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Gravelle, Serré spar again at chamber debate

As they did in previous events, sparks flew between the Liberal and New Democratic candidates Monday night in Chelmsford at the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce candidates debate.
As they did in previous events, sparks flew between the Liberal and New Democratic candidates Monday night in Chelmsford at the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce candidates debate.

The debate, held in front of about 75 people at Forest Ridge Golf Course in Chelmsford, featured incumbent NDP MP Claude Gravelle, Conservative candidate Aino Laamanen, Green Stuart McCall and Liberal Marc Serré, all of whom hope to represent Nickel Belt after the Oct. 19 federal election.

Taking questions on economic issues from a panel of chamber members, Gravelle and Serré clashed over which party is most trustworthy to handle the federal budget.

After Serré challenged Gravelle to explain how the NDP plan can pay for campaign promises and still balance the books, Gravelle challenged Serré to explain how the Liberals will balance the budget after running years of big deficits.

Gravelle then said NDP governments in Canada have the best track record when it comes to avoiding debt.

“We are the best at balancing the budget,” he said.

“I'm not sure how he can say you can trust the NDP and the budget,” Serré said.

Gravelle shot back that the lone exception was the Ontario NDP government of the early 1990s.

“And our leader at the time was a Liberal,” he said, a reference to former NDP Premier Bob Rae, who later joined the federal Liberals.

“Was Floyd Laughren a Liberal?” Serré asked.

Laughren, the longtime Nickel Belt NDP MPP, was finance minister in Rae's government.

McCall joined in, questioning both the Liberal plan to run deficits, and the NDP's plan to balance the books. He reviewed each plan carefully, he said, and didn't like what he saw.

“We don't need to go into debt as has been proposed by the Liberal Party,” McCall said. “And I don't understand how the NDP will pay for all the promises they have made and still balance the budget.”

Laamanen said taking care of the country's finance's is a major priority for Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

“It's very important to our party to balance the budget,” she said. “I'm concerned our grandchildren will be saddled with a debt that's insurmountable.”

Other highlights from Wednesday:

Laamanen on the niqab issue:
She said no one's face should be covered during a swearing in ceremony. “I think most Canadians agree with that ... Being sworn in is not a religious event.”

Gravelle on the Transpacific Partnership Agreement:
“You can't sign an agreement that will force family farms out of business ... Anything Mr. Harper keeps secret, we should be very careful about.”

Serré, arguing that it's a two-way race between him and Gravelle:
“I ask my Conservative friends to look at the alternative. A Conservative vote in Nickel Belt is a spoiled ballot.”

McCall, after saying he liked his opponents:
“But wouldn't you rather have me? Wouldn't you like to have real change?”

This was the first of two chamber debates. The Sudbury event will be held Wednesday night at Collége Boréal.

If you didn't catch our live stream of the debate you can view it in its entirety above.

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Darren MacDonald

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