It was a civil and informative second all candidates meeting for the federal riding of Etobicoke Lakeshore held on September 9 at the Daily Bread Food Bank.

The four candidates all seem well-informed in regards to the issues in the riding that has been held since 2015 by Liberal incumbent James Maloney.

He is being challenged by newcomers Conservative Party candidate Indira Bains, NDP’s Sasha Kane and Afam Elue, of the Green Party.

The meeting took place at noon in the Food Bank, on New Toronto Street. It was opened by food bank CEO Neil Hetherington.

Maloney said he was proud of the job his government has done in handling COVID-19.

“Our government has stepped up,” the MP told the virtual meeting. “We were there, we have a plan and were ready to go.”

Maloney said many more small businesses would be shut due to COVID-19 if the Liberals did not introduce CERB and other virus-fighting benefits.

Conservative Bains showed she could hold up her own and knew vital information about the riding and its residents.

“We did not need an election now at this time,”Bains told viewers. “Everything was working fine the way it was before.”

Her party plans to create more new jobs and to ‘get Canada back on track.’
All the candidates were in support of fighting climate change and building more affordable housing; it just mattered on how many units being built.

There was also interest by some candidates in slapping a fine or tax to halt the foreign ownership of homes in Canada, which helps to drive up the costs beyond average citizens.

“We want to pause or stop the foreign ownership of homes,” Bains said. “A lack of home affordability has been worst under the Liberals.”

Kane said more resources has to be placed to improve infrastructure, high speed Internet and fresh, clean water to Indigenous people. Her party is in favour of electrifying the fleet of TTC buses.

Elue said ‘the government has to become serious’ and more has to be done to combat climate change, which he said is on the rise.

Another virtual all candidates meeting takes place on September 16 from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. It is sponsored by the Daily Bread Food Bank,  LAMP and the Lakeshore Community Network.