Candidates following party line when it comes to who won the debate
By Bill Rea

Candidates in York - Simcoe for the Oct. 10 provincial election were dealt some more questions over the last week for their spontaneous responses.

Their replies are presented here in alphabetical order.

Who won the leaders'

debate?

Family Coalition Party candidate Victor Carvalho said he didn't see the debate.

"We don't watch TV," he commented, adding he surmised nobody won because "they don't carry our platform at all."

"Dalton Mcguinty," declared Liberal John Gilbank. "He took on two guys at once and he bested them both. It's a majorleague victory when you can do that."

"I didn't watch it," replied Libertarian candidate Caley McKibbin.

"Howie," declared New Democrat Nancy Morrison. "Howard Hampton won. He's the one who got his platform out there.'

She added the other two leaders were "bickering about the past."

"John Tory," replied Progressive Conservative Julia Munro, who declined to elaborate.

"There wasn't a leaders' debate. All the leaders weren't there," commented Green candidate Jim Reeves, who pointed out that his party leader, Frank de Jong, was not invited to take part. "Therefore, there can't be a winner since there was no leaders' debate."

Does party discipline put too many restrictions of the power of individual

MPPs?

"No, provided the party discipline is morally sound," Carvalho said, adding that would include leadership aimed at getting to the truth, rather than just promoting an agenda.

"It's a blade that cuts both ways," Gilbank observed, pointing out it can be beneficial if something really needs to be done. "It's more of a leverage issue, than a good or bad," he observed.

"I think if you're going to associate with a party, you should adhere to some kind of discipline," McKibbin said. "That's part of the package."

"I don't think so," Morrison said. "There's a reason we choose to run for the party we run with. Our basic philosophies are all the same."

"No," said Munro. "You don't leave your brains at the door when you go into a caucus meeting. You go in and you have the confidence that it is private and you can say whatever you think or what you have learned from your community. That's what you're there for."

She added that as in other issues of life, MPPs don't always get things to go their way.

"That doesn't mean you take your marbles and go home," she said. "You suck it up and try again."

"Quick answer, yes," Reeves said.

He added if the mixed member proportional representation model gets by the referendum stage, that will improve things, giving more authority to individual MPPs and the voters.

"Too much adherence to the party line is not a good thing," he said, adding more consensus government is needed.

Should Prostate-Specific

Antigen (PSA) tests for men be paid for by OHIP?

Carvalho said he would go along with including it if it's required treatment. "I would put it way above abortions," he declared.

"Absolutely," Gilbank said, adding he's had friends who have had to take the tests. Men requiring them could be vulnerable, and he said avoiding them because of the cost involved could be lethal.

"No," McKibbin said.

I'm against all subsidies."

"Definitely," Morrison said, adding her father has had to take such tests and pay for them, while on a fixed income, and she said other seniors would be in the same boat.

"It's hard for them to start finding another 50 dollars," she remarked.

Munro said she's very familiar with this issue, adding PSA tests don't have

very high accuracy rate. Until medical experts determine they are more reliable, she said she wouldn't advocate them being covered by OHIP.

"Generally, I'd say yes," Reeves commented, although he pointed out there should be some way to re-evaluate what tests are required and available, thus updating what OHIP should cover.