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The Voice PUBLISHED INDEPENDENTLY IN PELHAM
Vol.20 No.37
NIAGARA’S BEST-READ WEEKLY SINCE 1997
Wednesday November 16, 2016
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Column Six Non-answers meant a waste of time BY J. JANSEN
Special to the VOICE
N
and very clean environment to live in as they grow older. We used to have 53 smog days a year. Did everybody forget about that? We don't have any anymore because we have changed the way we produce energy." NDP candidate Mike Thomas said that after knocking on some 3,500 doors throughout the riding he was not surprised to hear from residents that the privatization of Hydro One was their number one issue. He said he was surprised, though, that in spite of the fact that 80 percent of On-
O ONE LIKES to waste time, but even worse than wasting your own time is having it wasted by someone else. From this voter’s point of view the all-candidates meeting at the Twenty Valley golf course fell into the second category. I've attended many such meetings over the course of my life, and this one stood out as one of the least informative of them all. I say this mainly for two reasons. My first point of contention was the presence of Anti-Sex Ed Party candidate Queenie Yu. As a lover of democracy I am not opposed to the idea of community members running to raise awareness of important issues, however it was plain to see that she was not taking her own candidacy seriously. She selfishly stole mic time from the other candidates who are running because they care for our community and want to make a difference. Yu said over and over that she was not intending to be elected and then shamelessly promoted her social conservative friend and partnerin-crime PC candidate Sam Oosterhoff. Called out as being Oosterhoff's "stalking horse candidate" by None of The
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LAST WEEK IN LINCOLN From left, NDP Mike Thomas, Independent Martin Poos, Libertarian Stefanos Karatopis, Stop the Sex-Ed Agenda party Queenie Yu, Liberal Vicky Ringuette, PC Sam Oosterhoff, and None Of The Above party Greg Vezina, meet voters at the Twenty Valley Golf Course clubhouse in Vineland for the all-candidates meeting on Monday, Nov. 7. NATE SMELLE PHOTO
Niagara West-Glanbrook nominees meet packed house BY NATE SMELLE
The VOICE
Seldom is there an opportunity for people to engage with those wishing to represent them in public about the issues that matter to them most. Fortunately for the community in the riding of Niagara West-Glanbrook, a week ago Monday turned out to be one of these oncein-a-blue-moon occurrences. The main room at the Twenty Valley Golf Course Clubhouse in Vineland was
packed from with 250-plus residences eager to hear from the nominees. The candidates at the table for the meeting were: Mike Thomas, NDP; Martin Poos, Independent; Stefanos Karatopis, Libertarian; Queenie Yu, Stop the Sex-Ed Agenda; Vicky Ringuette, Liberal, Sam Oosterhoff, Progressive Conservative; and Greg Vezina, None Of The Above party. Following their opening remarks the candidates took turns answering questions
submitted by the public. The question period started out with each of the candidates declaring what they would do specifically to lower the rising cost of hydro in Ontario. Ringuette defended her party’s position, stating that the reason hydro rates had increased was that the government had decided to upgrade outdated energy infrastructure. With 19 months left in the Ontario Liberals’ mandate, she said that the community needs to elect an experienced MPP who will have a seat at the table to speak on their behalf. “It costs money to close down coal plants and to de-
Pine Debbie
SALES REPRESENTATIVE pinesold.com
It costs money to close down coal plants and to decide to produce clean energy cide to produce clean energy,” she said. “Some of us have children in our lives and we would like for them to have a green
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