Vancouver Candidate Debate: Responses to Public and Moderator Questions - Part One

Due to the upcoming provincial elections, the Canadian Iranian Foundation invited candidates from various political parties in the North Shore area to participate in a formal debate at the West Vancouver Community Centre and share their views with the residents of North and West Vancouver.

Majid Mahichi – Local Journalism Initiative

The event began with opening remarks from Nassreen Filsoof, the founder of the Canadian Iranian Foundation, followed by Kamy Teymourian, a foundation volunteer, who moderated the session and invited the candidates to answer questions within the allotted time.

The following candidates participated in the event.

Lynne Block – BC Conservative MLA candidate for West Vancouver-Capilano:

"What I hear in the community is that your biggest issues are the cost of living Education Health Care and traffic what will the conservatives do very briefly to address the cost of living reduce taxes for Education support parents rights postsecondary funding reallocation Health Care we want to abolish Bill 36 and we want to make sure everybody has a doctor just a start traffic dust off the ignored report from seven years ago"

Sam Chandola – BC Conservative candidate for MLA for North Vancouver - Seymour:

" I stand for I have five core principles and any decision I Look to take goes through these five principles number one is individual liberty which is your right to live your life the way you want to without interference from me from from anybody else from any other political party from the government regardless of your race ethnicity sexuality gender identity ideology or political affiliation number two is common sense and for me Common Sense means making decisions based on evidence instead of making decisions based on ideology number three freedom of speech."

Sara Eftekhar – BC NDP candidate for West Vancouver-Capilano:

"I worked as a nurse in North Vancouver, and the more I worked here, the more I felt that some laws needed to be changed. I saw that the NDP is receptive and wants more reforms to take place."

Archie Kaario – Green Party candidate in West Vancouver-Capilano:

"I have been a lawyer for the last 40 years I have a BA from SFU in geography and a law degree from UBC uh which I obtained uh over 41 years ago that said the law has given me a perspective on what it takes to make government work uh without a law degree it's very difficult for many people to understand what actually takes place in the legislature what actually takes place to make your lives."

Karin Kirkpatrick – Independent, West Vancouver-Capilano:

"We know that the big challenges here are Transportation and Health Care and we are here to fix it"

Bowinn Ma – NDP- North Vancouver-Lonsdale:

"I know that you still have loved ones at home in Iran suffering under a cruel and vindictive Iranian regime I know that many of your hearts are split between here and your homelands the Iranian Canadian Community is strong here on the NorthShore and we are stronger together."

David Splett – BC Conservative candidate for North Vancouver-Lonsdale:

"The children are the future of this province we need a healthy job system a healthy industry such that we can keep the kids at home we can grow the economy and we can leverage the resource business into a green economy."

Jeremy Valeriote – BC Green Party candidate for West Vancouver-Sea to Sky:

"I don't need to tell you about the other crises that we Face housing mental health toxic drugs and the climate they're all interconnected and we need to solve them all at the same time so I believe it's our Collective responsibility to leave a better world for our children and grandchildren."