For more than 90 minutes federal election candidates gave it their best shot at the Innisfail forum last week, with incumbent Earl Dreeshen and his Conservative party facing attacks from right-flank challenger Paul Mitchell.
However, Dreeshen, the candidate for the Conservative Party of Canada, refused to bend or fall into any trap of giving in to a mudslinging session between himself and Mitchell, who is running in the Red Deer-Mountain View riding under the People's Party of Canada (PPC) banner.
"Ladies and gentlemen you got to make your vote count this time around. More of the same isn't good enough," Mitchell told the audience of about 75 citizens who attended the Oct. 1 Innisfail forum. "Sorry Earl, but 10 years on Parliament Hill and the job hasn't been done.
"(Voters) better make sure you elect somebody that will fight hard to get Alberta issues to the front of the line in Ottawa," he added. "You don't want Alberta to have weak members of Parliament who never demand that pipelines be imposed (and) never demand that equalization payments be fair."
The Red Deer-Mountain View constituency includes Olds, Didsbury, Carstairs, Sundre, Innisfail, Penhold, Cremona, Mountain View County and parts of Red Deer County. Canadians go to the polls Oct. 21.
Holding the riding since 2008, Dreeshen staunchly defended his record, stuck to party policy and calmly answered in detail several questions put forward by the audience who attended the forum at the Innisfail Royal Canadian Legion.
When the forum was over, Dreeshen said the major concern he had is whether the Conservative Party can form a majority government, adding his party has no idea where "the numbers will go", noting a slippage in the NDP numbers and where those votes might ultimately end up.
"As far as the People's party is concerned I am not concerned about that part of it. I know they have a particular message they want to present and that is fine," said Dreeshen, acknowledging the Conservative Party is prepared for assaults from the right flank PPC. "I think it is going to be an attack on us but I probably know Maxime Bernier much better than (Mitchell) does.
"But I don't want to get into those personal types of attacks. I have always been above that," he said of his opponent's campaign strategy. "Quite frankly I think it is important that there is a number of seats that could be very close. Whether Maxime Bernier even wins his own seat is touch and go there. However, if it means we end up with a Liberal majority government or some sort of a Liberal minority government I know the people who I have talked to in Alberta are just so frustrated by that and that possibility."
The Oct. 1 federal election forum, hosted by the Innisfail & District Chamber of Commerce and moderated by Rod Bradshaw, featured just four candidates; Dreeshen, Mitchell, Conner Borle from the Green Party of Canada and the NDP's Logan Garbanewski.
Gary Tremblay, from the Liberal Party of Canada, did not appear at the forum. A phone call to Tremblay to explain his absence was not immediately returned.
Each candidate gave an opening statement, and then had two minutes each to answer their positions on a multitude of issues, including rural crime, economic stimulation, firearms ownership, the future of the public health-care system, pipelines, equalization payments, controversial Bill C-16 and Motion 103, climate change, and support for seniors.
Predictably, each candidate gave answers along ideological lines but Mitchell, with the Liberal candidate a no-show, added extra focus on Dreeshen and his opposition Conservative of Canada Party.
He pointed out during the discussion on Bill C-16 and Motion 103it was Tory leader Andrew Scheer who fired St. Albert-Edmonton MP Michael Cooper for "exercising his free speech" on the New Zealand mass murder earlier this year.
"He was fired from the justice committee by Andrew Scheer of the Conservative party and forced to apologize for even bringing up the topic," said Mitchell. "There was only one member of Parliament in the whole House of Commons that stood up for Michael Cooper and that was Max Bernier, leader of the People's Party of Canada.
On the pipeline issue, he said while his party would "impose pipelines if necessary" on other provinces he made a point in another discussion to remind the audience that Dreeshen "didn't say that he would impose" pipelines. I just wanted to bring that to everyone's attention."
He also noted that up to 2006 there was a pension program for veterans that was "taken away" by the Conservative government under former Prime Minister Stephen Harper to make for a new one-time lump sum payment that was in his opinion inadequate to look after disabled Canadian veterans. He added future attempts by subsequent government to fix this problem proved unsuccessful and as a result there are now 44 veterans who are now running as candidates in the current election under the PPC banner.
About 100 people attended a candidates forum in Sundre on Oct. 1. Another forum is scheduled for Olds' TransCanada Theatre on Oct. 9 from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
