Liberal leadership candidates Nick Duivenvoorden, Brian Gallant and Michael Murphy gathering at the Delta last night to engage with voters and get across their platforms on hot button issues like healthcare and jobs. Another major issue is the prospect of greater regionalisation. The candidates tell CHSJ news what they’ve been hearing from voters–and what they don’t want to see.
Nick Duivenvoorden tells CHSJ News the province should take a laissez-faire approach, like a priest officiating a marriage: help the municipalities make the decisions, then bow out.
But Mike Murphy sees regionalisation as “massively undemocratic” because the representatives wouldn’t be elected but would have a budget taxed by the province.
Brian Gallant says people he’s talked to are concerned about losing their regional identities and how representation would work on the ground.
Gallant is a lawyer and president of the Kent South Liberal Association, Murphy was formerly MLA for Moncton North and a cabinet minister under Shawn Graham, and Duivenvoorden was formerly mayor of Belldune. The election is next month.
