Election Debates - Across Canada
 

You’re voting Monday - unless, of course, you already did in the advanced voting days or aren’t yet eligible :). 

Perhaps you’d like to learn about the issues SCWIST raised to 17 Candidates from 8 parties (+ 1 independent) in 4 cities. Maybe you’re still like 40% of the SCWIST Federal Election Debates’ audiences and are undecided on which candidate or party you’ll vote for.  And if you’re like woah, we have a federal election Monday?, then read on too for info on where and when to vote and what ID to bring.

Questions and Issues

We held debates in Victoria, Vancouver, Ottawa and Montreal in partnership with local community partners. SCWIST focused our questions around 3 main topics: gender equity, research & evidence-based policy and science, tech, engineering & math (STEM) related policy. 

 

• To explore more about the questions SCWIST developed with input from SCWIST’s Policy & Impact Committee, VoteScience and audience submissions, a full list is available by clicking here.
• To review VoteScience’s questions answered by the major parties, click here.
• To watch the Vancouver Election Debate, visit Neeraj’s youtube channel by clicking here.

Participating Candidates and Parties

We heard from a variety of candidates, platforms and parties. Consistent feedback we heard from them is that they enjoyed the debate style as everyone got an opportunity to be heard and the questions were informative and interesting.

Beginning Tuesday, we will be looking to our new Members of Parliament to uphold their commitments to evidence, being STEM focused and removing barriers for girls and women.

Click the candidates’ name to find out more about them:

• Communist Party of Canada: Vincent Cama - Ottawa West–Nepean
• Conservative Party of Canada: David Busch - Saanich—Gulf Islands; Kathleen Dixon - Vancouver Quadra
• Green Party of Canada: Amita Kuttner - Burnaby North—Seymour; Jean-Luc Cooke - Nepean; Racelle Kooy - Victoria; Sabrina Huet-Côté - Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot
• Independent: Ahmed Bouragba - Ottawa South
• Liberal Party of Canada: Kyle Demes - Vancouver East; Sameer Zuberi - Pierrefonds-Dollard
• Libertarian Party of Canada: Coreen Corcoran - Ottawa Centre; Neeraj Murarka - New Westminster-Burnaby
• New Democratic Party of Canada: Andrea Clarke - Outrement; Zaff Ansari - Nepean
• People's Party of Canada: Alyson Culbert - Victoria; Ellen Comeau - Longueuil-Saint-Hubert
• Rhinoceros Party of Canada: Mark John Hiemstra - Outrement

Where, When and How to Vote

To vote in the federal election, you must: be a Canadian citizen, be at least 18 years old on election day, October 21 and prove your identity and address.

Vote at your assigned polling station on Monday, October 21. Polls will be open for 12 hours (hours vary by province).

You may have received a Voter Information Card in the mail, it will list your polling station location. If not, use your postal code and the Elections Canada website to find your voting location by clicking here.

You will need to bring ID with you and there are numerous options, check the full list by clicking here. Upon arrival, check-in at your polling station, then go behind the privacy screen area, mark X on your ballot, return it to the polling station and drop into the ballot box.

Thank you for learning about the issues and exercising your duty & right by voting! 

Thank you to the Candidates and the various campaign managers and party media contacts who helped make time to share their voices and views.

Special thanks to the SCWIST Policy & Impact Committee for organizing the debates and developing the questions with input from the audience and Vote Science. 

And a super thank you to SCWIST’s community partners: 500 Women Scientists, Camosun College Student Society; Engineers & Geoscientists of BC (Victoria Branch); Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) - Women in Engineering; International & Immigrant Women in Science; Island Women in Science and Tech (iWST); Westcoast Women in Science, Engineering and Technology (WWEST); and Vote Science.