Federal byelection candidates in Scarborough Southwest faced off in their first debate on April 2, about a week before voters decide whether to give Mark Carney a majority government.
Liberal candidate Doly Begum, NDP candidate Fatima Shaban, and Green Party candidate Pooja Malhotra were the three main party contenders participating. Conservative candidate Diana Filipova did not attend.
The byelections in Scarborough Southwest, University-Rosedale and Terrebonne in Quebec will take place on April 13. Carney's Liberals need to win two of the races to secure a majority government.
The debate focused on issues including housing affordability, food insecurity, immigration, Canada-U.S. relations, and healthcare. It was organized by the Daily Bread Food Bank and located at the Birchcliff Bluffs United Church near the corner of Warden Avenue and Kingston Road.
There were also two fringe-party candidates participating: David Vedova of the Christian Heritage Party and Lyall Sanders of the Centrist Party. The rules of the debate were that candidates of parties that didn’t have seats in the House of Commons could only speak during opening and closing remarks.
Begum, who was the Ontario NDP’s deputy leader from 2022 to 2026 before switching to the federal Liberals, had the most notoriety of anyone on stage.
The debate began with introductions from all five candidates.
“For those nearly eight years, I worked hard on the promises and mandates of the NDP. Better healthcare, more reliable public transit, affordable housing, and programs that make life easier for our families,” said Begum in her opening remarks.
The debate began with a discussion of the cost of living in Scarborough, where Shaban touted the NDP’s platform on the issue.
“The NDP is going to take price gouging very seriously,” she said. “If you guys know, we have a new leader, Avi Lewis, who actually campaigned on public-owned groceries. So, farmers, Canadian farmers, can (sell their products at) publicly-owned government groceries, government-owned groceries, so that we can bring down the price of food.”
Although she highlighted her record with the progressive NDP, Begum was clear that her party switch was motivated by satisfaction with Prime Minister Mark Carney’s policies, especially his Build Canada Homes Plan and leadership during the tariff crisis.
“We need to get into the business of building more homes,” she said. “And he started doing exactly that.”
Begum highlighted the Build Canada Homes Plan, the $13 billion initiative to accelerate new home construction.
There was a lengthy discussion about affordable housing, which included input from Green candidate Malhotra, Begum and Shaban.
“We need permanent solutions,” Malhotra said. “We can't have band-aid solutions where we're just building point blank. We also can't be building houses that are paper-thin. We need more co-op housing; we need more social housing.”
While the Liberal candidate praised the Carney government’s national housing plan, Begum focused on needs specific to her riding.
“Cooperative housing is a model that works. You have families that grow there, that have built their families. It is a community,” she said, citing a project at 777 Victoria Park Ave.
At one point, Shaban criticized Carney’s military budget, saying the money could have gone to things like housing and social services. Malhotra echoed her sentiments.
“That's a lot of housing units. That's a lot of investment that we could do in healthcare,” Shaban said.
The debate returned to its pocket-book theme for the rest of the night.
When Begum said she wants to fund food and educational programs, Shaban countered by saying Carney is headed in a different direction and that he has been "reigning from the right.”
On the issue of transportation, the NDP candidate lamented the lack of public transit feasibility in Scarborough, quipping that using transit to get to the Scarborough Town Centre would "take you as long as going to Ottawa.”
The Green Party’s Malhotra agreed. She said she didn’t drive, so she needed to take it, and lamented the Liberal government’s cuts to public transportation.
“One hundred per cent on board with more transit because I also have to use it,” she said.
Later in the debate, the candidates were given “yes or no” plaques to hold up for answering “rapid fire” questions. These included questions about foreign policy, a wealth tax, big businesses, and, most humorously, if the Blue Jays will win the World Series.
While most candidates answered along party lines, Begum faced criticism from some in the audience for refusing to answer the question.
“Answer the question, Doly!” one woman yelled.
In a post-debate interview, Shaban said the NDP needs to do to regain party status. The party also needs to deal with their new leader and his rift with the provincial parties.
“People are really excited about a leader that has a very strong stand on the environment, on housing,” she said. “He is this fresh energy and really strong on the things that we champion as the NDP and just pushing even harder and harder.”
Shaban said the rift between the Alberta NDP and Lewis centres on the provincial party’s focus on their fossil fuel-driven economy.
“The Alberta NDP is focusing on Alberta specifically. And I think for them, their gas and oil are very important,” she said. “So, I think it's a little bit in contention with the Great New Deal.”
Shaban conceded the party must be better at marketing its platform to voters.
“Because as I said, we were incredibly effective in the last government,” she said. “We have pushed for pharmacare, dental care, child care, (and) anti-SCAB legislation.”
