ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Candidates for the hotly contested federal race in St. John’s East faced questions from members of the St. John’s Board of Trade on Tuesday.
Liberal incumbent Nick Whalen, New Democratic Party challenger Jack Harris and Conservative Party of Canada candidate Joedy Wall spoke about mental health services, tax burdens and the ongoing demographic challenge facing the province.
In 2015, Whalen won the riding by just 646 votes over then-incumbent Harris, who seeks to reclaim the seat. Wall, the mayor of Pouch Cove, is vying to return St. John’s East to the Conservatives for the first time since Norman Doyle held the seat from 1997 to 2008.
Green Party candidate David Peters, who also ran under the Green banner in 2015, was unable to attend the event.
What follows is an edited account of some highlights from the debate.
Question 1:
What role should the federal government play in advancing mental health care services?
Whalen: “A Liberal government under Justin Trudeau will put more money towards mental health to reduce wait times and create national standards. … It’s important to set national standards so people can get the help they need, when they need it.”
Whalen went on to talk about the plan to create national pharma-care already being pursued by the Liberals.
Wall pointed to 24 years of working with “mentally delayed and autistic adults.”
“I do know that under a Conservative government, the health transfers would be increased by three per cent each year for the next four years. That would be committed to,” Wall said.
Wall added that education and public dialogue on mental health is important, something the federal government could play a larger role in.
Harris: “We see our prisons being used as prisons for people who should be getting treatment for drug addiction and mental health issues.”
Harris pointed to an NDP motion for a national taskforce on mental health, which was defeated in the House of Commons. The NDP also supports a federal pharma-care plan, he said.
“We need to make sure counselling is available through our health care system, not simply available through medical doctors,” he said.
Question 2:
How can the federal tax burden be eased?
Wall: “We have to look at the level of taxation we have. We have to introduce new technologies and new industries to bring into our province so we could have a larger tax base and give some of the tax break to the residents that want to start small business.”
Harris: “We have stood up for lower small business taxes. We’ve opposed, for example, the unfair merchant charges for credit card companies that’s gouging small businesses and their customers. We also believe that it needs to be made easier for small businesses to be passed down to the future generations.”
Whalen pointed to, upon election, a middle-class tax break for those earning between $45,000 and $90,000, and increasing taxation on those earning more than $200,000.
“We saw that there was $2,000 more in people's pockets — and it's true that people are paying $800 more on average in taxation, which allows us to deliver more programming and services from government, but they have $2,000 more in their pockets because the economy has grown,” he said.
He pointed to the need for a tax review, comparing Canada's rates with other G7 nations.
Question 3:
What will you do to address outmigration from Newfoundland and Labrador?
Harris said the NDP’s has proposed a federal $15-per-hour minimum wage. He said more immigration is needed, but the Board of Trade wants 5,000 people a year, a number that is ambitious compared to 1,750 immigrants a year proposed by the province.
“Two-thirds of the increase in population in Canada actually comes from immigration,” he said.
Harris says working with immigrants to ensure programs are available for newcomers is important.
Whalen: “It relates to the fact that there are fewer children being born in Newfoundland and Labrador, not just because of how Canadians' patterns and behaviours have changed over time, but because so many of my peers, people who graduated high school from the early-’80s and 2000s, moved away due to the cod moratorium,” he said.
Whalen says expat Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are having their children away, not in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Whalen cited the Atlantic Growth Strategy developed by the Liberals, one of the key aspects being immigration and finding skilled workers from around the world to work in Newfoundland and Labrador.
“Families that are coming here under the Atlantic Immigration Pilot to our region are more likely to stay. Retention rates are up. More needs to be done,” Whalen said.
Wall: “Outmigration, shrinking population, it goes hand in hand with all the other issues in our province today.”
Wall said the level of taxation is a reason people are moving away. He said immigration is important.
“We need to encourage people to come here,” he said.
Question 4:
How can the government help first-time homebuyers?
Whalen referred to the shared equity program introduced in the most recent federal budget, allowing first-time homebuyers to have five per cent of homes subsidized through equity stakes by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp.
“Canada has a consumer debt issue. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a crisis, because we have a great, strong economy. It’s important to make sure Canadians can suffer through and last any storms that may come their way in the housing market,” said Whalen, pointing to the “stress-test” for first-time homebuyers.
Wall said the Conservatives will increase the amount of amortization time for mortgages to 30 years.
“We’re not British Columbia, we’re not any other part of Canada. It’s different for Newfoundland and Labrador,” Wall said.
Harris said the NDP would also increase amortization to 30 years.
“The stress test wasn’t brought in to keep first-time homebuyers from going in over their head. It was deliberately brought in as a Canada-wide plan to solve the overheated housing crisis in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, and maybe one other city. It was imposed on everyone in this country,” Harris said.
He said the NDP would build 500,000 affordable homes in Canada, with $5 billion spent in the first year.
Election day is Oct. 21.
Twitter: @DavidMaherNL
