The Citizen, 2015-10-08, Page 9THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2015. PAGE 9.
Last week students at North
Woods Elementary School had the
opportunity to not only learn about
federal politics but to get some in-
depth answers to questions from
local Member of Parliament
hopefuls.
The Citizen was at North Woods
on Sept. 30 when incumbent
Conservative representative Ben
Lobb and Liberal Allan Thompson
hosted question-and-answer periods.
The students’ queries ran from the
politically-charged to the more
personal.
Both were asked if they planned
on keeping their promises with Lobb
explaining that, when a politician
gets in to office, he tries very hard to
meet all the goals he set out in his
platform. He said the Conservative
Party had succeeded in meeting all
the benchmarks it set during the last
campaign period in 2011.
Thompson said that politicians try
their hardest to keep their promises.
He pointed to the fact that the
Liberal Party was being honest in
saying that money would need to be
spent to make some of their plans
work so the government would
either have to borrow that money or
increase taxes on the upper class.
“Justin Trudeau is kind of like
Robin Hood,” Thompson explained.
“The wealthy can afford to give back
to help the poor and the
disadvantaged, so he will ask them
to do that.”
While the questions were similar
for each candidate, some of them
were tailor-made for the individual
candidates, including one student
who asked Thompson about
commercials that were made
regarding Justin Trudeau.
“Ben [Lobb’s] party decided to put
ads on television saying that my
leader [Justin Trudeau] is too young
and doesn’t have enough
experience,” he said. “But they say,
oh yeah, he has nice hair.”
Thompson said that the
advertisements were like bullying
and that he felt they had no place in
the democratic process.
Lobb faced a similar question
when a student asked the reason
behind the different parties saying
bad things about each other instead
of building themselves up.
“Locally, we don’t do that,” Lobb
said. “Allan and I debate the issues.”
Lobb said that he had no problem
with Thompson or the other
candidates, but at the federal leader
level, in the period prior to the
election, sometimes those
commercials show the flaws of the
other parties and are necessary.
One teacher also asked about
Lobb’s plans if he loses and he
explained that he would get a “kiss
on the cheek”, or a severance
package and be shown the door. The
teacher commented that it requires a
lot of dedication to run for a position
like that when the job can be lost so
easily.
Both Lobb and Thompson fielded
questions about what they do during
the day for campaigning, both
explaining that they walk the
communities of the riding knocking
on doors. Lobb said that he walks a
lot and that it leads to all his clothes
fitting him poorly by the end of the
campaign.
He asked the students how far they
believed he would walk in a day and
one student hit the right answer with
no prompting: approximately 20,000
steps.
Thompson explained that he uses
the time walking the communities
and talking to people to take a poll of
his own, which helped him answer a
later question about how he was
doing “in points,” or in the race for
the riding.
“When I’m talking to people, I put
a mark if they are voting for me,
undecided or looking at one of the
other parties,” he said. “I think I
have a very good chance of
winning.”
Lobb was asked who he would
want to see win if he couldn’t,
however he said he didn’t think that
way. He wants to win and it’s either
win or don’t.
Other questions Lobb fielded
included the amount of travelling he
does, which he answered by
explaining he is in Ottawa
approximately half the year but
comes home on the weekends to talk
to his constituents, and why boys
can’t join girls’ teams in minor
sports, but girls can join boys
teams.
Lobb said that he really couldn’t
help the students out with the last
question, but said he believes it’s
probably because boys can be bigger
and tougher than girls.
He also was asked if he was
always as tall as he is now, but said
he was once a kid and shorter. He
did mention, however, that he’s the
tallest member of his family,
towering over his 5’1 mother, his 5’7
father and his 5’8 brother.
Thompson was asked where
Carlton University is (where he
normally teaches journalism but is
currently on a sabbatical) and
answered Ottawa.
In response to a question about
crime prevention, Thompson said
that any candidate claiming to care
more about crime prevention than
anyone else was likely exaggerating.
He also said that fighting crime can’t
focus on frightening people either.
Thompson was asked what he
would do if he were elected and he
said the first thing he would do
would be to listen to people and not
talk at them. He said he would be
Huron-Bruce’s representative in
Ottawa and not Ottawa’s
representative in Huron-Bruce.
Thompson was also asked how
someone knows if they win a debate
and he said it’s not like a baseball
game. He may feel he hit a home run
with an answer, but, in reality, he
might not have given the answer
everyone wanted.
Speaking of baseball, Lobb ended
his presentation by encouraging
students to get their homework done
early or doing it after the baseball
game after school where the Toronto
Blue Jays managed to not only make
the playoffs but clinch the American
League East title. Lobb, during his
introduction, explained that he had
originally gone to school in the
United States to pursue a future in
baseball.
Senior students of the school now
face the difficult choice of voting for
a winner through a special mock-
election on Oct. 16. The results will
be presented in The Citizen after the
results of the federal election on Oct.
19.
On Thursday Oct. 1, and Friday
Oct. 2 New Democratic Party (NDP)
representative Gerard Creces and
Green Party representative Jutta
Splettstoesser also visited the
school.
North Woods students ask candidates tough questions
Outlining the platform
Allan Thompson, above, and Ben Lobb, in the picture on the
right, visited North Woods Elementary School last
Wednesday to talk to students about the coming election.
Thompson, the Liberal candidate for Huron-Bruce, and
Lobb, the incumbent Conservative candidate for Huron-
Bruce, were the first two to visit while Gerard Creces of the
NDP and Jutta Splettstoesser of the Green Party visited on
Thursday and Friday, respectively. (Denny Scott photo)
Fielding the tough questions
Students at North Woods Elementary School had the
perfect opportunity to ask the questions that mattered to
them last Wednesday when visiting politician Ben Lobb,
incumbent Conservative representative visited the school to
talk about the coming federal election and the issues that
face Canadians. The visit is part of a mock-election process
that the students take part in on Oct. 16, three days before
the federal election. (Denny Scott photo)
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The Citizen