Carleton’s four campus political party clubs participated in a virtual debate Feb. 19, debating COVID-19 and the economy, Indigenous rights, foreign policy, and environmental issues.
The event, organized by the clubs, aimed to inform students on the policy stances of Canada’s major political parties.
Participating campus political clubs included members from Carleton’s Conservatives, Carleton Liberals, Carleton University New Democrats and Carleton U Greens.
Debaters included Conservative Jordyn Ham, NDP Kevin Hua and Green Maia Knight, all candidates in the 2019 federal election.
The nearly two-hour debate was “pretty cordial,” said debate host and Carleton Academic Student Government president Matt Gagné.
The two videos posted on social media of the debate garnered over 1,300 views in total, Gagné said.
He said he was excited by the response, which he speculated may have been driven by the debate’s virtual format.
Representatives of all four parties agreed on many of the issues presented at the debate, including the importance of protecting Arctic sovereignty and the need for government aid for small businesses during the pandemic.
Exchanges heated up during a debate on access to clean drinking water for Indigenous communities when New Democrat Hua criticized the Liberal and Conservative parties’ records on handling Indigenous issues.
“You have had more than 152 years of government and this is still a problem,” Hua said.
Conservative participant, Ham, questioned the validity of Hua’s argument stating that Hua’s party “doesn’t stand a chance at being in government,” to handle these issues.
The Green Party’s, Knight, pointed to a lack of electoral reform, rather than of sound policy, to explain both the Green and the NDP’s low representation in Parliament.
Debaters also discussed Canada’s relations with China.
On Monday, the House of Commons voted unanimously to declare China’s treatment of the mostly Muslim ethnic group the Uyghurs a genocide, with most members of the Liberal cabinet, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, abstaining.
At the debate, everyone but Liberal representative Owen Mcadams described China’s actions as genocide.
Between criticisms of relations with China and accusations of inaction on environmental, Indigenous and vaccination issues, the Liberal participants drew the most criticism from their opponents during the event.
Carleton Liberal participant Khameron Sikoulavong said he wasn’t surprised by the criticism.
“[The governing party] is obviously going to have criticism from all parties,” Sikoulavong said, adding that this criticism and debate is an important part of democracy.
Participants said the debate was a success. Conservative Bryce McRae said the event was intended to be amicable, and that “people were talking on friendly terms” after the event.
Knight said she feels these events make it “a lot easier for students to gauge what each party stands for,” contrasting the policy-driven tone of this debate with the “jabs” typical of an official, televised debate.
Gagné also said he was happy with the debate’s focus on policy. He said he hopes it will help students “make the most informed decision possible” the next time they head to the polls.
Featured image provided via screen grab.
