There was some clucking going on in front of the Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre early Saturday afternoon, Oct. 5, just before the start of a provincial election all candidates forum hosted by the Greater Vernon Chamber of Commerce.

Three unknown demonstrators dressed up as "pro-democracy chickens" stood outside the centre to make it known that their feathers had been ruffled by the poor candidate turnouts at two previous election forums in Vernon. 

The pro-democracy chickens carried placards that encouraged candidates to "set a good eggs-ample by showing up," "Democracy requires informed voters," and "Skipping any forum is no yolk!"

The chickens would now presumably be in less of a "fowl" mood given that all four invited candidates showed up to Saturday's forum to state their case on why they are worthy of people's votes in the fast-approaching Oct. 19 election.

Harwinder Sandhu of the NDP and independent Kevin Acton (formerly a BC United candidate) were joined by BC Conservative Party candidate Dennis Giesbrecht and BC Libertarian Party candidate Robert Johnson at the Performing Arts Centre Oct. 5 in front of a crowd of roughly 230 people. Giesbrecht and Johnson were making their first appearances at a Vernon forum. 

Acton kicked off the forum by calling himself a "fiscal conservative with a social conscience," meaning "I don't believe in human suffering, but I also know it takes money to help people." The mayor of Lumby for the past 15 years, Acton said independent candidates like himself are a good option for folks who don't fully trust the NDP or the Conservative parties and want those parties to be held accountable, particularly in the eventuality of a minority government that would be looking for support from independents.

In his introduction, Giesbrecht called the election two weeks from now "the most important election in a generation" before saying the NDP government is "out of excuses and out of time" when it comes to housing affordability, ER closures and "skyrocketing" wait times for family doctors. He said the Conservatives would end "government-supplied opioids that end up in the hands of drug dealers," while targeting prolific offenders.

Johnson immediately levelled with the crowd, saying "I'm not a politician, that's going to be evident pretty quick here." The Salmon Arm dentist said he graduated from dental school in 2009 with overwhelming debt and a "pretty useless education," which set his sights on the Federal Reserve Bank and what he views as a "scam" of a monetary system.

"I'm not here to win this election," Johnson said frankly. "I'm just here to point out what's going on." He said he chose to run as a Libertarian rather than an independent because he sees the Libertarian Party as "the original pro-freedom party."

Incumbent candidate Sandhu said it's been "an absolute honour" to serve as Vernon's MLA for the last four years. The former nurse said her politics were shaped by her experience working in health care and losing her first husband to cancer in the mid 2000s, when she started looking into policies and noticed gaps in the system. Sandhu defended the current provincial deficit of nearly $9 billion, saying COVID, floods and fires have necessitated spending and that the previous BC Liberal government contributed to that deficit. 

"People have tried to divide us, that either you pick economy or people. No, you cannot have a thriving economy without a healthier society," Sandhu said. 

The four candidates then responded to seven questions posed by moderator Dan Proulx (chamber general manager) who gave each two minutes to comment on topics that included the housing crisis, B.C.'s struggling forestry sector, health care, business and the economy, the opioid crisis, struggling seniors and protecting B.C.'s water. 

On fixing the housing crisis, Giesbrecht pointed to what his party has dubbed the "Rustad rebate," named after Conservative Party leader John Rustad who was announcing the party's priorities for managing wildfires. The party has said the rebate would exempt homeowners and renters up to $3,000 per month in housing costs from provincial income taxes. Giesbrecht added his party has pledged over $1 billion over the next three years to help develop housing infrastructure. 

Sandhu said B.C. is building 2.5 more homes than any other Canadian province or territory, with her government building more than 80,000 homes so far. As a local examples, she pointed to Vernon's at Okanagan College, with 8,800 student beds being built provincially. Sandhu also touted the NDP's  with low-interest loans for middle-income renters that would cover 40 per cent of the purchase price of a new home for those that qualify. 

Health care was the second-biggest concern among chamber members, and the candidates were asked what they would do to improve health care in the community. 

Before lamenting ER closures seen in various parts of the province, Acton said he's heard of too many doctors who have gone overseas to train, only to be unable to come back to B.C. to work because "there's so much red tape." Acton, who was a paramedic for six years, said cutting that red tape is a viable short-term solution, and in the long term the province needs to start putting more young people into health care education programs.

Johnson referred to the Health Professions and Occupations Act (passed in 2022) as an "extremely concerning" piece of legislation, though he didn't say why, only that there are "quite a few health care workers who have left British Columbia because they're not going to work under that." He went on to say his four-year, costly dental education was a "such a bureaucratic nightmare that it's virtually impossible to learn anything there," before quipping that he could teach someone to be a dentist in four months. 

With the opioid crisis and mental health two major concerns among chamber members, moderator Proulx asked candidates "how can we increase supports for those who require treatment while having meaningful consequences for those who break the law."

On this topic, Giesbrecht offered his "four pillars" of prevention, law enforcement, harm reduction and treatment before saying the NDP government has done a "horrible job" on prevention.

"They've thrown a lot of money at harm reduction, which is really palliative care because unless you're getting someone off the drugs, even if the naloxone is successful 99 per cent of the time, eventually they will hit that 100," Giesbrecht said, adding the NDP's decriminalization has "hand cuffed" law enforcement.

"We need to put treatment on the table," Giesbrecht continued, saying that treatment "may have to be mandatory for some people."

Sandhu countered by pointing to systemic issues that may have led young people down the wrong path under a previous B.C. Liberal government, Rustad's former party circa 2005. She referred to the legal battle between the Liberals and the B.C. Teachers' Federation which ended with the Supreme Court ruling in favour of the teachers in 2016. 

"I'm not afraid to say it, because I stood with teachers in the picket lines when (the B.C. Liberals) ripped their contracts, when they were asking for resources for those students," Sandhu said. 

She said her government started working on mental health and addictions treatment seven years ago, and "we had to build the system from scratch, it didn't exist."

"We started the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions, then started building treatments. It's not one-size-fits-all, it's a very complex issue, and everybody needs different approaches," Sandhu said.

Proulx presented some grim statistics: one in four senior men, and one in three senior women, live below the poverty line, while a disproportionate number of seniors are unhoused. He asked the candidates what their parties would do to address this situation.

Sandhu and Giesbrecht both took the chance to shout out the people behind the Tin Cup movement who have been throughout this past year, including earlier in the day Saturday. 

Acton was for a moment overwhelmed with emotion as he talked about "the people that built this province that we enjoy so much (having) so little." He said pensions are a federal issue "and we should be advocating like hell" for the federal government to improve pensions for seniors. 

Another forum, this one hosted by the Lumby Chamber of Commerce, will take place Thursday, Oct. 10 at 7:30 p.m. at the White Valley Community Centre.