All-Candidates Debate Format
PARTICIPANTS:
Moderator:
Role: To MC the evening, to introduce everyone, to explain the reason for the
evening and the way that it will work, to ensure fairness and order
Candidates:
Role: To answer the questions asked of them and to demonstrate that they are
the best candidate to end poverty in Davenport
Community Member Panel:
Role: To introduce themselves and their concerns and to interview the
candidates. Note: the questions should ideally have been developed by the
community.
Time Keeper:
Role: To keep time and inform candidates when the time is up and when it is
time for the next part of the evening to begin
Box Keeper:
Role: To collect questions from the audience and at the end of the question
period, to collect the ballots from the audience
Scrutineers:
Role: The Scrutineers will count the ballots
MEETING FORMAT:
-The moderator will welcome everyone, explain why we have a need for this
meeting, explain the format of the meeting (including time limits, the panel, the
poll, the role of the audience/question box) and introduce the panel of
questioners, assistant panelists, and politicians.
-Also, you should note that the questions have been developed in consultation
with community members
-Panel will introduce themselves by explaining that they live in the community,
what the effects of poverty are in their own lives and in the community, and that
they have questions for which they want answers to.
-The moderator will briefly introduce the Panel Assistants (names and
organizations only)
-The moderator will introduce the candidates.
-The candidates will have 3 minutes each to introduce themselves
-Then the panel will begin asking questions with the last question asked no later
than 8:25 pm
-Then the moderator will draw three questions from the box (ensuring that the
questions are poverty-related and have not already been asked.
-At 8:45 the votes will be gathered and counted by the scrutineers – During this
time you should make any necessary announcements, play music, etc.
SAMPLE QUESTIONS FOR CANDIDATES:
1. General Poverty:
What do you think living in poverty means in Davenport? What do you see as
the main factors that contribute to poverty?
2. Employment: Good Jobs and Minimum Wage:
There have been massive job losses in manufacturing in this province and the
bulk of jobs that are created are low-paying service industry jobs with little job
security or benefits that keep people in poverty.
In recent months, MPPs voted themselves a 25% pay increase. This increase is
more than a full-time worker earning minimum wage makes in an entire year.
Minimum wage has fallen so low in Ontario, that a job is no longer a ticket out of
poverty. Almost 25% of workers in Ontario are paid less than $10 an hour
leaving many workers at least $6,000 below the poverty line. The current
government plans to wait until 2010 to raise the minimum wage to $10. If elected
will you fight to immediately raise the minimum wage to $10 and index it to
inflation? What is your vision for creating good jobs in this community?
3. Affordable Housing:
There is clearly a housing crisis in this city. The definition of affordable housing
means spending less than 30% of your income on shelter. By this definition,
over 100,000 households in Toronto cannot afford rent of more than $500! The
average cost of a bachelor apartment in Toronto is more than $700. The high
cost of rent means families are living in cramped quarters, in unhealthy and
unsafe spaces, and have nothing left over for food or other necessities. There
are 70,000 people on the waiting list for social housing in this city. What will you
do to address the housing crisis in this city and in this community?
4. Social Assistance: Income Security, Food Access, and the Rationale for
Setting the Rates
Quite simply, people on social assistance can't afford to pay the rent and eat. In
real terms, people on social assistance have lost 40% of their income since
1996. Not surprisingly, food bank use has increased by 80% in Toronto over this
same period.
What is the rational for the way current social assistance rates are set? For
example, how do you expect a single person to rent an apartment in this city for
$342? The Medical Officer of Health for Toronto thinks poverty among social
assistance recipients is such a critical health issue in this city that he has called
on the government to immediately add a Nutrition Allowance to social assistance
programs based on the cost of eating healthy food. Minimally, such an
allowance would require the government to restore social assistance rates to pre-
1996 levels. What is your commitment to people on social assistance in this
community? What will you do to ensure that social assistance rates reflect the
actual cost of living in this city in 2007?
5. Affordable Childcare:
The lack of affordable childcare spaces in Toronto is a barrier for many families.
Low-income parents – particularly single parents – are often forced to choose
social assistance over paid work so that they can care for their children. What
will you do to ensure that every child in Ontario is guaranteed an early learning
and care program?
6. Poverty Reduction Strategy:
Clearly, there is a great deal of work that needs to be done to address the
serious issue of poverty in this province and in this community. Nothing short of
a comprehensive anti-poverty strategy will sufficiently solve this problem. Will
your government launch the poverty reduction strategy being called for by a
broad coalition of community groups, including The Stop Community Food
Centre that sets goals and timelines to eliminate poverty beginning with a
commitment to reduce poverty in Ontario by 25% in 5 years time?
7. Funding for Toronto:
Downloading of provincial services has been disastrous to the City of Toronto.
Low-income families have taken the brunt of these cuts. It is poor people who
suffer the most when libraries and community centres are closed, when TTC
routes are cut and fares increased, when user fees put Parks and Recreation
programs out of reach for children.
There is now word that ODSP recipients will lose the $100 city-funded
transportation benefit they receive to get to their volunteer jobs. This is vital
income for people with disabilities that allow them the chance to participate in the
community. Will you commit to restoring funding to pay for Toronto’s vital
services and fight for people with disabilities to keep their volunteer benefit?
8. The Ontario Child Benefit:
At its full implementation, the new Ontario Child Benefit does not replace the full
amount of money lost through the claw back of the National Child Benefit
Supplement to children whose parent rely on social assistance for support. Why
does this province continue to take away these needed resources from the very
poorest children that the National Child Tax Benefit was designed to help? If
elected will you fully and immediately end this unfair practice and will your party
commit to speeding up the implementation of the Ontario Child Benefit?