Monday, September 19, 2011

candidate meet'n' greet and other stuff


            On Thursday night, the CSA and Civic Engagement held a meet and greet with Guelph’s MPP candidates, in the Bullring. Candidates were on hand to speak about their platform, issues pertaining to students, and answer questions. After the meet and greet student representatives from each party addressed generic questions regarding major policy areas; education, environment, economy, energy, etc.
It is very exciting to see other students hushed and huddled around political candidates, discussing the direction of Ontario’s future.

            Aside from questions regarding each party’s platform; it was interesting to note the body language and demeanor of each candidate and the students who listened to them. The most obvious and interesting contrast is that of the Liberals and the Progressive Conservatives. Liberal Liz Sandals sat in an armchair encircled by students on couches, while PC Greg Schirk stood closely surrounded by students. When I stood listening to Mr. Schirk, the audience seemed tenser than with other candidates. I feel for him, he is up against a tough crowd. Guelph is a swing riding with a history of electing NDP,  Progressive Conservative and Liberal MPPs; but the university student body is more left leaning. Mr. Schirk handled himself very well when a student became slightly confrontational regarding Mr. Schirk’s use of the term “red-tape reduction”. In a casual style, he gave the student his business card and asked to set up a future conversation. Very classy.
            A consistent point of contention between the Liberals and Conservatives is the Green Energy Act. While some praise the act for “greening” the province’s energy sources, Conservatives claim the act has been responsible for raising the cost of energy in Ontario. I feel conflicted, as per usual, about the act. My understanding is that the Green Energy Act was sort of getting-ahead-of-itself. The essence of the Act was that the Liberal government would offer a subsidy to the construction of “green” energy projects and purchase energy from them at a grossly inflated rate.
            Ok, that sounds awesome, but it was apparently too successful. Now the government is locked into long term contracts, paying a premium for energy.
            Ok, that’s all fine and dandy; I understand that the investment helps the environment in the long term. The problem is this, as Liz Sandals explained: so many projects were built in rural areas and the existing grid infrastructure could not handle the power delivered from the subsidized projects.  As a result, we have a bunch of useless green energy projects sitting around, taking up space, and not adding power to the grid.
            Now let’s get back to reality; the Conservatives claim this project has been responsible for raising the energy costs. This may be partly true, but to what degree? Energy prices are constantly increasing; natural gas becomes harder to find, coal is more expensive to mine, and oil… don’t get me started on oil. The Green Energy Act may have under preformed its expectations, but not because it exorbitantly raised your electrical bill. When I asked Mr. Schirk about the act he said it was unfortunate that the government was locked into the contracts, and the project would not be sustainable in the future.
            The NDP’s James Gordon, Green’s Steve Dyck, and Communist Drew Garvie were also on hand, but due to lack of time I couldn’t listen to them in-depth. 

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