Voters who packed the Whonnock Lake Centre for the second of three debates for the Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge riding were overall happy with the meeting.
Organizers had seats out for only 60 people.
But, more than 100 people showed up to hear the federal candidates battle it out, including 79-year-old Brenda Lay, who thought the most important question asked of the candidates was about crime and prison sentences and what measure each of them would take to make sure residents feel safe.
After hearing the answers, Lay felt the candidates failed to talk about the mental health aspect.
"It is so important, and so many people are in prison and doing crime on the street because we close down the facilities that gave them services, that looked after them," she said.
And, added Lay, some of them cannot be out and safely on the street.
"I think it's a huge gap," she said, noting that people on the streets are not necessarily criminals. Some, she believes, are just mentally ill and don't have the medications, or the ability to monitor themselves to take the medicine.
Lay said she liked the Liberal candidate's ideas on the subject the most.
Calvin Rowat, 32, thought the question on education was the best and all of the candidates had really good answers.
Rowat said he was at the first debate put on by the Climate Hub, but this debate had more energy.
He has already voted, but still wanted to hear the candidate's most current positions
Krystyna Doran-Eddy, 36, thought the closing statements were the most informative of the debate because, she said, each candidate talked about where their party actually stands on the issues.
"I know that I tend to vote NDP, I will likely be cautious with my vote this term. But, I think the NDP candidate summarized a lot of what Canadians are afraid of right now and that is the loss of rights that we are kind of facing in our society and what we are seeing going on in the south," she said, referring to the politics in the United States.
38-year-old Kaitlin Thorarinson liked the question on affordable housing the best.
"I thought it was nice to kind of hear that there are aspects of the Liberal and NDP plan that sounds like if there is a coalition government situation, they might be able to work together to make things more affordable," she said.
Organizer Dale Hardy, executive member with the Maple Ridge Teachers Association, one of the host organizations of the debate, said what he liked overall was the courtesy the candidates showed each other.
There was a lack of an acrimonious tone, he said.
He was disappointed that the candidates didn't dig deeper when faced with the question on what they felt about Canada's current immigration policies.
"I think what our immigration policy contributed to is a housing crisis that needn't have occurred," he said.
Hardy noted that none of the candidates addressed the question of what they would like to see the immigration rate in four years and ten years.
"That was a concern for me," he said. However, added Hardy, he was grateful to the NDP candidate whose final remarks addressed the LGBTQ issues, a question that didn't come up during the debate.
Janet Dmitrieff, also helped organize the event and was floored by the turnout.
She thought all the candidates were extremely good during the debate.
Dmitrieff admitted when she found out Peter Buddle with the Rhinoceros Party of Canada was going to attend, she thought, what a waste of time.
Following the debate, though, she thought Buddle kept everything on track.
"I'm so glad he attended, he brought us all back to reality. We have a very big choice to make," said Dmitrieff.
Election day is Monday, April 28.
