Supplied
NDP leaders speak out at U of A debate
Atta Almasi
Sports Staff
Feb 15, 2012
Several leaders from the New Democratic Party gathered at the Telus Centre last Thursday to debate a range of issues, including the environment, agriculture and post-secondary education.
The debate was hosted by the New Democratic Youth of Alberta and the U of A’s own NDP club, and attracted a sizeable crowd at the Telus Centre. Featured in the debate were three of the eight candidates vying for leadership of the NDP: Brian Topp, Paul Dewar and Nathan Cullen.
Cullen took issue with the fact that less than 50 per cent of the leadership field was present at the Telus Centre.
“I’m disappointed that there’s three of us here tonight,” the B.C. politician said, arguing that Alberta requires the progressive people to have a voice.
A recurring theme throughout the debate was the environment, including resource management fighting climate change, and the promotion of clean energy initiatives.
“Canada’s failure to address climate change has brought disgrace to our country, and we need to address that,” Topp said.
Achieving a strong agriculture industry through food sovereignty and restoring the Wheat Board were also discussed.
“(The Harper government) killed the Wheat Board after 75 years of successful marketing for grain and wheat farmers,” Cullen said.
“As soon as we kick the Harper government out, we’re restoring the Wheat Board,” Topp said.
The three candidates also addressed the affordability and accessibility of post-secondary education in Canada.
“We’re turning back to a notion, two or three generations ago, that only the ‘haves’ will get through the door. Only those people will have chance to move up through life and improve themselves — we have to reverse that trend,” Cullen said.
Topp, using his two teenage sons as an example, expressed his dislike for an education system that is “designed to have (students) graduate from university with mortgages on their backs and not get the house.”
But it was Dewar who had the boldest solution out of the three. He proposed to give young people an opportunity to volunteer for a year, either in Canada or abroad, and offer them a year’s worth of tuition in return.
All the candidates present agreed that education is a right, and argued for a drastic cut to the financial and social barriers that prevent some from obtaining a post-secondary education.
“I’m tired of living in a socialist state for the top one percent,” Topp said in his concluding remarks.
Members of the Youth NDP and Campus NDP asked six pre-approved questions following the debate.
The NDP leadership candidates will convene in Toronto late next month to choose Jack Layton’s successor.
Comments
Submit a comment
All comments must be approved by a moderator before they will be visible, and may take up to 48 hours to appear. Comments may be no longer than 5000 characters.
Commenting is not available in this channel entry.
Winning at cheating: a not so comprehensive guide
03/30/2012
Life is hard. There’s no secret or manual — we’re all just sort of playing it by ear. There’s no right or wrong way to go through life, just an easy way and a hard way. The hard way involves work, dedication, motivation, aggravation, archaeological excavation, rhyming skills, etc. So we can all agree the hard way is way too hard. It’s clear you need to take the easy way out. After all, with great effort comes great responsibility.
The Gateway Opinion Podcast Sells Out!
For the final show of the year, Ryan, Darcy and Adrian sit down for an hour and talk about stuff they like.
