With the federal election just days away, the four men vying to represent the Souris-Moose Mountain Constituency made one of their final pitches to voters Tuesday.
The candidates gathered at the Legion Hall for the annual Candidates' Forum organized by the Estevan Board of Tourism Trade and Commerce.
The evening was largely without fireworks as the candidates didn't deviate from their respective party's stance on the various issues, particularly in the opening comments portion of the forum.
Up first was NDP hopeful Allan Arthur who might be the busiest of the four candidates. Not only is Arthur running in the election, he is also scheduled to be married Saturday. The former mayor of Qu'Appelle said Ottawa is broken and needs to be fixed and the only man up to that task is NDP leader Jack Layton.
"We are looking for change, no more of the status quo," said Arthur. "You want a leader you can trust in there and Jack Layton is a leader you can trust most definitely."
Incumbent Conservative candidate Ed Komarnicki also stuck to the party script, immediately touting the last budget handed down by the Conservative government and claiming that the NDP and Liberals have forced Canada into a needless election because of their thirst for power.
"I think when you look at where the parties were in the polls, the Liberals were down in the polls, the NDP were down in the polls," Komarnicki said. "What was the reasoning for prompting an election except that they were of the view they didn't need to win to form government?"
Bob Deptuck, the Green Party candidate who hails from Rocanville, used his introduction to urge voters to give his party's platform a long look and not simply cast their vote along traditional lines.
"The Green Party has a fully developed platform that has been run through the parliamentary budget office and it sits on our website all year long," Deptuck said. "It takes care of the economy, the environment, people's health and the well being of all Canadians."
Liberal Gerald Borrowman was last to the microphone but the first to take some hard shots at Komarnicki's Conservative Party. Borrowman responded to the MP's comments about a power grab by informing the audience that the election was called because of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's contempt for Parliament and the democratic process.
"It is about how we are governed and our democratic form of government under a constitutional monarchy," Borrowman said. "For the very first time in the history of the British Parliamentary model, a prime minister and his government have been held in contempt, that is the reason we are here and discussing a change of government."
After the introduction, each candidate answered a question they had submitted to the TTC prior to the event. That was followed by a short break and then questions from the audience which touched on everything from the gun registry, affordable housing, the controversy over the F-35 fighter jets and how each candidate would best represent the constituency.
In their closing comments, the candidates continued to reiterate their message. Arthur noted that many have called this the Seinfeld election because it is an election about nothing. He said that couldn't be further from the truth.
"This election isn't about nothing, it is about a Conservative government that is in power right now completely disregarding the rules of Parliament, totally disregarding the history of Parliament," he said.
Komarnicki fired back with a slew of quotes from the country's top financial writers who have gone on the record to say that the platform proposed by the Liberal and NDP would be financially ruinous for the country and Saskatchewan if the NDP's cap and trade system were implemented.
Deptuck once again called on voters to give the Green Party a long look and said is time for all parties in Ottawa to get back to work and get the government working for the people once again.
Borrowman then closed up shop by saying that Canada is at a crossroads and that a change of government is needed to move the country forward.
