The Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) hosted an online debate featuring four Ottawa Centre candidates from Canada’s major federal parties on Tuesday night.
In attendance was Yasir Naqvi of the Liberal Party, Carol Clemenhagen of the Conservative Party, Angella MacEwen of the NDP and Angela Keller-Herzog of the Green Party.
The discussion was moderated by Jesse Hsieh, vice president (finance) for the Public Affairs and Policy Management Students’ Society and Shireen Faisal, an executive from the Carleton Political Science Society. They posed four questions to the candidates submitted by students before the event.
Student loans
The evening’s first question asked candidates if their party has plans to reduce or eliminate student loans.
MacEwen said the NDP’s long-term goal is free tuition and education for all, from kindergarten to post-secondary schools. MacEwen also said the NDP would eliminate interest on federal student loans and introduce a targeted debt forgiveness program within their first year in power.
Keller-Herzog said she would eliminate tuition costs and cancel federally held student loan debt.
“The fact that the average student graduates with $28,000 of debt hanging around their neck is just wrong,” Keller-Herzog said, referring to the average debt for graduates from bachelor’s programs.
During Naqvi’s response, he reflected on his time as an Ontario MPP when his party eliminated tuition fees for low-income and middle-income families.
“That was a very important initiative we took because we believe that making post-secondary education accessible is absolutely important for the well-being of our society,” Naqvi said.
Unlike the NDP and the Green Party, eliminating tuition fees is not a current goal for the Liberal Party. If elected, Naqvi said the Liberal Party would increase the repayment assistance threshold to $50,000, giving graduates more space before they are expected to begin repayments on their loans. The party would also eliminate interest on federal loans.
Clemenhagen was the only candidate to say she and her party would not be reducing or eliminating student loans.
“The debt doesn’t disappear,” Clemenhagen said. “It simply is moved to another area, it goes on to the national debt onto the public purse.”
Reconciliation
Candidates were next asked about reconciliation and immediate steps they would take towards healing the relationship between the federal government and Indigenous peoples.
Clemenhagen accused the Liberal Party of discouraging Indigenous groups from taking ownership shares in development projects and said the Conservative Party would take a forward-thinking approach to reconciliation.
“Reconciliation is a forward-looking process,” said Clemenhagen. “It’s acknowledging the past, certainly, with humility and with open eyes and with truth, but it also involves embracing the future in order to move forward together.”
Keller-Herzog used part of her speaking time to promote her fight to rename Ottawa’s Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway, but she also spoke about her party’s commitment to using the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions’ (TRC) report and the report on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) as a roadmap for future decision-making.
MacEwen said reconciliation means following the lead of Indigenous communities and encouraging Indigenous-led projects and actions.
“I also will fight to support and fully fund community-driven solutions for healing centres that serve the community, including organizations like the Assembly of Seven Generations, the Minwaashin Lodge and the Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health,” MacEwen said.
Both MacEwen and Keller-Herzog said they would fully implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.
Naqvi echoed the answers from the NDP and Green candidates and expressed a personal commitment to the TRC report and the report on MMIWG.
Naqvi said the best way to reconcile is to empower, learn from and engage with Indigenous peoples.
Both Clemenhagen and MacEwen criticized the former Liberal government for failing to end water advisories in Indigenous communities and for taking Indigenous children to court.
The former Liberal government lifted 109 drinking water advisories in Indigenous communities. Fifty-two long-term advisories are still in effect.
The government is also currently in court fighting two Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT) decisions, one of which requires the government to compensate Indigenous children who faced discrimination through systemic underfunding of Indigenous child services with $40,000 each. The government argues the CHRT overstepped their jurisdiction in awarding the money.
“I didn’t hear anything from Yasir about how he thinks he’s going to get this government to stop taking Indigenous kids to court,” MacEwen said. “I’m hearing lots of really nice words and lots of words about other people’s responsibilities but not about the responsibility and accountability of this Liberal government.”
Naqvi said he refused to turn reconciliation into a partisan issue.
“I think it is the responsibility of all of us Canadians. We are trying to undo generations of systemic bias, systemic colonization. This is important work. This is hard work, and we all have to do it.”
Affordable housing
Following a clash over reconciliation, all candidates expressed similar positions on affordable housing.
“The main thing to understand is that to address the housing and homelessness crisis, we need to address supply,” Keller-Herzog said.
Keller-Herzog said she would use federal lands, where possible, to build supportive housing, including rental and non-profit housing.
Naqvi said he is committed to securing funding from social housing providers for at least 1,700 new units over the next four years.
To help “cool down” the market, Naqvi proposed a ban on flipping homes and a ban on foreign investors buying homes to give Canadians a stronger chance at homeownership.
Clemenhagen reiterated the problem stems from a supply issue.
“We’re not building enough homes and the process of building homes is often slowed by provincial or municipal regulatory burden,” Clemenhagen said.
Clemenhagen said the Conservative Party would incentivize building rental housing and releasing federal land into the housing market.
MacEwen said the NDP plans to build 500,000 non-market, public units, which she said would amount to roughly 20,000 in Ottawa. MacEwen also said the NDP would work with current community providers who facilitate non-profit and co-op housing to expand their models.
Climate
The final questions asked about the parties’ plans to stop pipelines and the cutting of old-growth forests.
Naqvi listed the Liberal Party’s policies to confront the climate crisis, including a carbon tax and legislation that requires the country to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. However, Naqvi’s response had limited details for the Liberal’s path to net-zero aside from putting investments into public transit and retrofitting homes to be more energy-efficient.
Clemenhagen used her time to place importance on the promotion of innovation during this time of transition to net-zero emissions.
“I think the government should be obsessed with coming up with measures that would promote innovation in reducing greenhouse gas emissions while avoiding additional costs,” Clemenhagen said.
In a direct answer, Keller-Herzog said the Green Party will cease cutting old-growth forests and will invest in alternative energy sources.
“We need to immediately invest in alternative energies,” Keller-Herzog said. “And our platform details several ways to ensure that no one is left behind by introducing training programs for workers.”
MacEwen listed various aspects of the NDP’s climate plan but only lightly acknowledged the question posed by Faisal. She said the party plans to end existing subsidies to oil and gas, put $500 million of funding towards Indigenous land stewardship programs and invest in cleaner energy alternatives such as geothermal energy.
“I want my daughter Anna to grow up in a country that fights the climate crisis like we want to win it,” MacEwen said.
Students can register to vote on Elections Canada anytime before polls open on Monday or they can register at a polling station when they arrive to vote.
Featured image from Screengrab.
