[Dion]

I attended a candidates forum in Nanton this evening for the Livingston MacLeod region. The community hall was packed with people standing 2 deep on the sides and in the back. There were 6 parties at this forum, NDP, UCP, AB, Lib, Green and AB Independence.

I felt bad for the AB party candidate as most of the questions were directed at the NDP or UCP. That said all parties were invited to answer any questions brought forward.

Questions raised were on the economy, jobs, carbon tax, gsa, mental health and the negativity used by parties in this election. A good variety of answers were given and much appreciated by the audience.

The NDP guy tried to defend the demonization of a person but got roundly booed by the audience. People are generally not happy with the negativity and said parties should focus more on defending their platforms and telling us what they are going to do for us.

The downside was it got heated at times and people were yelling snide remarks at the NDP candidate. Sadly the moderator did nothing to stop this.

In the end they had to cut short the question and answer period as they were running out of time. It was good to see a packed hall and people taking an interest in what candidates had to say.