The Vale strike has been over since last July, but it still on the mind of at least one resident. The topic was brought up at the federal Nickel Belt candidate round table, hosted by Northern Life and CBC.
Federal candidates Joe Cormier of the Liberal Party, Lynne Reynolds of the Conservative Party, Christine Guillot-Proulx of the Green Party and Claude Gravelle, incumbent NDP MP for Nickel Belt, all took part in the discussion at the Howard Armstrong Centre in Hanmer, April 14.
Jamie West, a citizen who attended the event, asked the Liberal and Conservative candidates why they deserved his vote as they were the two parties “who gave up on us.”
“I think the NDP was the only party that stood up for us,” West said. “The reason why I vote for Claude Gravelle, Glenn Thibeault and France Gélinas is because they bothered to show up and talk to us. They lobbied on our behalf.”
Watch video: Candidates questioned about Vale strike
Cormier said the federal Liberals want “to do it right” and get anti-scab legislation passed in the country “once and for all.”
Reynolds said she “very much sympathized” with what West had gone through, and said her party can make a difference because it will likely form the government again.
Guillot-Proulx said the Green Party does “support the anti-scab legislation.”
Another citizen, who identified herself as Andrea, said her husband is a Steelworkers Local 6500 member who was on strike.
“Last year during that strike, the only candidates from parties I saw that were at the rallies supporting us were the NDP and Green Party,” she said.
Candidates were also asked to clarify their stance on the long gun registry. Nickel Belt MP Claude Gravelle was criticized by other candidates in his riding for his change in stance on the long gun registry.
On Sept. 22, 2010, Gravelle and Sudbury MP Glenn Thibeault both voted against Bill C-391, along with other members of the NDP.
The bill, if passed, would have gotten rid of the long gun registry. Both MPs, in previous votes, had supported the bill.
Gravelle said when he initially voted for Bill C-391, he wanted to see changes made to the gun registry legislation in committee.
But when the bill was sent to committee, the “Conservatives and Liberals absolutely refused to make any amendments to the gun registry.”
“I don’t think hunters and farmers are criminals,” he said. “Stephen Harper does, because if he doesn’t believe that, he would have made the amendments to the gun registry.”
He said he changed his mind regarding the long gun registry because he “looked at the facts (and) listened to the police.”
Cormier, although he supports the gun registry himself, said some Nickel Belt residents have questioned him on Gravelle’s stance regarding the registry.
“The thing that I don’t understand is when Claude (Gravelle) went and campaigned in River Valley and Field and Chelmsford, he told people ‘I’m going to scrap it,’” he said. “They only thing they want me to ask Claude is ‘Why did he lie to us?’”
Reynolds also criticized Gravelle for his change of stance regarding the registry.
“I find it really rich to hear to hear him (Gravelle) talking this way after he promised for five long years and in three election campaigns that he would vote with his constituents to abolish the long gun registry and then flip-flopped that...showing total disrespect for his voters,” she said.
Guillot-Proulx said the Green Party supports with gun registry “with modifications.”
“We would...simplify...the registry for responsible gun users and make sure that the system is fair, free and easy to use,” she said.
