Waterloo candidates surveyed on climate change, cost of living

Voters will head to the polls on Oct. 21 and in Waterloo, people will have a choice between five candidates.

The candidates in Waterloo are:

• Liberal (incumbent) Bardish Chagger.
• Conservative: Jerry Zhang.
• NDP:Lori Campbell.
• Green Party:Kirsten Wright.
• People's Party of Canada: Erika Traub.

CBC Kitchener-Waterloo has asked the candidates to answer a survey. All were presented with the same questions.Clicking the candidate's name above will take you to their survey responses. The candidates were told they had a 200-word limit for answers.

Candidates who did not provide surveys by the deadline are invited to still do so and their responseswill be added to this story when they are received.

Bardish Chagger, Liberal Party of Canada

Website

1. What is the top issue facing your riding right now and how would you address it?

My goal as your MP will be to continue to listen and engage with our community to ensure our economy is strong, life is affordable, and we are protecting our environment for future generations.

A Liberal government will continue to work to make life more affordable for Canadians. We lowered taxes on middle class Canadians and have a plan to give a hand-up to the most vulnerable in our society by making the first $15,000 of earned income tax-free, saving the average family nearly $600 a year and lifting 40,000 more people out of poverty.

By working with communities, we created the National Housing Strategy and the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive to respond to concerns about affordable housing.

I meet with students regularly and know one of Waterloo's greatest strengths is our post-secondary institutions. A Liberal government will make university or college education more affordable, providing $1,200 more each year in Canada Student Grants. Additionally, to ensure the fiscal situation of students, we will assist with interest relief until graduates are earning $35,000/year.

We have a plan that looks out for middle-class Canadians and the most vulnerable, not one that gives tax cuts to millionaires.

2. People are concerned about the cost of living and the future of the economy. What will you do personally to address this if you become an MP?

Our plan to invest in the middle class and build an economy that works for everyone has had remarkable results. Since our government was elected in 2015, Canadians have created over onemillion new jobs about 75 per cent of them full-time pushing unemployment to historic lows.

Thanks to the tax-free Canadian Child Benefit and the middle-class tax cut, the typical middle-class family has more than $2,000 extra in their pockets every year. Our debt-to-GDP ratio continues on a downward trend and Canada's fiscal position is among the best in G7.

There's no place like Waterloo to start a business, and that's why we've supported small businesses by lowering their tax rate from 11% in 2015 to 9% in 2019. Canada now has the lowest small business tax rate in the G7.

We've also enhanced support for research and development which is especially important in a tech community like ours. If we are re-elected, we will create the Canada entrepreneur account to provide up to 2,000 entrepreneurs with as much as $50,000 each to launch their new businesses. Small businesses are our job creators and we are committed to working with them.

3. The environment and climate change are top concerns for many. What do you want to see the government do to address those concerns?

Today in Canada, if you pollute, you pay. We've taken the bold step of putting a price on pollution with 90% of the money returning to the pockets of individuals and families to make greener, cleaner choices more affordable.

We acknowledge that we need to do even more. If re-elected, we have committed to legally-binding, five-year milestones, based on the advice of the experts and consultations with Canadians, to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. When it comes to fighting climate change, one thing is clear: doing less costs people more. We are committed to transitioning to greener energy sources. To support this in a responsible way, we will ensure energy workers and communities shape their own futures by introducing a Just Transition Act, giving workers access to the training, support, and new opportunities needed to succeed in the clean economy.

The best way through the climate emergency is action, not inaction. We are committed to planting an additional 2 billion trees within the next 10 years and we will increase land and ocean protections by 25% by 2025. We must take climate change seriously to keep the world our children and grandchildren grow up in safe and liveable.

4. What do people need to know about you as an individual?

Upon election four years ago, I chose to move the MP's office to Waterloo City Hall. Waterloo is the only riding that I know of in Canada where the MP, the MPP, and the mayor are all located in the same building. I believe that all levels of government should work better together for the good people of Waterloo.

I've called Waterloo Region home all my life. I'm proud to be the child of immigrants and to have been educated right here in Waterloo. I graduated from the University of Waterloo with a Bachelor of Science and have been employed since.

Our government brought back the long-form census and we have returned to making decisions based on evidence, not ideology.

We have an incredible community. Over the past four years, I have connected our community's expertise in the work we have done as a country because as I always say, Canada needs more Waterloo. Over the past four years, we have worked together to bring investments to our community and showcased Waterloo and Canada to the world. I ask for your support and commit to continue working hard for you to represent our riding's interests in Ottawa as your MP.

Jerry Zhang, Conservative Party of Canada

Website

Response not yet received.

Lori Campbell, New Democratic Party

Website

1. What is the top issue facing your riding right now and how would you address it?

I've spoken to people across Waterloo over the last several months and the vast majority of them are nervous about the future and ongoing threats related to the climate crisis.

The Trudeau Liberal government hasn't done enough to fight the climate crisis and their purchasing of a pipeline was frankly irresponsible. And the Conservatives have no plan to do anything meaningful to address climate change and its consequences.

When I speak to people, they're hopeful about the NDP's plan to address the climate crisis without leaving anyone behind. We will set our emissions target based on what scientists say is required to meet our Paris Agreement targets to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and invest in the jobs of the future.

Our plan involves continuing to put a price on carbon, immediately ending fossil fuel subsidies, retrofitting homes and buildings across the country, transitioning to fully-electric transit and incentivizing the building and buying of electric vehicles.

2. People are concerned about the cost of living and the future of the economy. What will you do personally to address this if you become an MP?

Here in Waterloo, people are feeling the pressure of the increasing cost of living, in part because of stagnant wages and rapidly increasing housing costs.

The NDP has a comprehensive plan to address affordability. We would focus on reinvesting in public services like universal pharmacare and education. With universal pharmacare, families can save up to $500 per year. And by removing the interest on federal student loans, we will ease the transition of students from post-secondary education to the workforce.

Additionally, the NDP has put forward a plan to invest in affordable housing, building 500,000 new units in the next 10 years. As MP, I would make sure that Waterloo gets its fair share.

3. The environment and climate change are top concerns for many. What do you want to see the government do to address those concerns?

The federal government needs to be doing so much more to tackle the climate crisis. Our collective future relies on it.

First, we need to get serious about meeting our Paris Agreement targets. We need to use scientifically based targets so that we have the highest chance of avoiding the catastrophic effects of climate change.

Second, we need to start thinking about how we are going to transition our society to become net-zero. The federal government can be a leader here, starting with retrofitting all federal government buildings, electrifying government vehicles, and being a partner with municipalities to electrify and expand public transit fleets across the country.

Third, and most importantly, this transition needs to be just. Indigenous people need a seat at the table and the economic opportunities need to be spread fairly across society so that no one is left behind.

4. What do people need to know about you as an individual?

I'm Cree-Metis, with family roots in Montreal Lake First Nation in Treaty 6 Territory.

I have years of experience fighting for meaningful change by advocating for social, economic, and environmental justice issues. Every day, I refine my advocacy skills by taking every opportunity to listen to and learn from those around me.

I have a strong work ethic and I work hard to amplify community voices. If elected, my main priority as MP would be to listen to constituents, amplify their voices in Ottawa, and work in a non-partisan way to get good things done for Waterloo.

Kirsten Wright, Green Party of Canada

Website

1. What is the top issue facing your riding right now and how would you addressit?

We are one of Canada's technology champions. We need to attract and hold talent to build our lead. To dothis, we need to promote a system-level strategy that improves transportation the regional transportation network and helps control housing costs at the same time.

We need to support the universities that are actually driving regional growth and continue to build an arts and culture sector around our high-tech lead to attract more talent and more jobs.

2. People are concerned about the cost of living and the future of the economy. What will you do personally to address this if you become an MP?

The cost of living problem is primarily in the housing/transportation nexus.

The key is to continue our forward-looking urban and regional planning and to win federal and provincial support for our infrastructure needed. More broadly, we in the region need to support a high speed rail system for the entires Quebec-Windsor corridor.

We also need to implement a national housing policy focused a massive expansion of social housing. I will work to strengthen our links with he relevant Federal agencies and decision makers.

3. The environment and climate change are top concerns for many. What do you want to see the government do to address those concerns?

We have to be clear the climate emergency is the big threatfor the world and for K-W.

All our other great initiative will be undermined if we don't pick up our game in Canada and Ontario. My immediate task is to help people understand that we already have all the tools and technology we need, and that we can and must set much more ambitions targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

4. What do people need to know about you as an individual?

I am a young mother and a systems design engineer. The first makes me very committed to improving the world and the other teaches me to look for and find solutions that really work.

Serious problems take serious thinking and serious commitment.

Erika Traub, People's Party of Canada

Website

1. What is the top issue facing your riding right now and how would you address it?

I thought long about the top issue facing our riding and my thoughts kept going back to it depends who you ask. I've addressed the tax burden and our landfill crisis below.

For the commuters the biggest issue is our transportation infrastructure. It is mind-boggling why K-W does not have high speed transport to the Pearson International Airport, and throughout the Toronto to Montreal corridor. We must stop expecting our big government to provide what for decades it has failed to do and look at handing the challenges over to the private sector to deliver.By doing so, we eliminate the need for tax increases and only those who choose to use it will pay.

2. People are concerned about the cost of living and the future of the economy. What will you do personally to address this if you become an MP?

The PPC has a plan to balance the budget in two years, a plan for bold tax reform and policy to reduce prices of dairy, poultry, eggs and all goods produced in Canada and sold to neighbouring provinces. The PPC will also eliminate all capital gains taxes allowing investors big and small to make money while stimulating the economy.

The PPC will balance the budget by eliminating the billions of dollars spent on corporate cronyism, bail-outs, subsidies and all forms of corporate welfare; and by eliminating the billions of Canadian taxpayer dollars that are sent to other countries for unaccountable social causes. This foreign aid rarely ends up in the hands of those in need.

The PPC will increase the personal exemption to $15,000 and have a flat tax of 15% on income up to $100,000 and a flat rate of 25% on income over $100,000.

The PPC will eliminate supply management, the dairy cartel, which makes Canadians pay 400% more for milk, eggs, dairy and poultry.

The PPC will end inter-provincial trade barriers so we can buy product made in Canada without the punitive costs and barriers to trading among provinces.

3. The environment and climate change are top concerns for many. What do you want to see the government do to address those concerns?

Our region is facing a trash and landfill crisis. As a community our biggest issue is what is going to happen in a few short years when the Erb Street landfill permanently closes. There is no rational back-up plan.

Our federal government doesn't know what to do with our trash other than to drive it to our port cities, put it in shipping containers and send it to third world nations who either send it back (the Philippines), burn it producing toxic fumes, or dump it in the ocean (which is why our Canadian recycle products are floating in the south Pacific).

The green energy proponents have no plan for the end of life disposal of highly toxic electric car batteries, solar panels and windmills.

The PPC will focus on local solutions to local environmental issues. Accountability only works when power is decentralized. The PPC policy prioritizes clean and safe drinking water for all, and clean and safe air for all. On these issues we have seen that our federal government tends to stand in the way of innovation, stuck in old infrastructure and old way to do things, and simply not doing anything.

4. What do people need to know about you as an individual?

In 2018, the average Canadian family paid a whopping $40,000 in taxes while it paid only $32,000 toward food, shelter and clothing. We also know thatthe average Canadian household is within $200 per month of bankruptcy. Household and government debt are at an all-time high.Many families are struggling to make ends meet with no income left to pay for emergencies, job loss, prescription drugs, never mind a vacation. It is wrong that so much is paid for taxes with little access to social services and healthcare.

I would like to get busy implementing the People's Party platform, policy and principles.I would like to come back in fouryears as your MP with a record of having accomplished what the People's Party's set out to do. We need bold reforms and to get back to our basic values as Canadians.

I would be honoured to serve as your Member of Parliament for the riding of Waterloo.