Surrey-Newton Candidates Debate at KPU Election Forum

Dr. Ross Pink, an instructor and chair of the political science department at KPU, hosted a federal election forum on the Surrey campus featuring Liberal candidate Sukh Dhaliwal, NDP candidate Harjit Singh Gill, and Conservative candidate Harpreet Singh on Sept. 26.

The forum was attended by KPU students and Surrey residents. After a brief introduction by Pink and a territorial acknowledgement from fourth-year political science student Samantha Jack, each candidate gave a three-minute speech outlining of their experience in politics and the platforms of each of their parties before answering questions from the audience. The topics of discussion included immigration, education, crime, and Indigenous issues.

Gill was noticeably clear and consistent in outlining the NDP platform, which included tackling items such as affordability, climate change, immigration, and reconciliation for Indigenous people. Some of his proposed solutions to the issues raised during the forum included increasing education opportunities in order to attract more industries to western Canada, supporting sustainable development, investing in free post-secondary education, and adopting foreign policies that respect the sovereignty of other countries.

Dhaliwal proposed creating more trade agreements to attract businesses to western Canada, continuing to show leadership in peacekeeping efforts, banning military-style assault weapons, advocating for interest free student loans, and continuing to work on reconciliation efforts. Singh had suggestions such as implementing a three-pronged approach to education—leadership and strict regulations—as well as tackling crime, scrapping the carbon tax, investing in cleaner, greener technology, and boosting RESPs and tax credits for education and sports.

When asked about the potential rise of far right extremism and white supremacy in Canada, which has been a growing concern since the wake of the 2016 U.S. election, all three candidates strongly condemned racism and intolerance of any kind.

Gill stated that his party stood strongly against the racism he finds evident in Bill C-21, a piece of legislation introduced in Quebec which bans public servants from wearing religious symbols in public. Singh did not address Conservative leader Andrew Scheer’s associations with far right figures such as Faith Goldy and the Yellow Vest Movement.

Dhaliwal also chose not to address the controversy surrounding Liberal leader Justin Trudeau’s blackface photos. They faced several criticisms and interruptions throughout the debate, the most frequent of which were about Dhaliwal’s pension, the previous record of the Conservative Party, and the current missteps of the Liberal Party. Both Dhaliwal and Singh expressed support for developing pipelines and retaining the current first-past-the-post voting system.