Five of the six candidates vying to be the member of Parliament for Souris-Moose Mountain in the federal election participated in a candidates’ forum at the Royal Canadian Legion’s Estevan branch Thursday night.
Ashlee Hicks of the New Democratic Party, Robert Kitchen of the Conservative Party, Judy Mergel of the Green Party, Travis Patron of the Canadian Nationalist Party and Phillip Zajac of the People’s Party of Canada provided insights into their parties’ platforms and answered questions from the audience.
About 50 people were present.
One candidate, Javin Ames-Sinclair of the Liberal Party, failed to show up for the forum.
The evening started with each candidate being allotted two minutes to give an opening statement, allowing them to outline their party’s platforms in this campaign. Then they answered a question from the chamber on the future of coal-fired electrical generation.
After a short break, members of the audience were able to pose questions to the candidates. They asked about agriculture, climate change, immigration, small business taxation and other issues.
The forum wrapped up with each candidate giving a one-minute closing statement.
The Estevan Chamber of Commerce hosted the event. Jeff Richards from the Southeast College was the moderator for the evening.
Election day will be Oct. 21.
