Peggy Revell
Aiming to win the hearts and votes of local residents, the four candidates vying for the Thunder Bay-Rainy River seat squared off here last Wednesday evening at a forum organized by the Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce.
About 50 people turned out to the Civic Centre to hear the candidates answer questions from local media and organizations on topics which had been pre-selected by the Chamber, including the international border crossing here, pension reform, the forest industry, maintaining Canada’s economic position, and economic development.
Citing the recent case of celebrity Charlie Sheen being allowed into the country for a pair of shows in Toronto, Wayne Helliar of the North Western Ontario Tourism Association asked how there can be this difference in treatment when tourists coming into Northwestern Ontario are refused entry at the Fort Frances and Rainy River border crossings for minor offenses—and how to correct this “unfair situation.”
First to answer the question was Green Party candidate Ed Shields, who admitted he is not as knowledgeable about border issues but stressed those crossing the border should all be treated equally.
“Tourism is an important area of our economy, especially here, and [if] we don’t have free and open borders and welcoming borders, I think it hurts our economy drastically,” he remarked.
“I think the government has to address that aggressively,” Shields added.
Conservative hopeful Maureen “Moe” Comuzzi-Stehmann also stressed the importance tourism has on the local economy—and called Charlie Sheen “unusual issue” that should have never happened.
She said the government has a strong role to play in alleviating the red tape when it comes to border crossing, and vowed to “work very diligently” to make sure this red tape is removed.
“We need to take away the responsibility from the Customs officers because apparently it’s at their discretion as to who is allowed in—and whatever Customs officer is on duty depends on who gets across,” noted Comuzzi-Stehmann, adding this is what she has been told when talking with the border agency.
“Preferential treatment for stars tells me that these kinds of precedents can only help make our case,” replied Liberal candidate Ken Boschoff, saying there have been improvements but that more work has to be done to regain lost visitors.
When he was MP for Thunder Bay-Rainy River from 2004-08, Boshcoff noted he and various stakeholders came together to identify issues where each could “hammer out solutions,” adding he would continue to do this sort of thing if elected.
“Awareness is the key,” he stressed, so that any issues can be dealt with before a person reaches the border—and stop the bad publicity.
Boshcoff also said the same rules that apply to airports should apply to land crossings.
“Our response must be to do whatever we can to reduce the impact and improve accessibility,” he remarked.
NDP incumbent John Rafferty also reiterated the impact border issues have had on local tourism industry, calling it a “double whammy” as tourism also have been dinged by the implementation of the HST.
Rafferty noted that to get a “clearer picture” of what has been happening, he had filed a Freedom of Information request about all border crossings across Canada—something which hasn’t been given to him yet.
As well, he’s requested a meeting in Ottawa with the CBSA chief and Thunder Bay head—neither of which has happened.
Rafferty pledged that he will continue to work on the issue if re-elected as MP.
Forestry
“Forestry still has a great future,” Boshcoff said in response to a question on what the candidates would do to help the forest industry in the region.
He pointed to the work he did as MP with the Natural Resources committee on a report on federal solutions for forestry that was unanimously adopted by the House of Commons, although was ultimately never implemented by the last Parliament.
Citing the launch of the biomass boiler in Fort Frances, and new “innovative” forest product companies that are in development, Boshcoff stressed the industry can be revitalized.
“The reality is this in the last two years, Mr. Harper spent more in 48 hours at the G20 summit in Toronto on fake lakes, on gazebos, on a whole host of other things than he spent on forestry in five years,” charged Rafferty, who has been the NDP’s forestry critic.
With American companies putting in subsidies for their own forestry companies, Rafferty said he has spent the past two-and-a-half years fighting to match the U.S. subsidies—like the black liquor subsidy—or convince the Americans to drop that subsidy.
It’s not at an end, though, as the Americans have introduced a crop biomass subsidy worth $12 billion over 12 years that Canadians will have to compete with, he warned.
Funding also needs to come through to fight the pine beetle, said Rafferty, also raising the alarm over the province’s new allocation rules will mean no, or virtually no, secondary wood industry in Ontario.
Shields, meanwhile, touted the forest industry as a sustainable one with proper management, and an excellent carbon sink.
With 30 percent of the world’s boreal forest, the management of this resource in a sustainable matter is important, he said, stressing the need to protect it from pine beetle incursions and climate change.
Areas such as value-added manufacturing and biotech also need to be encouraged with the industry, Shields stressed.
Innovation, diversification, market developments, and increased competitiveness all can help forestry, said Comuzzi-Stehmann.
Conservative plans include extending the current forest innovation and market development programs, she noted.
“These programs will help forestry companies to diversify and to expand their markets through the value for wood program, the Canadian wood export program, and North American wood first initiative,” she argued, stressing the need for the industry to change with the future to remain viable.
“We all have had family members affected by the forest industry,” Comuzzi-Stehmann said, reiterating the importance the industry has in all the communities.
“I will work very diligently with all stakeholders and our federal government to ensure that we will have a place in our future in the forest industry,” she pledged.
Eliciting some chuckles, and to get candidates to think on their toes, the Fort Frances Times asked the four candidates what their favourite type of pizza was—and how it relates to their party’s platform as well as Canada’s economic prosperity and place in the world.
“It would have to be a Canadian pizza, seems to me—and the answer is because it’s all our own,” replied Rafferty, who was first to tackle the question.
“If we’re going to have economic stability, if we’re going to move forward, it’s going to be Canada’s choice,” he stressed.
“It’s not going to be forces from outside of Canada that determine what we do—and there are ways to do it.”
“What Canada has an advantage over almost any other country that I’ve lived in, and I’ve lived in many, is creativity,” replied Shields, talking about a “green pizza.”
Local entrepreneurs in Canada can use this “new pizza” the Green Party has come up with to “outdo the big box pizza stores,” he added, stressing the importance of the government supporting these new ideas, like biotechnology.
“I’m a supreme and I think our government is a supreme government,” answered Comuzzi-Stehmann as she focused on the Tory platform of creating jobs, training, trade, low taxes and family tax credits, plans to eliminate the deficit through cutting spending and eliminating waste, making “streets safer,” and supporting the military through new jets.
Boshcoff, meanwhile, said his preferred pizza of choice is a “tried and true recipe”—citing the economic management of past Liberal governments under Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin.
He noted their debt reduction program “made us able to afford a pizza” by creating a safe banking system and balanced budgets.
He added the current Conservative government turned a $13-billion surplus into a $56-billion deficit, and “put us in a position where we can’t afford any more pizza.”
