Liberal leader Christy Clark (left), NDP leader John Horgan (top), Green Party leader Andrew Weaver (bottom).
The Council of Canadians Williams Lake chapter is organizing an all-candidates debate for the upcoming provincial election in British Columbia.
It is doing so in partnership with the Social Planning Council and the BC Council for International Co-operation.
The Williams Lake Tribune reports, “Cariboo Chilcotin provincial election candidates Rita Giesbrecht (Green) and Sally Watson (NDP) will be participating in an all-candidates forum taking place Thursday, April 20 in Williams Lake. Liberal incumbent Donna Barnett’s campaign office in Williams Lake confirmed Monday that Barnett has declined because she is ‘fully booked’.”
Chapter activist Bette McLennan says, “We are very disappointed Donna is not participating. We initially requested to all the Cariboo-Chilcotin candidates back in February that they attend. We gave Donna Barnett’s office the date, I talked to the Liberals’ head office and they said they’d be on it. Our request was in long before anyone else’s.”
The newspaper article adds, “The forum will focus on topics that stem from the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Local speakers will address one topic such as poverty, forestry jobs, local economic sustainable growth and low environmental standards and lack of monitoring.”
McLennan says, “Each speaker will talk for a maximum of five minutes about the topic and how it relates to the Williams Lake area and then ask the candidates a question on the topic. We will then open it up to the audience to ask questions.”
The CBC recently reported that the NDP has a 75.6 per cent chance of winning the election, while the governing Liberal party under Premier Christy Clark has a 24.2 per cent chance of winning. Projections suggest the NDP could win 48 seats, the Liberals 37 seats, and the Green Party 2 seats.
Voting day is May 9.
The Council of Canadians Delta-Richmond chapter is also hosting an all-candidates meeting on April 27.
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