A potpourri of questions were being thrown around at a Huron Bruce all-candidates meeting in Teeswater.
The meeting last night was hosted by the Bruce County Federation of Agriculture, the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario, and the local chapter of the National Farmers Union.
There were the usual agricultural questions being asked to the six candidates.
Liberal candidate Greg McClinchey used some his time to dissect the Conservative platform that was released earlier in the day.
But the questions did not center around farming or rural issues.
Many of the over 100 people in attendance asked about the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, health care, trade, abortion, and religion.
Then there was Emily Weppler of Ayton whose family has been affected by Hepatitis C that was contracted through blood transfusion.
Her question to the candidates about proper compensation to the victims seem to have caught them off guard.
Some admitted that they were not familiar with the issue but all feel something has to be done to compensate the victims.
With the broad range of issues affecting the different areas in the large riding, candidates had some ideas of how to bring everyone in the riding together.
McClinchey says you can’t prioritize issues and focusing on a select number of issues is disingenuous.
He says issues like the physiotherapy cuts in Kincardine and Hepatitis C victims must be dealt with.
Conservative Ben Lobb says he’ll have constituency offices set up in Port Elgin and another in Huron County to represent all areas of the riding.
New Democrat Tony McQuail says people should go beyond crisis management and to look ahead and anticipate problems.
Independent Dennis Valenta suggests people organize a petition and the MP work with them to reach a consensus.
Dave Joslin of the Christian Hertiage Party says people need to set aside their differences and work together on a local level.
He adds he could work with other candidates to resolve an issue.
Green Party’s Glen Smith suggests there should be a centralized all-candidates meeting and have everyone from the north to the south come and bring their issues to the table.
