The Penticton Chamber of Commerce held a virtual all-candidates forum for candidates running in the Penticton riding Thursday evening, the first of its kind in the October 2020 election.
Dan Ashton (Liberal), Toni Boot (NDP), Ted Shumaker (Green) and Keith MacIntyre (Libertarian) all attended via Zoom for the event streamed live over Facebook.
The format featured questions submitted from chamber members pitched to all the candidates, many of which were business-focused.
One query focused on whether businesses should provide two-week sick leave to employees, which Boot and Ashton clashed on.
“No, I’m not ini favour of it. Sick time needs to be allowed when a person is sick, but if a person isn’t sick, they should … be at work,” Ashton said. “There’s going to be a breaking point here when employers are gong to say enough is enough.”
Boot had a different take.
“The possibility of two-week paid sick leave is very important. Workers need to be protected, and if customers aren’t feeling protected because there’s potentially somebody there at work who shouldn’t be, is that business going to thrive?” Boot said. “We are in a global pandemic. We need to have these supports in place.”
MacIntrye expressed throughout the forum his disagreement with the provincial government putting restrictions on individuals and businesses through the pandemic.
“It’s mind boggling, this whole idea that the government is our parent, that it’s taking care of us,” MacIntyre said.
Newcomer politician Shumaker, who described himself as “just a regular guy” and having only been a politician for a week, said he enjoyed his first forum and believes in co-operation between parties.
“In a minority government where one guy didn’t have all the say, we could get so much further,” Shumaker said.
Watch the full debate above.
Hear more from the Penticton candidates through one-on-one interviews in the coming days on Castanet, and catch them live on Castanet at the Herald debate forum with media panelists Joe Fries from the Herald and Chelsea Powrie from Castanet on Tuesday, Oct. 13.
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