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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday October 8, 2008 - 3 Turner attacks Raitt at Chamber debate Continued from page 1 allegation that an anonymous online blog featuring profane comments against Turner and his staff is run by Raitt supporters, a charge the Conservative candidate vehemently denies. Turner has provided no substantive evidence to support the accusation. "In this campaign, she has been a master of deceit," he said. "She refused to visit a school in Halton because there wasn't any votes there. She backs out of an all-candidates debate. She won't fill out questionnaires for local community groups in the region of Halton. She refused to apologize for a Conservative website that's demeaning." Raitt responded that she wasn't interested in squabbling with Turner, electing to talk about why she was running and what she would do for Halton. "Do you know what I'm going to do tonight? I'm going to talk about what I think is important and that is issues here in Halton," she said, which was followed by a round of applause. The tension between the two set the tone for the evening, with frequent personal attacks exchanged between them. While Raitt often gave more general reasons not to vote the Liberals, and Turner focused many of his responses on his opinions of Stephen Harper's leadership skills, the pair could not stick to larger election issues. At one point, Turner broke the meeting rule that `candidates will not be permitted to use props of any kind.' He complained about getting three Conservative mailers comparing the party to the Liberals in a single day, holding them up for public display. "In this campaign, we give people hope and we don't just frighten them or send out mailers like this," he said. The moderator stepped in, but personal exchanges between Raitt and Turner over the mailers continued. "You can learn something from them Mr. Turner if you take a look," Raitt said. Green Party candidate Amy Collard and NDP candidate Robert Wagner stayed out of the battle. Wagner stated his dislike for partisan bickering, while Collard abstained from commenting on the issue altogether. Questions for the candidates at the Monday night event were submitted by those attending the meeting, as well as in advance to the Oakville Chamber of Commerce. Some of the issues raised in the questions were brought up in previous debates, such as health care, Afghanistan, post-secondary education, violence against women, federal transfers to provinces and child care. A question surfaced on how parties would protect Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic. "I think we need to invest in communities," said Wagner. "While investing in communities and infrastructure up there, it will be more "She won't fill out questionnaires for local community groups in Halton. She refused to apologize for a Conservative website that's demeaning." Garth Turner, Liberals "Do you know what I'm going to do tonight? I'm going to talk about what I think is important and that is issues here in Halton." Lisa Raitt, Conservatives nentially and is becoming bigger and bigger up there. There's going to be a likelihood of commercial flights going through that area. We know the fish are migrating further north, so that provides the fisheries resources in order to place fisheries officers up there." On a day that the Toronto Stock Exchange tumbled 840 points, it was not surprising the issue of the economy was raised. One question was on the best way to stimulate the economy and create jobs. Collard provided a list of solutions from the Green Party platform, including taxing polluters and investing in low-carbon initiatives. "The key to a healthy economy is to create jobs that are sustainable," said Collard. "The Green Party will lower taxes on personal income, payroll and green technologies. We will provide rebates for individuals and companies that invest in a low-carbon economy." Wagner put forward shifting tax breaks to provide relief for the average Canadian and increasing minimum wage as two solutions for the economy. "Rather than have $50 billion tax cuts to large corporations, big oil, gas and big banks, the money should be going out to everyday families and consumers. We would increase minimum wage to $10 across the country to make things more affordable and have more consumers across the community," Wagner said. Raitt said Harper is the right leader to steer the economy. She said he has a four-part plan to address the issue. "The plan is to balance the budget, keep taxes low, protect Canadian jobs and curb inflation," she said. "The plan for the Liberals is to introduce a risky new carbon tax that may or may not work and that the Province of Ontario has even decided is going to be detrimental to their economy." Turner accused the Conservatives of not having a plan for the economy. "This is day 29 or day 30 of this election campaign and we have yet to see a plan for the economy from the Conservatives," he said. "The government today presided over 400,000 jobs that have been lost, many of them in this community. This government has not cut income tax by a single dime. We absolutely need that and the Liberals have a plan for that and we will act." attractive to have more people up there, whether it is military establishments or ports. By having more people there, you have a broader footprint for Canada to grow up there." Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the United States are currently battling over ownership of the great white north. Collard said the real issue is oil. "We know there is a great deal of oil under these ice caps and everyone wants to lay claim to that -- Russia, China, Canada," she said. "We need to protect it... by drilling we will create a climate catastrophe. We need to find clean, safe, alternate sources of energy, so we are not so dependent on oil. We need to leave the oil where it is, so we won't destroy our environment." Turner said Canada needs a stronger presence in the north. "There's nowhere in the world that we see the effects of global warming more than in the Arctic and we've all seen pictures of the Arctic ice patch shrinking and the open water growing and that's only going to continue," he said. "Our position is that we need to develop the north and make sure there is more infrastructure, more regional development money going in there and there's a reason to move there, create good jobs and make sure we are using the resources in an environmentally sensitive and responsible manner." Raitt said the north is filled with potential for development. "What is going on up there right now is really exciting," she said. "Yes, there is melting and for the first time we are actually thinking about using the Northwest Passage for shipping lanes.... Tourism in the Arctic has grown expo- BATHROOM RENOVATIONS? GIVE YOUR BATHROOM THE FACTORY TILE TOUCH See our design team to transform your space We specialize in importing and supplying quality Granite, Caesarstone, Marble, Ceramics, Porcelain and Natural Stone Ask about our Custom Glass Shower Doors & Floor Heating Tile selection made enjoyable! FACTORY TILE DEPOT 1360 Speers Road, Oakville (East of third line) Factory Tile Depot 905.465.1650 Mon.-Thurs., 9:30-6, Fri. 9:30-5, Sat., 10-5, Closed Sun. www.factorytiledepot.ca We welcome American Express ® Cards