Student union-hosted debate draws a crowd
Liberal candidate Tito-Dante Marimpietri and NDP candidate Mary Fowler were the two names on the Oshawa ballot that came out for a debate hosted by the Durham College and University of Ontario Institute of Technology Student Association.
By Joel Wittnebel/The Oshawa Express
The Regent Theatre saw a healthy dose of political discussion when Oshawa and Durham residents came out to watch their candidates square off in a debate hosted by the Durham College and University of Ontario Institute of Technology Student Association.
According to Jesse Cullen, the student association’s president, the intent of the debate was to put “ordinary people’s issues on the agenda.”
In attendance at the debate were Oshawa candidates Tito Dante-Marimpietri with the Liberals and Mary Fowler with the NDP. Durham candidates Corinna Traill with the Liberals, Derek Spence with the NDP and Stacey Leadbetter with the Greens were also in attendance.
Conversative candidates Colin Carrie and Erin O’Toole, as well as Green candidate Michael Dempsey, did not take part.
Topics for the debate included climate change, transportation, poverty, education and aboriginal rights.
The debate provided an opportunity for Oshawa’s competing candidates to square off in a public forum, promoting the policies each of their party leaders has been announcing on the campaign trail.
With questions on climate change, Fowler took stabs at the Liberal Party’s history of backing Conservative budgets that have given subsidies to large corporations, many of which are responsible for heavy greenhouse gas emissions.
“That’s atrocious,” she said.
However, Marimpietri ensured the Liberals would be keeping the environment a priority.
“We need to make sure we balance our economy and our environment,” he said.
As well, a topic that struck a cord with the students in attendance is the student debt crisis.
Marimpietri noted that UOIT has some of the highest tuition costs in Ontario and would work to solve the problem.
“I think there needs to be something done, that a national strategy is created,” he said.
For Fowler, the issue could be solved by addressing the tax breaks for large corporations. If these tax cuts were reversed, it would free up extra dollars to be put toward education, she says.
Oshawa candidates will have more chances to push their party policies in the coming weeks with debates scheduled for Sept. 30 and Oct. 1.