Betting On Centre | Liberal candidate Jim Wachowich at his campaign headquarters on 124th Street.
Much has changed since the days when Liberals urged Edmonton-Centre voters to support then-deputy prime minister Anne McLellan in order to gain a seat at the federal government table.
Before the Tory sweep of Alberta in 2006 and the Conservative minority government, Liberals were almost as bare on the ground as they are now. When the Liberals were in power, that fuelled a sense of western isolation, so the call for residents to vote for her in order to get seat at the table was useful. But that call does not have the same resonance today.
Incumbent Laurie Hawn, a former Royal Canadian Air Force officer, knocked off the Liberal lawyer in 2006. As a rookie MP from a region full of Tory representatives, Hawn hasn’t held high-profile cabinet posts, serving instead as parliamentary secretary to Peter McKay in the Defence Department and as the government’s representative at the Afghanistan committee.
Taking McLellan’s place this election as the Liberal nominee is lawyer and consumer advocate Jim Wachowich, who has represented residential stakeholders at the Alberta Energy Utilities Board. Donna Martyn, an educator on disability leave, runs once again as the NDP candidate.
In 2006, Hawn won by 3,609 votes, garnering 25,805 votes (or 44.9 per cent of the vote). McLellan gained 22,196 votes and 38.6 per cent to the vote, and Martyn placed a distant third with about 10 per cent of the vote. Since the high-profile McLellan isn’t running for the Liberals and the incumbent is now a Conservative, this election’s results are anyone’s guess.
The folks at www.votefortheenvironment.ca, however, still view the riding as a potential breakthough this election. “Wachowich has his work cut for him,” states the website, “but has a chance if NDP and Green supporters were to strategically vote for the environment.”
But the top-of-mind issue for Edmonton-Centre resident Cheryl Pine isn’t the environment, but everyday money issues.
The mother of five moved to Alberta three years ago from Ontario, lured by the hope of increased wages. Inflation, however, has put a damper on the land of opportunity, and she works two jobs in order to make rent. “The majority of wages here are the same as Ontario, but the rents are insane,” she says.
When deciding how to vote on Oct. 14, she’s going to consider who can best balance Canada’s economy.
Here’s what the candidates had to say on the issues:
U.S. Downturn And The Economy:
Martyn: “People are really frightened about the economy and whether they are going to be able to make it to the end of the month and whether or not they can make rent.”
Hawn: “Clearly, we are going to be effected by events in the United States, but let’s take some action pre-emptively that will position us better,” such as, he adds, the GST cut and corporate tax breaks the Conservatives have already put in place.
Carbon Tax And The Environment:
Wachowich: “The carbon tax is paid by the person who burns it. . . . The oilsands uses a huge amount of energy to produce synthetic oil. Yes, there is going to be a cost to oilsands producers to burn energy, but those guys have huge profit margins to pay to find ways to use less energy. And that’s what we are trying to get them to do.”
Hawn: “The Green Shift is not an environmental policy. There is not one word in the Green Shift about emissions limits — it’s a tax policy.”
Martyn: “The carbon tax is something to look at after we force the big polluting companies to put a hard cap on emissions. ... The carbon tax will not put a cap on emissions; it will just raise prices.”
Funding The Arts:
Wachowhich: “To just cut funding because you don’t like what the artist is doing, that seems wrong to me. ... The Liberals will restore the funding that was cut, and increase in some areas because we see a role for the federal government in funding the arts.”
Hawn: “If a product does good and people want to buy it, fill their booths. Nobody is censoring anything. That’s another misrepresentation.” (The Conservatives have since changed their minds on the film tax credit legislation.)
abrunschot@see.greatwest.ca
