Freedom Flyer 34

BRENT DOWDALL
NEPEAN THIS WEEK

They may not get the attention, and may not get the votes of the three major parties, but candidates from other parties are also on the June 3 provincial election ballot in Nepean ridings.

Three of those candidates from other parties got to share the head table May 21, at the Nepean Chamber of Commerce all-candidates' breakfast.

Ottawa West-Nepean Green Party candidate Richard Warman says his party is about more than just the environment.

It also wants to bring decision-making power to more people and implement proportional representation to make the number of seats a party wins roughly equal to the number of votes received.

"People say we make great environmentalists but we make lousy economists," says Warman. "Nothing could be further from the truth. We prefer to describe ourselves as long-term economists."

Ottawa West-Nepean Confederation of Regions candidate Anthony Silvestro says his party stands for direct democracy, binding referenda and recall of members by unhappy constituents.

He saved his strongest attacks for the inter-provincial construction dispute between Ontario and Quebec.

"This has been going on since I was in diapers. Our policy is Ontario jobs for Ontario taxpayers," he says. "This double standard has to stop and we would make sure it would stop."

Silvestro also says CoR supports reducing property taxes on homes when people retire to reflect fixed incomes, and would end funding for the Catholic schools in favour of one school system.

Bill Frampton is running for the Freedom Party in Nepean-Carleton, which offers a vision of much less government, competition in health care and educational choice for parents.

"We combine the best of liberal and conservative values, individual freedoms and personal responsibility," says Frampton. "We're Ontario's fresh new party of the centre."

When Liberal candidate Gord Hunter mentioned the Liberal plan to pay doctors to work in under-serviced areas for five years, Frampton was the only other candidate to respond, saying the government should not force people to go somewhere to make a living.