Tuesday night marked the night for the Battlefords Chamber of Commerce to host their provincial all-candidates forum for the Battlefords riding.
The event was held at Third Avenue United Church and drew a decent but still relatively modest turnout, with the forum up against a Battlefords North Stars SJHL playoff game elsewhere in the city that night.
It also didn't produce a full turnout of candidates. Three candidates – incumbent Herb Cox of the Saskatchewan Party, Rob Feist of the NDP and Dexter Gopher of the Liberals – were on hand. Green Party candidate Josh Hunt did not take part due to other commitments.
The forum was also upstaged in the early going by some sporting activity elsewhere in the building. A basketball game took place upstairs, making for a roof-shaking night for the politicians on the floor below.
Topics included taxation, the role of government, infrastructure, education, water, and stimulating the economy.
The forum, which can be seen in its entirety on Access 7, was decidedly lacking in fireworks for most of the night as the candidates stuck to their messages throughout.
The closest it came to excitement was when Feist took some newspaper quotes from Premier Brad Wall's recent visit to the Battlefords and used those against him.
On the issue of Lighthouse funding, he referred to the News-Optimist quoting Wall as saying "I don't think people should be worried about its loss."
"I am worried about losing our Lighthouse," said Feist, who called for core funding for the shelter.
Feist quoted the same article again on the issue of whether the Crowns would be privatized. He pointed to Wall’s quote "the best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour."
"What will be privatized next, I don't know," said Feist, pointing to the liquor store in Battleford, PFRA pastures and Information Services Corporation as examples of privatization.
Cox, however, made it known he thought the Crowns issue was just NDP electioneering.
"This seems to be a question that comes up at election time every single time there is an election."
Cox assured the audience the Crowns would not be sold off, saying they are protected under legislation.
"We certainly value the work the Crown corporations are doing," said Cox.
Cox's best moments came later on in the forum, particularly on the issue of the number of MLAs. The NDP and Liberals wanted number of seats reduced, but Cox defended the decision to increase the number of MLAs by three members, saying some of the rural seats would have ended up being huge.
"They spend a lot of time driving to constituents to address their concerns," said Cox of the rural MLAs.
Dexter Gopher made his strongest points when he slammed the amount of money leaving the province going to foreign corporations, with very little staying in Saskatchewan.
"That is unacceptable. We need to provide job opportunities in Saskatchewan to local contractors. That way they have a better chance of hiring our locals first, which is better for our economy," said Gopher.
The funniest moment came when a question was posed on "who's your favourite superhero?" – perhaps posed in recognition of the Batman v. Superman movie coming out later this week.
Gopher answered "Superman(?)". Cox responded it was his wife, Linda.
Feist said, "I'll choose Fred Gopher back there, because he told me to hold up one of Dexter's signs up on the stage."
Here are some of the reactions from the candidates after the Chamber election forum on Tuesday night:
Herb Cox, Saskatchewan Party: "I think it was an excellent forum. There were some very good questions, covered a lot of topics, and as I said earlier on, I think it's been an excellent campaign and I commend the other two candidates for running good positive campaigns, presented their platforms fairly, let the people decide which party has the best platform going forward. Do you want to continue the Saskatchewan Party government plan to keep Saskatchewan strong, allow us to continue growing, allow us to continue spending the money that we need to help citizens in this province? Whether it is education, seniors care, highways, whatever it is, that's the plan the Saskatchewan Party is proposing."
Rob Feist, NDP: "It was very respectful but I think that we were able to demonstrate that the New Democratic Party is focused on the priorities of Saskatchewan people, putting more money on the front lines of health care, seniors care and working to reduce the cost of living for all Saskatchewan citizens.
"What people saw tonight was a New Democratic plan with a New Democratic representative that's going to be very good for the people of the Battlefords, and I think that the people of the Battlefords have been on the doorsteps extremely responsive to the plan for change that we're putting forward."
Dexter Gopher, Liberal: "It was a great experience, my first time being in an organized debate. Really appreciated the candidates, I believe we did the best to respect the others' views and values.
"... I'm really proud of my first debate of how good I feel about myself and how I feel I presented my ideas and our party's platform as well, and I really believe I'm only going to get better from now on."
"As a province we need to work together with communities, we need to engage, listen and work with communities. I think that's the route that the province needs to go, so we all benefit for generations to come."
