin and murder (per capita) capital of Canada? I noticed the new platform involves Rehabilitative Justice and enhanced programs for women's safety. Is this why? Would Social Services such as CAS be included in this initiative?
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| Eric Walton responds: |
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I can only take one question at a time but these are all excellent questions. We are not the heroin and murder capital of Canada, but we do think it is time for a major reform of our penal system. We ned to change the prison environment for convicts but also for the people who work in these institutions. We are spending $50,000 and more a year to immerse people in a culture of violence. I definitely think we need to address the poverty/wealth division in Canada as a major social priority.
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From: Mike, Kingston
Hi,
The latest polls have the Liberals and the Conservatives in a virtual tie in Ontario. In a riding like, Kingston and the Islands, where most of the votes go to either the Liberals or the Conservatives, would it be better to vote for the Liberals who at least support the Kyoto plan, rather than voting Green and possibly allowing the conservatives to gain power?
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| Eric Walton responds: |
Liberals do not support the Kyoto plan in fact, only as a public relations exercise. Under the Liberals emmissions have risen 25% from the 1990 baseline. A growing Green vote will have the greatest influence on greening the Liberal Party and supporting 'greener' Liberals within that Party to push for a real Kyoto plan.
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From: Mark , Kingston
I have a friend who says he's voting NDP because though he likes the Greens on the environment, he's heard that they are conservative in their social justice policy. How do you respond to that?
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| Eric Walton responds: |
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Your friend is mistaken. We are conservative in our fiscal policy, in the sense that we believe one should not spend more than one has and we believe that we should apply true cost accounting in our economic decisions, which means that all costs (including pollution and depletion of natural resources) are factored into the price of a good or service. We have a very progressive social policy: our plan for housing, to end homelessness, is the most ambitious of all the Parties; we would use a targetted income supplement to help people get off of welfare; poor people are the first victims of environmental pollution and would benefit the most from our proactive environmental agenda; we support both subsidised daycare AND stay-at-home parents with real investment so that these are viable choices for Canadians; and not last but this is all we have time for now, we would reduce ungrad tuitions by much more than the current proposal from the Liberal Party of 50%.
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From: Anonymous
It occurs to me that the Liberal Party is taking the fall for a pocket-lining system set up by our Conservative fore-fathers, how would a Green Party Government ensure this doesn't happen again?
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| Eric Walton responds: |
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The best insurance against corruption is the integrity of the people elected. That does not mean that we should not have a better system of checks and balances, and remember, it was the Auditor General who exposed the Sponsorship Scandal. Thanks to that, a number of measures are being proposed by all political Parties to reduce the likelihood of this happening again. But, without honest MPs, who are prepared to call corruption when it is happening, no system will be foolproof.
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From: Joyce
What do you think about the $100. per child that the conservatives are talking about?
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| Eric Walton responds: |
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Not enough. We think it should be more but we also support a well-funded, certified daycare program. Does this mean greater cost? Absolutely! But children should be one of the first priorities of our country.
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From: Victor
Have you ideas to help the homeless, jobless and people who sit on Princess St. cap in hand?
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| Eric Walton responds: |
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These are all poverty issues. We think the number one priority of anti-poverty program should be a massive nation-wide social housing initiative. There should not be homelessness in a rich and like Canada. Period. Building these homes will stimulate employment, as will many of the other measures needed to move our economy to sustainability, such as organic agriculture, energy conservation, ecolgical forestry and fisheries, Green technology development, childcare, and so on.
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From: Mike, Kingston
A recent report to the provincial government in Ontario recommended nuclear power to meet Ontario's coming energy shortage. What would the Green party recommend for meeting Ontario's shortfall and can the federal government do anything to effect provincial energy policy? (Sorry about the repeated posts – I'm just learning this system)
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| Eric Walton responds: |
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Great question. The first critical fact is that Canada consumes twice the energy per capita than a similar, cold, industrialised country, namely, Sweden. This means aggressive conservation can buy us the time to bring on line alternative and renewable energy sources without going further the nuclear route. The cost of nuclear, which is a dirty and expensive energy source, will take away from research and development investment in renewables that would create long-term economic benefit for Canada without the massive cost overruns typical of nuclear power and the VERY long-term radioactive waste pollution, not to mention, the risk of catastrophic failure made more serious today by the threat of terrorist targetting, such as the recent near-miss incident in Australia.
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From: Kevin
Does the Green Party have a policy designed to deal with the increasing gang and gun violence in big city centres like Toronto?
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| Eric Walton responds: |
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Dealing with a complex issue like this requires both a social investment/preventative approach as well as a deterrent response. The violence is related to the drug trade, but drug use is a function of social alienation as well. The Green Party's anti-poverty program as well as their plans to remove barriers to education and their commitment to investent in youth programs will all address this problem, but turning the tide will require a sustained long-term investment. Personally, I think we are suffering some of the consequences of the conservative, 'common sense' revolution, but affixing blame does not help us deal with reality today.
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Moderator:
Thank you to everyone for making this an exciting evening of discussion. I'll close tonight's Town Hall with this thought:
We make history.
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