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Letter: Coquitlam-PoCo debate didn't work, candidates' answers needed work

The Editor, Re. " Federal election drama at the Evergreen theatre " (tricitynews.com, Oct. 4).
Candidates for Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam on stage at the Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce Debate, Oct.
Candidates for Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam on stage at the Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce Debate Oct. 3

The Editor,

Re. "Federal election drama at the Evergreen theatre" (tricitynews.com, Oct. 4).

Thursday evening's all-candidates debate for the federal riding of Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam held at the Evergreen Cultural Centre did not change many minds.

It was not all the candidates' fault. The questions presented were often repetitive, many important subjects such as immigration and gay rights were not even touched on, and the minimal time given to answer was often disruptive instead of informative. Would 90 seconds have been so bad and maybe one instead of three questions on green technology?

At the end of the evening, only about five hands went up to say who had been swayed by the debate.

The Liberal incumbent Ron McKinnon was clearly the most well prepared and well spoken and most focused on the riding; the Green and People's Party candidates often did not have fulsome, or even any, answers to most of the questions asked; the NDP candidate Christina Gower did better than the Green and PPC, although she did admit that she was often "winging it," she was sincere. The Conservative candidate, Nicholas Insley, provided Conservative talking points in short soundbites and even once, maybe more than once, getting "booed" for his abruptness.

It would have been nice if the debate had been able to actually address the issues that were on the minds of the full house of attendees who showed up. It would have been even nicer if any of the of the candidates, other than Mr. McKinnon, had come prepared and ready to answer the questions, such as they were.

Bryan Nadeau, Port Coquitlam