Dona Cadman is the incumbent, and probably the favourite to represent Surrey-North in Ottawa.
But her opponents in the May 2 federal election are united in branding the one-term Member of Parliament as ineffective in her role.
“I’m going after Dona Cadman because she’s not doing her job,” said Libertarian candidate Norris Barens. “When I’m campaigning, people are saying she’s just warming a seat (in Ottawa).”
Cadman, first elected in 2008 in a riding represented from 1997 to 2005 by her late husband Chuck Cadman, posted on her website she is seeking re-election to “continue Chuck’s work.”
But Liberal candidate Shinder Purewal says that is not what she is doing.
“In 2000, I was a (Liberal) candidate against Chuck,” said Purewal, a political science instructor at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. “The message I got was Chuck was effective and strong as an MP.
“So I didn’t run again. And in 2008, I supported Dona. She’s a nice person, but not a strong, effective voice.”
NDP candidate Jasbir Sandhu took issue with Cadman’s stand on the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST), arguing she told constituents she would oppose it, then refused to vote on it when she was in Ottawa.
“Dona was supposed to take their voice to Ottawa,” Sandhu said. “She didn’t do that.”
Cadman, who won the 2008 election with 41 per cent of the vote, was not made available for an interview with The Leader, despite repeated requests.
In addition to Cadman, six other names are on the Surrey-North ballot.
Sandhu represents the New Democrat party which briefly held the seat prior to Cadman’s victory in 2008, and argues the HST is the number-one issue in the riding. He called its implementation a “deal that was cooked up by (Prime Minister Stephen) Harper and (then B.C. Premier Gordon) Campbell.”
He called $1.6 billion in federal funding to combine the Provincial Sales Tax and the federal Goods and Services Tax into the HST “a bribe by the Harper government,” adding the NDP will “fight to keep that money in B.C.” even if the HST is defeated in a provincial referendum this summer.
Purewal takes a similar position on the controversial tax.
“I spoke out against the HST,” he said. “Now we have a referendum and the trend seems to be the vote will go against it. So an MP will have to work in Ottawa to make sure the $1.6 billion is spent in B.C.”
Norris Barens, in his second attempt at winning a federal seat for the Libertarian party, agreed the HST is a huge issue, but added it’s under “provincial jurisdiction. The (federal) government has no right to implement this tax. I don’t believe we should be allowing a more centralized government.”
Opposition candidates also chimed in on health care, with Sandhu promoting the NDP’s position of hiring more doctors and nurses.
“(NDP leader) Jack Layton has proposed more training spaces for doctors and nurses,” he said. “Also, we need to speed up the credential process for foreign-trained doctors and nurses, many of whom are just driving taxis.”
Purewal noted Surrey Memorial Hospital was built approximately 30 years ago, and “since I’ve been here there’s been talk of a second hospital” which still hasn’t been built.
He also suggested more money should be spent on amateur sport, as “healthy young people are less of a burden on health care.”
Christian Heritage Party candidate Kevin Pielak suggested money allocated to health care shouldn’t fund abortion or sex-change operations.
“There’s 100,000 abortions every year,” he said. “Pay for it yourself, we’d save millions that way. And paying for sex-change operations? It’s not an illness.”
He also proposed borrowing money interest-free from the Bank of Canada to build more hospitals, and a policy of one bed per room as “research shows multi-bed rooms are not as healthy.”
In regards to taxation, Purewal and Sandhu both endorse the elimination of proposed tax cuts to corporations.
“We’ll be giving away billions to corporations with tax cuts,” said Sandhu. “Jack Layton says we should reduce taxes on small business from 11 per cent to nine per cent.
“Small business creates the most jobs, and they are local jobs. Big corporations take their profits and open up call centres overseas. Those aren’t local jobs.”
“Priorities in this riding are not spending $30 billion in fighter jets and corporate tax cuts,” said Purewal. “People are concerned about our rising debt and deficit. We have billions that don’t need to be spent on fighter jets, and billions that don’t need to go to big corporations who are doing just fine.”
Green party candidate Bernadette Keenan also supported a balanced federal budget.
“We can eliminate subsidies for large corporations,” she said. “And we should tax things that aren’t good for us, like a carbon tax. We could gain revenue that way.”
Pielak endorses a change to the tax system, eliminating corporate and income tax, and implementing a “fair” sales tax.
“It’s such a complex system we have now,” he said. “With a sales tax, you don’t pay tax on what you earn, you can take your money home. But you will be taxed on what you buy.”
Barens promoted the Libertarian policy of “an honest money system. (Under the present system) if the government needs more money, they just print it. And that devalues the money people have in the savings.”
Keenan, a Bridgeview resident, is in her first federal campaign as a Green party member after running as an independent in 2008. A candidate in the 2009 provincial election under the Green banner, her opposition to the South Fraser Perimeter Road – funded in part with federal money – prompted her to put her name on the ballot.
“It’s not NIMBYism, there are a lot of environmental reasons why I oppose it,” she said.
“Why are we building a freeway where there is so little traffic to begin with? And with the diesel particulate from the trucks, kids can get asthma and it will affect seniors with respiratory problems.”
Independent candidate Jamie Scott is campaigning for truth and honesty.
“If a politician breaks a promise, he should resign,” said Scott, a longtime resident of the constituency. “And we shouldn’t need the Freedom of Information Act as a process. The books and information should always be open.”
In his first attempt at public office, he is confident he can become the second independent elected in the riding.
“Surrey-North is independent territory. I was a huge fan of Chuck Cadman. I met him, voted for him. Now, I’m the only independent candidate on the ticket.
“I think I can win the election.”
sports@surreyleader.com