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HaltonPeel hopefuls have their say SECTION A TMK IIEilALD November IB IMS- Page Federal candidates go to the attack at public forum By BRIAN Herald Start Pwls four federal can dldates took turns criticizing each other during a lively allcandidates meeting at Georgetown District High School Nov a Although the night was scheduled to take In all the issues free trade dominated discussion Liberal Pierre Klein led off with charges that the Tree trade agree ment Is seriously flawed Canada cannot afford a fouryear experiment said Mr Klein adding that It Is Irresponsible to expert with our childrens future In his opening speech Libertarian George said his party Is the only one which supports true free trade and the Progressive Conser vatives Liberals and New Democrats cant be trusted because of flipflop stands on many Issues NDP candidate Fern Wolf took her shots at the federal government say it is bowing to pressures big business In supporting the free trade agreement Ms Wolf said the free trade deal threatens Canadas natural resources social programs and the environment all for the sake of trig business But said Ms Wolf people power has come from across Canada to op pose free trade PC Garth Turner who pent much of the night trying to convince the packed gymnasium that he will be a MP challenged his op ponents to prove free trade will hurt social programs environment or deplete Canadas resources He urged the audience to pin them down on the Issues The other three candidates want to win the election so guess theyll say what It takes said Mr Turner did not get Into politics to lie to you I will no start now hi- said From there the verbal jabs land with greater force 1- lAltTll iKOIKi- IlKHHKKLKIN Ms Wolf said Garth Turner has fallen for Ihe propaganda that his government has spent million font trying to sell the deal Mr said the federal government Is trying to make sure the Libertarian party docs not grow only five minutes of television com menial time during the campaign The Rhinoceros parly is allowed Panagapka lauds Libertarian policies plain the philosophies of his party rather than engage in sabrerattling with the other three candidates Libertarians believe that govern interference in the economy should be kepi to a minimum said Mr A Libertarian despises the role of government he said Government interference in the economy has always proved to be wasteful unjust and disruptive he Libertarians plan a reduction of taxes Including a 10 exemption and flat rate on Income tax he said And the Libertarian party is the only party to support true free trade he said adding that his party had free trade on lis platform We ore a party of Ideas said Mr We don change our principles because of the wind of public opt He then borrowed the theme from the late John song Imagine to express Libertarian philosophy imagine an economy that would be governed by a free market Imagine an economy based on Industrial in Illative Imagine Only the Libertarians can be trusted to Initiate free trade said Mr The other three ma federal parties have wavered on their opposition to free trade over the years he said Conservative tax reforms have been a good excuse or a larger giab of your tax dollars he told Ihe On the question of rural post of ices a Libertarian government audience The Conservatives have increased would privatize the post office and rid the country of the current laxes by billion over their term in office he said monopoly he said If rural post of On the environment Mr were necessary private en said the Irtprimurs would operate them he is the countrys largest and its largest polluter Libertarians would sell the land back to the people and institute tough penalties against polluters he Although Mr dldn 1 say whether he supported the Con plan to purchase nuclear submarines he did say Libertarians want to build defence forces capable of defending the country Peace through strength he said Asked the Libertarian on duy can Mr said Canadians already pay too much in taxei to inslitule such a program Mr Panagapka also said he would abstain from a free abortion Libertarians will still be around in 1 preaching the same philosophy said Mr And parties will either have to adapt our policies or well be minutes the Liberals one hour minutes and the Conservatives are allowed to purchase three hours 15 minutes of commercial time said Mr Panagapka His party Is going to court in an at tempt to quash the law He said the Liberals dont even know how much theyve promised in the election the Conservatives have Increased taxes by billion over four years and the NDP wants to ax everyone to subpoverty levels Mr Klein said Garth Turner has always been successful at protests 1 hope after this election still go out there and campaign those causes he quipped He turned the tables on Mr Turner who had accused the lion of scare mongenng by saying Garth had been doing some scare moagering himself when he said the economy will suffer and retaliation will be swift If the free trade deal Is not accepted Responding to Mr Turners point that stock market prices have fallen recently with rumors of the Liberals winning Mr Klein said the market went down In Tokyo Lon don Zurich Frankfurt Hong Kong and Sydney Is that John Turners fault loo he asked Garth Turner Mr Turner said Its not fair at all that senior citizens have been dragged into this election cam paign on the free trade Issue Im tired of people saying anything in order to gain power he Faced with an audience heckler who said Canadas environment is not threatened by the deal Mr Klein said environmental groups say the environment Is threatened Til take that word over Brian Mulroney any day he said On another front Ms Wolf accus ed Mr Turner of divorcing himself from his party over stand on rural post offices So Garth you either know what your party stands for and you stand for it too or you change parties said Ms Wolf She also admitted she does not agree with her own partys stand on abortion Mr Klein noted the PC can didates differing stand with his par line as well saying Mr Turner seems to be separating himself from his partys position In a number of Issues Im just curious whether he Is representative of the Conser vative party Klein tears into free trade agreement Liberal candidate Pierre Klein repeated many of the same criticisms party leader John Turner levelled at the free trade agreement during the all candidates debate Nov Citing this as the most important election in Canadian history Mr Klein said Canada has given away the store to work out a Tree trade agreement with the United States A Liberal government would seek to reduce trade barriers world wide through the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade rather than becoming more dependent on the US through free trade said Mr Klein Trade barriers have been reduced from an average of per cent to on four per cent since 194 but we Id not have to give up Canadas sovereignty to accomplish that goal said Mr Klein Mulroney has given away our energy our water tied the hands of future governments to implement national programs to assist Cans and he has handicapped those governments so they can no longer rectify regional disparity said Mr Klein He has also abandoned our agricultural community he added In addition the US Congress has singled out Canada by forcing the president of the US to Investigate Canadian programs on the request of US industry he said Because Canada will have to sell energy to the US during shortages even If Canada doesn have enough Canadians may to freeze in the dark during those limes said Mr Klein And the pressures to harmonize social programs minimum wage Turner challenges naysayers Angry at those who will say anything in order to gain power Progressive Conservative candidate Garth Turner challenged his op ponents produce a shred of evidence that the free trade deal will hurt Canada at the all candidates debate live any leal will Targeting Liberal Pierre Klein Mr Turner ponenls of the deal cant specific evidence that the be bad for Canada He urged voices to pin down the Liberals who soy the free deal threatens the environment social programs natural resources and sovereignty Conservatives have reduced the budget deficit from billion to billion over four years but we will never have a free prosperous sovereign Canada as long as were paying a mortgage to the bankers in New York and Tokyo said Mr Turner Mr Turner continually pointed to his record of fighting government tax grabs For the past years Ive been out there and I ve been flghtingforyou hesaid Ive fought Liberals Yeah Ive fought Tories too whenever I thought the Interests of the little guy are being trampled Ill be someone in the govern ment you can trust said Mr GEORGETOWN SPA FITNESS CENTRE EXCLUSIVELY YOURS 8771924 Turner Mr Turner shunned those who op pose the free trade deal saying Have you considered the of not Implementing the ear Newspaper headlines are filled with falling stock market prices with rumors of a 1 ibcral government ready to kill the deal said Mr Turner Why would any of us want to hurt them hey The free trade agreement is much like the auto pact he said Although many people don t know much about it Canadians are well aware it has benefitted Canada and ship with our biggest trading part he said I think It makes us an equal Mr Turner said he wont sign any petitions on abortion because It makes a candidate weaker but he did reiterate prolife stance on the issue And Conservatives can protect the environment because the free trade agreement allows Canada to lake any measure to protect It he said Noting his opponents propose to spend much more on Canada defence Mr Turner said he can understand his governments pro posal to purchase nuclear powered submarines You can only gel peace by giving people the equipment to do the Job he said He also promised to oppose his laws corporate taxes with the US will be tremendous he said By all means let reduce tariffs but to obtain those reductions with the per tent of our trade that has barriers is it worth trading our country sway Mr Klein also said the same think tanks the Conservatives quote to back the free trade deal say there will be no catastrophe if free Questioned about his stand on abortion Mr Klein said he Is not In favor of abortion unless the life of Ihe mother is threatened He also claimed that the billion figure commonly attached to Liberal spending promises In this election is not too accurate Mr Klein said Liberals are not in favor of purchasing nuclcnr- powcred submarines because It would violate the proliferation treaty Canada has signed Recalling that John Turner was the last finance minister to balance the budget Mr Klein said lower and middle income Canadians now pay per cent more taxes while cor poratkins pay only per cent more in taxes under the Conservative government A I government would also Initiate a day care program for Big business behind free trade deal Wolf New Democrat Wolf spent the some organisation Prime much of the night boshing free Minister Brian often trade big business and the proposal quotes In support of the deal said to put a landfill site In the Acton unemployment would likely go down quarry at the all candidates by onetenth of one per cent over 10 meeting years said Ms Wolf Wolf who first reminded that her father owned and what is now called the Cot la Conservation Area said business is behind the free trade big It was big business that put the pressure on Brian Mulroney and the Conservatives to Initiate the deal with the said dont think there is anyone In this room who petitioned the govern for free trade Like the private firm who wants to put the landfill site In the quarry private Interests in the free trade agreement simply want make money at the peoples expense said Ms Wolf After free trade big business will walk away with big profits and leave Canadas national resources depleted and social programs ruin ed she said People power will combine to stop the free trade deal so much desired by corporations representing money power said Ms Wolf New Democrats put people first not profits Calling the deal a sellout Ms Wolf said the Conservatives are risk Canadas national resources sovereignty social programs and the environment to remove the re maining per cent of the trade bar The Economic Council of Canada Why la It so Important for you and I to have this deal Conservatives have consistently favored the rich as evidenced by statistics which show the richest one per cent of Canadians are paying SCO leu in taxes while ordinary Canadians are paying more over the last Tour years said Ms Wolf Ms Wolf reiterated her on abortion saying she opposes her partys platform calling for abortion on demand She also criticized other parties for not costing their election pro mises while the has coated each promise they have Introduced And the NDP would oppose the billiondollar proposal to purchase nuclear powered submarines said Ms Wolf Questioned about her partys stand on abolishing rural post of fices Ms Wolf said the Conser vatives agenda to eliminate them by is not supported by Ihe The NDP also favors an initiative introduced In the US two years ago which Imposed a percenl minimum tax on corporations said Ms Wolf Some corporations in Canada pay no taxes at all she Ms Wolf also called for tougher penalties and new laws governing polluters Good service good coverage good price Thats State Farm insurance ROBERT TAIT INS LTD J Qaorgaiown 8731833 Like a good neighbor State Farm is there FARM ELECT FERN WOLF HALTON7PEEL NEW DEMOCRAT NEW DEMOCRATS SAY DONT TRADE CANADA AWAY FOR OPEN HONEST GOVERNMENT AND FAIRNESS FOR FAMILIES ELECT FERN WOLF HILLS COMMITTEE ROOM Authorized by A Official Agent lor FERN WOLF MY SINCERE THANKS To All Of Halton Hills I would like to take this opportunity to thank my friends family and the electorate of Halton Hills for their help and support during the Election Campaign Sincerely Russ Miller