Marc Dalton, Conservative Party of Canada
Birth place: Canadian Forces Base, Baden-Soellingen, Germany
Occupation: Secondary school teacher, former MLA
Main reason for running? What do you want to accomplish?
I want to be a voice for our communities at the national level and I feel I can really make a difference given my background in provincial politics and life experiences. For me, it’s not things I want to accomplish, it’s what I’m hearing at the doorsteps. I don’t see it as my agenda it is the agenda of the community. Provincially, it might have been things like … an ambulance, or school busing or a new school or the whole issue on the shelters, I was very much engaged. Again, it isn’t my agenda, it’s what am I hearing. And that’s important for me to go door to door …
Question: How would you or your party address the constantly increasing cost of living and housing?
Answer: We are going to make it easier for first-time buyers to get into housing by reducing the (mortgage) stress test, extending to 30 years the mortgage … however it really does tie in with people’s disposable income. We’re going to be looking at a variety of ways through tax measures to reduce the bite of taxation upon individuals, because right now … about 50 per cent of people’s take home pay is going to taxes at one level or another and there’s only one taxpayer. We just feel that it’s a very important issue. That’s the primary focus of the Conservative campaign is on that issue of affordability.
Question: Why would your party be most effective in addressing homelessness and mental illness in Maple Ridge?
Answer: There are many reasons why there is homelessness. There is no one single answer. I’m well aware of the issue locally and I’ve been engaged. We want to see supports. We do believe in more focus on treatment and on recovery rather than just methadone and Naloxone. We want to see that people can get out of the drug cycle, so that’s important. I would also say that we’re stronger on the issues of public safety. Almost all of the police that I have met door to door have told me that they are voting for me, primarily because we believe in the protection of society at large. There is a real concern in Maple Ridge, particularly, with the drug addiction and the crime that quite often goes along with that, so they can pay for their habits. And people are feeling that. That’s certainly not everybody that is homeless, this might just be a small segment, but we feel there needs to be consequences because right now businesses in our community are struggling downtown and a lot of it has to do with issues regarding crime and legal issues.
Question: What is the most pressing environmental issue and how would you address it?
Answer: Our environmental plan is quite different than the other parties and it goes to the issue of affordability in a sense that the number one issue we’re hearing about is affordability. But, we’re also hearing that environment is extremely important it’s just that people cannot afford ever-increasing taxes. So the Conservative plan looks at ways to encourage people to conserve energy.
For example, we have a green home renovation plan. We have the green transportation tax credit, where we’re encouraging people to get out of their vehicles. So that helps … individuals save money. At the same time, it’s helping the environment. We want to incentivize companies … in areas of research and development so we can be developing and exporting green technology that helps us out not only here in Canada but world wide.