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Thank for your support...It's Official... Jim Bender is the Oxford Rep for The Marijuana Party of Canada
It was tough, right down to the wire, the electoral office was not very helpful about verifying your signatures, but through our persistence and your support, we got in right @ the last minute. Read more on this story
Let's Roll
On December 23, 2003, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Parliament has the constitutional right to prohibit cannabis possession using the criminal law. Therefore, it is no longer relevant to use the courts to try and change this country’s unjust laws. From now on, cannabis activists will have to get their act together on the POLITICAL scene.
Sentinel Review June 9/04
LISTENING IN: Oxford Liberal candidate Murray Coulter, left, listens to Tuesday night's debate at Goff Hall. Coulter is flanked by Marijuana Party candidate Jim Bender, centre, and Canadian Action Party candidate Alex Kreider.
Photo by Elliot Ferguson
Integrity front and centre at first all-candidates meeting Coulter points to government's achievements By Bruce Urquhart - Politics Reporter
WOODSTOCK - The sponsorship scandal and the issue of government integrity were front and centre at last night's all-candidates meeting at Goff Hall.
While asking Conservative candidate Dave MacKenzie what he would do to prevent government corruption, one audience member said the people of Canada have lost faith in the honesty and integrity of their elected officials.
"I don't believe (corruption) is systemic," said MacKenzie, "and I don't think it's gone on forever. It's been a problem for the last 10 years.
"We have to elect honest people to start with, and then put the process in place - the checks and balances - that need to be there."
When asked if Prime Minister Paul Martin was responsible for the sponsorship scandal, MacKenzie said it didn't matter what he believed.
"Canadians do (think he's responsible)," he said. "People are talking about honesty, integrity, corruption and scandal. It's not necessarily about change but changing the people who are there."
The other six non-Liberal candidates at the meeting also denounced the Liberal government for the scandals of the last decade. Zoé Kunschner, Oxford's NDP candidate, stated her party's commitment to "restore integrity and accountability in government" while Leslie Bartley, the Christian Heritage hopeful, decried the "Liberal atmosphere of corruption."
Murray Coulter, Oxford's Liberal candidate, said people need to stop talking in "generalities about scandals" but admitted that the Liberal government had made mistakes. Discussing the two major scandals of the Liberal administration, he described the Human Resources and Development "boondoggle," which involved the mismanagement of public money in the Transitional Jobs Fund, as unforgivable.
"I don't understand to this day why proper (financial) records weren't kept," he said.
Coulter called the $100-million sponsorship scandal as a federal program delivered inefficiently but said "we learn from our mistakes."
Coulter highlighted his party's successes over the past 10 years, applauding the Liberal's fiscal and social policies.
"It's a record that will be difficult to match by future governments," he said.
While government accountability was one of the most discussed topics of the evening, the more than 200 people in the audience heard the candidates' views on a variety of issues, ranging from the economy to abortion.
All eight candidates promised their party would provide a balanced budget despite commitments to increased spending in other areas. Coulter stressed the Liberal party's success in tabling seven consecutive balanced budgets during its past mandates.
"We just look at the record," he said. "The balanced budget is one of the pillars of the Liberal platform."
During his opening remarks, Coulter also mentioned his party's success in decreasing the unemployment rate by almost four per cent during the past decade.
MacKenzie emphasized the Conservative pledge of a balanced budget while criticizing Martin and the Liberals for taking too much credit for their fiscal record.
MacKenzie said the two biggest boosts to the Canadian economy - and a partial reason for the Liberal balanced budgets - were the North American Free Trade Agreement and the GST, two initiatives of the former Progressive Conservative party. He also criticized the Liberal government for cuts to provincial transfer payments, which he said helped balance the books.
"But they wasted over $7 billion in money over that time from the gun registry to the HRDC boondoggle to the money that has gone missing in Quebec," said MacKenzie.
Kunschner said the NDP is fully committed to five years of balanced budgets, saying it would shift its priorities instead of raising taxes.
The Green Party candidate, Irene Tietz, said her party would lower taxes on income, profit and investment while increasing taxes on pollution and inefficiency.
During the public question period of the all-candidates meeting, the bulk of the inquiries were directed at the three major party candidates. MacKenzie was forced to deal with a couple of social issues that have made recent headlines, reiterating his party does not have an official policy on abortion. When questioned about same-sex marriage, though, the Conservative candidate was more forthcoming.
"I'm opposed to it on the traditional grounds that (marriage) is the union between one man and one woman," said MacKenzie.
Other questions involved health care, military spending, the possibility of a minority government and affordable housing.
The meeting, which was sponsored by the Woodstock District Chamber of Commerce and the Woodstock, Ingersoll and District Real Estate Board, will be broadcast by Rogers on June 10 at 3 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. The meeting will then be rebroadcast at the same times, starting June 14 and running until the June 28 election.
For an In Depth Look @ the Platform...
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The Following Links will take you to the Official Marijuana Party Web Site for a complete list of Candidates
