Federal candidates reject idea of publicly funded sports stadium in HRM

The idea of a publicly funded stadium for the Halifax Regional Municipality was rejected by several federal candidates who took part in an all-candidate's debate Monday night for the ridings of Halifax and Dartmouth-Cole Harbour.

The issue came up after the candidates were asked about affordable housing and the reuse of federal land.

"I do not support the bid for the stadium," said Emma Norton, the NDP candidate for Dartmouth-Cole Harbour. "We are in a housing crisis in HRM and we need to focus on housing people first."

That sentiment was echoed by both Green and Conservative candidates.

"A football stadium versus affordable housing, are you kidding me?" said Lil MacPherson, who is representing the Green Party in Dartmouth-Cole Harbour.

"I don't think we need a stadium, not at this juncture," said Bruce Holland, the Conservative Party candidate in Halifax.

The two Liberal candidates, Darren Fisher and Andy Fillmore, did not mention the stadium but focused on past and ongoing housing programs of the Trudeau government:

"Early on, we introduced a national housing strategy and it's helped more than one million Canadians," said Fisher.

"Now we have a 10-year, $395-million agreement with the province of Nova Scotia that's three weeks old," said Fillmore.

Affordable housing was one of 10 topics covered at the debate, which was organized by downtown business commissions. Transit, climate change and funding for the arts were also discussed.

Two questions were posed by young people involved in a group called Project Citizen. One of them was about ensuring young people have the skills necessary to enter and remain in the workforce.

The Green Party candidate for Halifax, Joanne Roberts, had a few ideas.

"It is time that all post-secondary education had free tuition," said Roberts. "But beyond that we know the nature of work is changing, so we are proposing a universal basic income."

The Conservative Party candidate for Dartmouth-Cole Harbour, Jason Cole, took a completely different approach to that topic.

"We need life to be more affordable," said Cole. "We need to make sure that we have a good economy, that people have good jobs so they can save and not be taxed to death."

Two candidates did not take part in the Monday night forum: Michelle Lindsey, who is running for the People's Party of Canada in Dartmouth-Cole Harbour, and Christine Saulnier, the NDP candidate in Halifax.