Categorized | One On One With The Candidates
Federal Politics: One On One With The Candidates – NDP’s David Murray
Posted on 14 April 2011
We have provided all of the candidates in the 2011 federal election the opportunity to answer our questions and add any comments of their own. The candidate’s answers are published in no particular order but as they are received.
The interviews are published in ‘One On One With The Candidates’ and can be found in our Politics section under Federal Politics.
If you have further questions or comments addressed to the candidates please use the Comments Box below the post or email us at: editor@abbotsfordtoday.ca
Editor’s Note: We have provided each of the candidates with an opportunity to respond to these questions and add any comments they wish. We’ve created a section for their responses under Federal politics called One On One With The Candidates.
NDP Candidate David Murray
David Murray of the New Democratic Party
Thanks Mike for this opportunity. .
Question #1 How are people responding to you on the campaign so far!
A: People are so happy to see a candidate on the doorstep , a lot of them have lived here in Abbotsford for many years and have never seen a candidate at their door. At the events I have attended and even going to the mall, people are grateful being able to engage in conversation. When I went to the parades and got to speak in front of 3,500 indo-canadians at the Temple I was the only Federal candidate at these events.
Question #2 : Are the issues people are talking to you about being dealt with in the campaign?.
A: There seems to be a lot of misinformation about some of the issues. In the mall talking to seniors, pensions are talked about a lot as well as our medical system. Quite often I have to clarify to them what role the NDP had in bringing these important issues to fruition . Students are concerned about lack of jobs and high tuition fees and I think that Jack Layton has brought forward a good proposed policy to deal with those issues.
Question #3 Prior to the election the HST was a big issue in B.C. Only NDP leader Jack Layton has brought this up during the campaign. Why?
A: The main reason ” The Harper Sales Tax” has not been brought up by the Conservatives and the Liberal’s during this campaign is because they both supported it! Ed Fast voted for the Harper Sales Tax! 18,000 Abbotsford Voters signed the anti-HST petition. Leaving Jack Layton and the NDP as the only Federal party that opposed the HST.
Question # 4 Locally a great number of people seem disturbed and angry that a private company might be given access to our water supply in order to allow city officials to access federal funds through a P3 approach to financing the necessary work. What is your reaction?
A: I too share the concerns of those who question the advisability of the P3 option. What concerns me greatly as well is that Stephen Harper will give the residents of Abbotsford 70 million dollars to upgrade our water system, but only if we do it his way-through public-private-partnerships. Should Abbotsford find other approaches more appropriate to our needs, we don’t get the money. Like the HST we are being bribed with our own money to do things Harper’s way. No private, for-profit company should control our water.
Question #5 Immigration has become an important issue in this election, particularly a family’s ability to reunite by helping parents and grandparents join them in Canada. How would an NDP Govt deal with this issue.
A.`Nearly a million people are stuck on wait lists, and new Canadians are waiting up to 15 years to re-unite with their parents. But instead of helping families reunify faster, Stephen Harper is cutting the number of visas available for this purpose.
Stephen Harper’s Conservatives cut reunification visas from 16,000 to 11,000 for 2011.
Liberal governments left Canada’s immigration system buckling under 800,000 backlogged applications, five-year waits to sponsor aging parents, and no progress on credentials recognition. Jack Layton and the New Democrats have led the fight to cement family reunification as a principle of Canadian immigration policy.The New Democrats would expand it with “Once-in-a Lifetime” legislation permitting Canadians to sponsor one relative outside the “family” class.
The New Democrats have also Introduced the Visitor Visa Fairness Act to create a transparent appeal process, so visiting family members are no longer arbitrarily turned away.
Question #6. What sort of change can residents look forward to if you are elected to represent them in Ottawa?
A: I would of course, as would any good MP, tirelessly and effectively represent the interests of the business community in Abbotsford. I would make sure that Abbotsford would have access to Federal money available for local projects. But I would also make sure that the interest of students, pensioners, immigrants, young families,and workers would be effectively represented in Ottawa as well.
If you have further questions or comments addressed to the candidates please use the Comments Box below the post or email us at: editor@abbotsfordtoday.ca
This post was written by:
Mike Archer - who has written 4665 posts on Abbotsford Today.
Donate to the Abbotsford campaign: https://secure.ndp.ca/riding/index.php?riding=59001&language=e .
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