Trade, housing and economic development the focus at Sudbury candidates debate | CBC News

The three main party candidates running in the federal election in the Sudbury riding all agreed on some key issues facing the city and the country when they sat down for a debate Wednesday evening.

Asked about encouraging inter-provincial trade, Liberal incumbent  Viviane Lapointe said the biggest barrier has been a lack of cooperation and no strong incentives for provinces to trade with each other.

“They actually saw themselves as competitors, but suddenly now you have a common enemy,” said Lapointe.

“And that common enemy is the Trump administration. And now premiers really and truly are coming to the table and recognizing the value in being able to work together.”

In response, the NDP’s Nadia Verrelli blamed the federal government for historically overstepping, suggesting they need to step back and let provinces handle trade among themselves as partners and not enemies.

Conservative Ian Symington pointed to the fact that reducing trade barriers is supported across all party lines.

“We all want to get rid of inter-provincial trade barriers. They are barriers. They’re not tariffs in the sense, but they act the same way,” Symington told the crowd at the event organzied by the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce.

Attracting investments and speeding up permitting processes

Many questions focused on the importance of attracting new businesses and investments to Sudbury, particularly when it comes to the mining and critical mineral sections.

Verrelli said the economy needs to diversify and she suggested the best way to do that is for Ottawa to listen to the needs of municipalities.

“The federal government needs to use its federal spending power and transfer money to municipalities so that they’re able to put the projects in place to get small and medium sized businesses here in Sudbury and to support small and medium size businesses,” said Verrelli.

Lapointe  pointed to her party’s successes over the years with increases to FedNor grants and new programs like the Northern Ontario Black Economic Empowerment program and the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot program.

“Those are all very important tools for avenues for our businesses and attracting businesses as well as helping existing businesses and helping businesses to expand,” explained Lapointe.

Critical minerals and the Ring of Fire mineral deposits in northwestern Ontario were also brought up several times by the candidates, with Lapointe and Symington both agreeing that permitting processes need to be sped up to get more projects approved.

“Red tape doesn’t mean environmental issues. It doesn’t mean blowing through the environment, it doesn’t mean not consulting with our Indigenous partners. What it means is getting things off of bureaucrats desks and into the workplace,” said Symington.

“So right now in Canada, it can take up to 8 to 10 years to open a new mine and that’s too long,” Lapointe said.

“And that has been the case for decades in our country. And we know that we need to reduce that.”

The housing crisis

An audience question that was read by the moderator asked the candidates what they see as the reasons behind the housing crisis and what they could do to help.

While Symington referred to Canada’s high immigration numbers over the last few years as a main reason for the housing shortage, Verrelli said a lack of investment in housing from both the provincial and federal government have contributed to low inventory. 

“We’re seeing that it’s a building of those big mega mansions, those unaffordable homes,” said Verrelli.

“What we need to do is we need to invest in affordable, sustainable living. We need to build homes and apartments that everyday people can afford.”

Lapointe pointed to the Liberal government’s $130 million in investments for housing projects in Sudbury over the last few years, including current developments like the Manitou project and the new seniors housing complex in Coniston.

Protesters interrupt closing remarks

As the moderator asked candidates to begin their closing remarks, protesters stood up in the audience at College Boreal and demanded to know why audience questions about the government’s approach to the conflict in Gaza were not answered during the debate.

One man repeatedly interrupted the moderator and candidates, asking them to clarify their stances, to which none of the candidates responded.