Candidates square off at Burnaby-Edmonds all-candidates meeting

B.C. Liberal candidate Garrison Duke went on the offensive at an all-candidates meeting in the Burnaby-Edmonds riding Tuesday.

Put on by the Burnaby Interagency Council, the meeting focused on newcomers, employment and income.

In front of an audience of about 35 at Stride Avenue Community School, Duke took aim at B.C. NDP incumbent Raj Chouhan, who has held the riding since 2005.

The first-time MLA hopeful took Chouhan to task repeatedly on affordable housing, saying the NDP incumbent has done little to address the problem.

The B.C. Liberal government has spent $4.9 billion on affordable housing since 2001, according to Duke.

“The MLA here has not brought any of that to your riding,” he told the audience Tuesday. “You have an NDP mayor and an NDP MLA and they can’t do a deal. The housing minister, I was just with him two weeks ago, and Rich Coleman is perfectly willing to do a deal to get affordable housing here. It’s much needed. It’s been 12 years; it’s a reasonable time, and I think it’s time to consider a change.”

Chouhan countered by alluding to the fact Duke is a Surrey resident running in Burnaby.

“I think you have to live in Burnaby to know what we’ve been doing for the last 12 years,” Chouhan said.

After that, Chouhan kept his focus on the B.C. Liberal government, criticizing its record on poverty and affordability.

He reiterated his party’s promise of a $15 minimum wage, $10-a-day child care, free adult basic education and 114,000 rental, social, co-op and owner-purchase homes over the next 10 years.

B.C. is the only province in Canada without a poverty reduction strategy, and Chouhan said the Liberals have shot down private members bills put forward by NDP MLAs to get one in place.

“They would not even let us discuss and debate it,” Chouhan said. “So, now they’re talking about they will look after our kids. It’s absolutely ridiculous. If you look at the Liberal record, they have neglected this issue for the last 16 years.”

Duke countered with his social services credentials.

“Why would somebody that runs social services and employment programs want to run for the B.C. Liberals?” he asked. “Because they have balanced budgets and it means more programs, more funding for us, and we can invest long term in our clients and see them prosper.”

While the Liberal and NDP candidates sparred with one another, Green Party hopeful Valentine Wu, another newcomer to the political arena, stressed that his party doesn’t accept corporate or union donations and doesn’t cater to those interests.

“We put people first,” he said.

Wu positioned himself as the candidate of choice for those fed up with the incumbent Liberals in Victoria and the NDP at Burnaby city hall.

“There are a lot of issues we’re facing because of the B.C. Liberals and the B.C. NDP at the municipal level,” Wu said.