Thursday October 17, 2019 ~ COLWOOD
by Mary P Brooke ~ West Shore Voice News
Liberal candidate Jamie Hammond — running to become the Member of Parliament for Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke — participated in the last of many All Candidates Debates in the riding yesterday.
The October 16 debate was held at the Brookes Westshore private school in Colwood in front of all the students and members of the public. The event was organized by the Green Party but was not biased to any party’s presence over another. It was moderated by one of the school’s teachers.
Of all the candidates who participated, Hammond seemed to elicit the most enthusiastic response from the students of whom many are from locations beyond BC and Canada. Hammond’s background not only includes military service and working for two of the Lieutenant Governors of BC, but his view was the broadest and arguably the most insightful as to how things get done in Ottawa.
“It takes compromising and working with others, to move forward,” said Hammond in response to questions about why the Trudeau Liberal government went ahead with the Trans Mountain Pipeline purchase and regarding ways overall to address climate change.
“Canada is a multi-national country, something that started with Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau (back in the 1970s),” said Hammond. “We are more multicultural and light years ahead of our G7 partners,” said Hammond about Canada on the world stage. He said Canada has accepted more immigrants per capita than any other country.
Candidates who took part in the 1.25-hour debate were representing the NDP (incumbent Randall Garrison), Liberal (Jamie Hammond), Green (David Merner), People’s Party (Jeremy Gustafson), and Communist (Tyson Strandlund) parties. The Conservative candidate (Randall Pewarchuk) was not in attendance for that debate.
The federal election is on Monday October 21. Voting will be open 7 am to 7 pm (Pacific Time).
===== More:
- First time as a political candidate: Jamie Hammond Liberal candidate (September 23, 2019)
- Jamie Hammond took part in the All Candidates Meeting in Otter Point on September 29, 2019 (September 30, 2019)