Inky Mark, independent Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa

Why do you want this job?

I'm disgusted by the way this country's being governed by dictator Stephen Harper, and the people in this riding are disgusted.

The MP that was basically handed the job on a silver spoon doesn't reflect the values of the people who live here. He just parrots his leader Stephen Harper. He's basically a Harper-trained seal. That's the quickest way to put it.

What's the biggest issue for the country and in your riding?

Democracy. Democracy is being attacked from every angle, whether it's environment, health care, even just having a say in this riding.

This is an agricultural community, and the constituents support the Canadian Wheat Board and all the other cultural support programs that were basically trashed and killed by Harper while the local guys supported it all. It just goes against the grain of thepeople that live here.

What would you do with the Senate?

The Senate needs to be elected. Harper had 10 years to reform the Senate. He had lots of time, but he didn't do anything. All he did was appoint all the senators, and then he used many of them to get the prime minister job, and then hethrew them under the bus.

It has to be elected, and it has to represent the regions. We cannot keep appointing people. It doesn't make sense.

Winnipeg was described as the most racist city in Canada. What would you do to combat racism?

The only way you cancombatracism is through education. People need to be educated and we need to promote the idea that racism is not tolerated through the school systems, education programs, public forums.

But racism and poverty go handinhand. Unless we deal with poverty, you're going tohave racism, because poverty and crime, it's all in the same pot. You can't fix one without fixing the other one.

What role should the federal government play in dealing with climate change?

Lots, lots, lots. Number 1, the government of Canada has to accept the science of climate change and the effects it has on our economy.

The green economy is a growing economy itmakes sense. Theworld has to accept the idea that we have to go back to making products that will last a lifetime. We need to use less products and have less waste because a throwaway society isn't working.

[We should create] legislation. Less plastics, more recycling, change the focus on oil to solar, wind, water. I mean, other countries are doing that. Even our neighbours in thesouth are doing that. If the Americans are doing it, why aren't we?

If there was one government policy you think is done better in another country, what is it?

GMO labelling and glyphosate use. Europe seems to beanti-GMO and also anti-glyphosate. And even South America is realizing that GMOs are the wrong way to go. The problem with North America is that we got suckered intobelieving thatconvenient is the way to go, but it's not.

We have to look at other ways of controlling weeds. Wehave to start reducing the use of chemicals. I think that's creating all the health problems we have.California has even legislated against use of glyphosates. It's slowly developing, but withthis country, we need to do GMO labelling so we know what we're getting into.

Under what circumstances is deficit spending a good choice?

I believe in deficit spending. And Ibelievethe way [Liberal Leader]Justin [Trudeau]'s going about it makes sense. Even though he'll say we'll have a deficit for four or fiveyears, it may drag on.

You cannot totallycontrol the economy, and the reason for that is you cannot lead people and have no income. The economy cannot just collapsebecause you're broke and you can't spend any more money. From that point, I don't believe in the austerity approach because it doesn't work. There's still limits on spending, but spend wisely not wastefully like Harper does.

What do you believe is the single most effective way to fight crime?

Education and job training. Crime is usually sociological. Criminals usually comefrom an impoverished background, uneducated ormentalheath.

I say the best way to deal with crime is to go back to the roots of it,which is the family and theeconomic circumstance of where they grew up, where they go to school influences of the youth. It's like everything else. If you don't nip it in the bud, it can grow up to be a pretty awful thing. Ibelieve in education. I guess I'm biased as a former teacher that education is the solution for a lot of our problems.

What should be done about homegrown terrorism?

In a way, that's sort of a misnomer.In many articles I've read, the chance of being struck by homegrown terrorism is greater than being struck by lightning. But at the sametime, we stillhave to be aware of the people coming into this country, be aware of the circumstances.

I think in an open society like ours and an open democracy where people can express their point of view and in a society which is compassionate like ours I don't think you're going to get a lot of homegrown terrorism.

And [we should] help people with mental illness. Even these mass shootingsin the States, most of them are, well, they all basically have mental problems.

I read an interesting article. We talk about Islamicextremists. Well, we don't talk about Christian extremists in the same way when we talk about the KKK, right? They're extremists, they're Christians.Why don't we call them terrorists? They do the same thing. They evict terror on the people, especially if you're black. They're the same, and they're Christian.

If there was a gay pride parade in your riding, would you go? Why or why not?

Certainly. Gay or not gay, they're people. I've always taken that approach my whole life people come first. We're all human beings. We all eat and sleep the same way. We all have differences of opinion. What we do in our own homes is our business.

If you're a decent person, a decent human being, why would I discriminate [against] you because you think differently about sexual practice or religion?I should still treat you like a human being.

Have either you or your family had a frustrating experience with the health-care system, and what would you do to fix the problem?

Well, livingin thecountry, we always have doctor shortages.

The other thing iscentralization of the health system is the worst damn thing theycould have done, because all it did was create more administrativejobs and lessdirect health care. All it did was create more hassle. People have todrive farther, and that problem from '96 has just grown. It's horrible right now.

In fact, today I was talking to a councillor in Grandview about the health system, and their big concern is just getting doctors to their community and staying.

If I had my way, I would go back to local hospitalboards, which is basically the most efficient way of operating. This health district goes all the way from Swan River right to the American border.Isn't that kind of insane? It's worse than the federal riding that I want to represent [the size is] bad enough.

What would you do to get more people to vote?

You have to be a magician.

I would think,probably, it starts in school. Kids have to be educated to vote. I think we have to start young. I think we have to basically show the kids how important it is, why we vote in a democracy. That's one of the key planks is our right of franchise.

I think it's changing slowly. The problem is youth are too centered on their own life at this point in time, whether it's education, getting a job, starting a young family. Until they get to be 40 or 50 and realize how much government impacts their life 24/7, then they takeinterest unless they comefrom afamily that talks a lot about civics and politics.

What's a better use of federal dollars: fixing roads or building rapid transit infrastructure?

Dependswhereyou live. If you're living in an urban environment like Winnipeg, you needinfrastructure for moving people. If you livein the country, well, we need good roads, too. For me, it's roads out in this area. We don't have any kind of mass transit.

Would you support legalizing a small amount of marijuana? Have you ever tried it?

Totally, and yes, I have. I smoked marijuana back in the '60s when Iwasin college. It's not big deal. It's a natural product, a natural plant.

Mankind has been using it for over 4,000 years in a medicinal way, and it's probably the solution for a lot of our illnesses.

I still believe that medicinal marijuana [should] be legal, and Ibelieve in legalizing recreational marijuana as well, because it's nuts to lock people up for smoking marijuana. We don't do that in this country, but Americans do. It's long overdue.