York Centre voters hear from those vying for seat

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Conservative candidate Rochelle Wilner repeatedly came under fire from York Centre constituents at an all-candidates meeting Monday demanding to know why Prime Minister Stephen Harper broke his own promise of fixed election dates and why he waited until the following day to unveil his party's election platform.

"The government was faced with constant threats by the Liberals, NDP and Bloc," Wilner told about 50 people at the debate at the Montecassino Hotel on Chesswood Drive at Sheppard Avenue. "The government couldn't continue to function like this. (The election was called) simply to make the government function."

Several candidates questioned why Harper waited this long in the campaign to reveal his election platform. Wilner noted at least twice that announcements have been made by the Tories on a daily basis.

She also called federal cuts to the arts "media fantasy", which drew an angry outburst from the audience.

"Funding for the arts has increased eight per cent over two years," she said.

The candidates also fielded questions regarding safety, gun violence and global warming.

NDP candidate Kurtis Baily said his party would strengthen the borders of Canada and the Unites States to help keep guns out.

"We need to tackle the problem before it becomes a problem," he said.

Baily, a graduate of C.W, Jefferys Collegiate Institute, said he was faced with many opportunities to turn to a life of drugs and crime, but credited his mother for steering him away from that lifestyle and involving him in various activities.

"We can't get guns into the hands of youth in the first place," he said. "We need to cut off the supply and get youth involved in other things."

Incumbent Liberal MP Ken Dryden said providing opportunity is key to keeping young people away from bad choices.

"Every kid is looking for opportunity and if it's not there then they seek opportunity somewhere else," he said. "Kids do things together. They can gather constructively or they can gather destructively."

Green Party candidate Rosemary Frei said her party would ban handguns and semi-automatic weapons.

In an effort to combat global warming, Frei said the Liberal strategy of taxing the biggest polluters is "taking baby steps" and said her party would tax $100 per ton by 2020.

Wilner said the Tories are committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20 per cent by 2020, while Dryden believes the worst polluters should be penalized by tax.

Wilner, who said she spent time speaking with residents affected by the Sunrise Propane Industrial Gases explosion Aug. 10 in the Keele Street and Wilson Avenue area, accused Dryden of abandoning constituents when representation was needed.

"Why didn't you offer leadership to the people who pay your salary?" she asked.

Dryden replied he spent the evening of the explosion and the next night conversing with residents at York University who were using the campus as temporary shelter after being forced out of their homes.

"You don't say it's not our jurisdiction, you say it's our people," he said. "What they needed was conversation. That's where I was at those moments."