Anyone looking for bombshells, bluster, or even electoral emotion walked away empty from the all-candidates forum for Prince George-Peace River.
The first gathering of the ridings contestants, hosted Monday night by the Prince George Chamber of Commerce, was decidedly a forum and not a debate. It left little room for the five on the ballot to do much more than state their basic platform on a number of issues called out to them by the Chamber organizers and notes from the audience.
The candidates were the NDP's Lois Boone, the Green Party's Hilary Crowley, the Liberals' Ben Levine, the Conservatives' Bob Zimmer and Jeremy Cote from the Pirate Party.
As the representative for the incumbent governing party, Zimmer took the brunt of the direct shots taken by the various others. Some of the only audience reactions came after these small darts tossed by the three other mainstream parties (Cote took no partisan shots).
There was a mild shout-down when Zimmer stated that the election was triggered by opposition refusal to endorse their budget, the others (and some in the audience) pointing out it was actually a contempt of Parliament motion that brought the government down.
The biggest rounds of applause went to Boone when she stated her opposition to the Harmonized Sales Tax and that the $1.6 billion federal cash incentive to B.C. for accepting the HST ought not to be paid back.
Zimmer got some applause of his own when he asserted his support for the Prince George Airport as a means of economic development.
Crowley's best reaction was for her insistence that education was "a universal right" and needed more federal attention.
Levine's biggest points were scored at the mention of past Liberal surplus budgets and banking regulations falling into deficits and leniency to big banks under the Conservatives.
Cote, although he ran under the banner of a fringe party, did not acquit himself as a joke. He was admittedly short on policy statements but remained thoughtfully engaged in all aspects of the discussion.
All of the candidates remained composed and polite throughout. None got out-muscled; none came away the winner; all got sincere slaps on the back from their prior supporters when it was complete. There was no indication any of the candidates changed any minds among the voters in the room, but succeeded in forwarding the dialogue.
If the event served any purpose it was to underscore the need for the local voter to spend some time with the newspaper, on the internet, engaging in open conversation, even visiting the candidates of interest in order to learn more. Little more than gut reactions are possible from the genteel sound-bites of this forum style, but the audience did walk away from the College of New Caledonia theatre Monday night murmuring about the issues, if not pounding their fists.
The election happens May 2.
