It was standing room only at the All Candidates Forum hosted at Creekside Seniors Centre on Monday, Oct. 7.
Close to 100 voters turned out to listen to Conservative Party of B.C. incumbent MLA Lorne Doerkson and B.C. NDP Party candidate Michael Moses tackle the issues facing the riding. The two covered a wide range of topics throughout the forum, with each being given two minutes to answer questions and a one-minute rebuttal as necessary. Both Moses and Doerkson remained cordial throughout the evening despite a few interjections and jeers from the audience.
The forum was organized by the South Cariboo Chamber of Commerce and sponsored by the Northern B.C. Real Estate Board.
In his opening statement, Doerkson highlighted the challenges facing the region regarding healthcare workers, noting that the Ashcroft Emergency Room has been closed for two years and pointing to recent overnight closures of the 100 Mile House and Williams Lake ERs. He also addressed the region's issues with prolific offenders and violent crime.
"We have to get back to a time where we provide treatment to individuals who are faced with challenges that most of us can't even begin to explain or understand. We also cannot tolerate violent crime in our communities," Doerkson. "People are frustrated with it right through the entire riding. We must take a no-tolerance (stance) with respect to violent crime."
Doerkson also said that the province needs to bring transparency back to the education system and get rid of "ideology in our classrooms."
"Teach kids how to think, not what to think," Doerkson said.
Moses, meanwhile, began his opening statements with a land acknowledgement and told those in attendance that the Cariboo is a great place to live. He hit on issues including inflation and corporate price gouging and claimed that Premier David Eby's policies would help address such issues.
"We are still feeling the fallout from the pandemic, global inflation and high interest rates that are hiking costs on us every day. Corporate gouging real estate speculators are making things even worse," Moses remarked. "The future can feel uncertain but that's why I'm really proud to be part of David Eby's team. Since becoming premier he hasn't stopped taking action for people. He's been helping families with cost in the face of global inflation, he's been hiring and training more doctors, tackling housing costs and building one of the strongest economies in Canada."
In both his opening statement and throughout the evening Moses took several opportunities to criticize Conservative Party of B.C. leader John Rustad. Moses claimed Rustad is in the pocket of powerful interests and that his choices, while a member of the Liberal government before the NDP took power in 2017, are partly why BC is facing the issues it does today.
The first question the candidates tackled revolved around the B.C. NDP's plan for long-term care. Moses acknowledged that the current wait time is too long and that his grandmother and father are in long-term care. He pledged the NDP plan to add 5,400 new long-term care beds and said they have invested $3.5 billion in senior care over the last four years.
"I worry with you on this topic because John Rustad's conservatives have a plan to cut healthcare by over $4-billion and these cuts have to happen somewhere. It will be either doctors and nurses or programs just like the one we are worried about," Moses remarked.
Doerkson took the opportunity to rebut Moses' answers, remarking he was frustrated by his comments. He said that the Conservatives do not plan to cut $4-billion from the healthcare system.
"It is rich to hear, after almost a decade of running this healthcare system, that it is somebody else's fault at this point," Doerkson remarked.
Moses countered by saying that the Conservatives have stated in their proposed policies they plan to cut healthcare programs by a percentage of the GDP between 11.4 to 12.5 per cent, which he said is $4-billion dollars. Doerkson responded again that this is not true.
Following on the heels of this discussion, Doerkson was asked a question written by a student at Peter Skene Ogden Secondary School. The student asked how Doerkson would advocate for SOGI 123 in schools or what alternative policy he would replace it with to ensure LGBTQ2S+ people are safe and fairly represented.
Doerkson asserted that SOGI has become a lightning rod for division and while it may have started as an anti-bullying policy, he believes it has moved away from that. He feels it needs to be reimagined, but did not give a specific example of what this reimagining would look like.
"I am entirely in support and have shown my support repeatedly for the Pride community and LGBTQ efforts throughout all of Cariboo-Chilcotin. I will continue to do that if allowed," Doerkson said.
This statement was likely about being uninvited from the 100 Mile Pride Society's 2024 Pride in the Park celebrations after leaving the B.C. United Party for the Conservatives. Previously Doerkson had attended the first and second Pride celebrations in 100 Mile House.
While Moses agreed with Doerkson that SOGI has become divisive, he pointed out that it was originally established by the previous B.C. Liberal government in 2016 and that Rustad, who has been vocally against SOGI in recent years, voted for it at the time. He reiterated that SOGI is not sex-ed and is a series of handouts, resources and activities designed to teach kids it's not OK to bully people. Moses said since 2016 SOGI has not changed.
"We believe in listening to the parents of our children and ensuring they know exactly what's happening in their kids' schools. SOGI is not a specific curriculum, it's not sex-ed and it's not sexually explicit books," Moses said. "SOGI is not about teaching anyone to be a certain sexual orientation or gender, it's simply about teaching kids to respect people for being different. The B.C. NDP has been proud to work within the SOGI platform the B.C. Liberals created."
Later the candidates were asked a follow-up question about seniors regarding what they would do to to secure housing for them. Doerkson said that the Conservatives would partner with private industry to build 5,000 long-term care units in the coming years.
Moses, meanwhile, said that housing has become too expensive and the B.C. NDP plan to build 300,000 affordable and middle-class housing units. He said Eby is standing up against real estate speculators and has an action plan to build these homes in the next four years.
"Everyone should be able to have a home and have a good life here in British Columbia," Moses said.
On the topic of attracting health-care workers to the region, both Moses and Doerkson discussed potential solutions.
Moses said the NDP is taking action to train more doctors, nurses and health-care workers, remarking they've hired 800 this year and connected 400,000 people with doctors and nurse practitioners province-wide. He acknowledged there is still more to be done but said more time is needed to hire new doctors and allow internationally trained health-care workers opportunities to work in B.C.
Recruiting new doctors and health-care workers is a priority for Doerkson as well, but so is retaining the current health-care workers the region has. He said he's had several conversations with past and current health-care workers who point to a "toxic relationship" with Interior Health being a major reason why nurses and care aids have left.
"I haven't heard it one time, I've heard it repeatedly. First and foremost we need to remove any kind of a 'gag order' on the employees working in the system," Doerkson said. "We have to listen to them. We need to retain our staff first then consider what we have to do (about recruitment)."
When asked about their plans to deal with the climate crisis and what role the carbon tax plays in that plan, Doerkson responded he believes the current Carbon Tax has done nothing to lower emissions in B.C. He noted the Carbon Tax is one of the number one issues people talk to him about, including at high schools like PSO. Doerkson said he believes the province needs to focus on addressing the immediate consequences of climate change, such as forest rehabilitation after wildfires, and putting in preventive measures to reduce the impact of natural disasters.
Moses, meanwhile, said he believes everyone who attended the forum has a story of dealing with wildfires, floods or landslides in recent years. He referenced the wildfire that started within Williams Lake's city boundaries this summer and that some of the worst wildfire seasons on record have occurred between 2017 to 2024.
Moses asserted while the Carbon Tax has increased, these increases have been returned to the people. This comment prompted some laughter from the audience.
"If and when the federal government decides to remove the Carbon Tax, the B.C. NDP will follow suit because we recognize the Carbon Tax is charging the wrong people. It is charging every day working people," Moses said. "It needs to be targeted more at the big polluters."
Several times throughout the evening Doerkson advocated for reducing regulations and supporting the growth of business and industry in the province. Doerkson said whenever a business starts or expands it creates taxable revenue for the government which would allow them to reduce taxes on everyday people.
While the forum was initially billed to run from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Moses was unable to stay for the entire evening and left after an hour. In his closing statements, Moses thanked the organizers, Doerkson and those who attended.
"I think tonight's forum has shown there is a very clear choice between two different parties with two dramatically different platforms who both can form government. We know people are facing tough challenges across the whole country," Moses said. "With David Eby and the B.C. NDP team we are tackling these challenges head on to make your lives better. We are building a better British Columbia where you don't just get by, you get ahead."
Following Moses' departure Doerkson answered several more questions posed by moderator Chris Nickless and members of the public. He ultimately said in his own closing statements that he is keen to listen and learn from anybody in health care, law enforcement and any other level of government to try and make things better.
"I want to represent this riding because I have loved doing it for the last four years and I take it very seriously," Doerkson remarked. "I think we need to make serious changes in this province. We talked about things like Carbon Tax every day, but it cannot be misunderstood. We can't do anything in this province if we don't get our industry back on track, if we don't get people working."
Nickless concluded the evening by reminding the public that early voting runs from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Oct. 10, 11, 15 and 16 at the 100 Mile House Community Hall and Oct. 15 and 16 at the 108 Mile Community Hall. General voting takes place at both locations on Oct. 19 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
