David Reimer, Christian Heritage Kildonan-St. Paul

Why do you want this job?

I believe that Canada needs a change, like a makeover. We need a restoration of honesty, integrity, morality and government. I believe that some of our values that we enjoyed and helped to build our country have now been eroded over the last three years or so. I want to restore Canada; I want to help to restore Canada to its greatness.

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

I believe personally, and our party believes, that we need to protect the sanctity of life from the time of conception to natural death. We are in favour of the sanctity of life, we are in favour for the sanctity of marriage and we believe in the preamble to ourConstitution, which states, "Whereas Canada was founded upon the principles that recognize thesupremacy of God and the rule of law."

What would you do with the Senate?

We want to see the Senate reformed. We would prefer an elected Senate versus an appointed Senate. Wedon't believe that the party in power should appoint their own preferred senators, and that's why we have the scandals that we have right now, is because of that very reason. We would like to see the number reduced drastically, by half, and so representing the regions and population of the country.

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

What needs to be pointed out is that I have many, manysolid friends and solid relationships with First Nations people. So my reputationand my position and my relationship with First Nation peopleisvery strong. I would like to see First Nation people having their own self-government and I believe that some of the treaties need to be revisited and the promises need to be fulfilled. There are some that are now outdated, but there are some that need to be validated.

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

I don't believe this is only a government issue. I believe that every single citizen in ourcountry needs to take part, and we all need to do our part as good stewards. We all have responsibility, and it's a shared responsibility. The government should take initiative and they should provide directives to the people on what they could be doing as citizens.

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

Proportional representation, which every Western democracy, outside of Great Britain, United States and Canada, has some form of proportional representation. In that way, every single voice would be heard, every single vote would count.

Under what circumstances is deficit spending a good choice?

Only in absolute extreme conditions if we were facing a global recession that was putting our country into total recession, and the only way that we could help our economy remain strong is byimprovingour infrastructure, and in order to do that we need to spend money to help create jobs and improve infrastructure. Or if there was a world war that we had to spendon national defence beyond what we could afford with our taxes. Or if there was a nationalcatastrophe.

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

We have to obviously be proactive. We can't just be reactive and just sentence every single person that commits a crime and give them a jail sentence. We have to be proactive. We have to do more to try and keep people out of jail.

I know that there are many great programs both in the arts and in athletics. Schools are doing a good job in keeping the students active and engaged inintramural sports, drama clubs, chessclubs, debate and spelling competitions.Schools try to keep students occupied and give them asense of achievement, but still, we realize that there are children falling through the cracks.

What we need to do is make sure that our community clubs openthe door to as manyparticipants as possible. We support aninitiative that's calledKidSport, where many people, particularly athletes that have made a lot of money, they give back. They give back donations to kids be able to afford their sports equipment.

What should be done about homegrown terrorism?

We need to be more careful in screening people who are coming to Canada as immigrants immigrants, notrefugees. We have to be careful to screen people coming fromcountriesthat practice radical extremism.

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

I would not go, and that's because of my personal convictions, my personal view. We are pro-life, pro-traditional marriage. So we believe that God's definition of marriage is of one man and one woman. This does not mean we are homophobic. We do not hate gay people,but we believe that God's original plan is one woman and one man joined together in marriage. We believe that gay couples should beentitled to livetogetherunder civil unionsbut not defined as marriage.

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

When my mother had a stroke, they were not able to place her into a nursing home in Steinbach, where I live. So they had to place her in a care facility and a personal care home an hour away from Steinbach. Me and my wife can drive, but what was extremelydifficultandchallenging for us as a family is that my father, who was 93 years old at the time, for him it was a major burden to travel an hour each way to see his wife. The care that was given was first-class. However, she lived many years in this community and when she needed help, she was not able to be placed in a care facility right in her own hometown.

What would you do to get more people to vote?

When I go to door-to-door, I basically tell them who I am andaskthem to read my material and compare withother political parties, and thento vote for the one that will best represent them. I don't tell them to vote for me or nobody, I tell them to vote and period.

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

It depends on what part of Canada you're living in. If you live in rural Canada, obviously you'd say roads, but the urban population issaying rapid transit. Because of the fact that most of Manitoba is rural, I believe that dollars should be spent on roads.

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

In my younger years, before I had a major life change, I did smoke marijuana. I would not support legalizing marijuana because who's to say what a small amount is? The marijuana that is available to kids todayis not the same marijuana I experimented [with] when I was young, and [it's]far moreaddictive today. It is without a doubt an entry-level drug.