It was a little bit of déjà vu at the Empire Theatre in downtown Belleville on Tuesday as the site was once again host to a candidates debate in Bay of Quinte riding for an upcoming election.
This time, it was the federal candidates that took part.
Candidates included the Conservative incumbent Ryan Williams, the Liberals’ Chris Malette, the NDP’s Kate Crothers and the Green Party’s Erica Charlton.
Once again moderating the event was the president of the Belleville Chamber of Commerce, Chris Auger, in partnership with the Central Lakes Association of Realtors.
The debate was formatted as follows:
- Each candidate presented an opening statement for three minutes.
- A question and answer section that saw each candidate having a chance to be the first to answer a question, with the initial responder getting two minutes, followed by one-minute responses from the other candidates, and a one-minute rebuttal from the initial responder. The questions were randomly drawn.
- An independent questions section where the order of who answered first was selected randomly for each question and each candidate having a minute to respond. Questions were once again randomly drawn.
- Closing statements from each candidate for two minutes each.
All the questions were submitted either online or at the dropbox available at the theatre before the debate began. No questions were taken from the floor.
A strong turnout cheered, booed and in some cases laughed at answers provided by each of the candidates.
A number of topics were broached including housing & affordability, trade and strengthening the relationship with the US, information, transparency and media literacy, and homelessness & social supports among others.
Federal Green Party candidate for the Bay of Quinte riding, Erica Charlton, speaking at the candidates debate at Empire Theatre. April 15, 2025. (Photo: Zach McGibbon/Quinte News)
When it comes to the topic of community safety, Erica Charlton was the first to give her remarks.
She says in order to address the problem, the government has to address the foundational issues.
“We need access to social services. We need access to housing. Crime is directly related to poverty,” Charlton said in her response to the question.
“You want to reduce crime, we need to have affordable housing, access to daycare and transportation that is reliable so that we can keep the community working and we can keep engagement. Preventative health measures like dental care and access to mental health services also reduce crime. These are issues that cause people to leave the workforce, and when you leave the workforce, it’s very hard to get back into the workforce.”
Federal Liberal Party candidate for the Bay of Quinte, Chris Malette, speaking at the candidates debate at Empire Theatre. April 15, 2025. (Photo: Zach McGibbon/Quinte News)
“Crime is actually down, I should add, in Belleville if you look at the recent crime stats,” Chris Malette commented as he prepared to give his response to the question.
He took aim at the Conservatives and the party’s messaging on crime in the country, calling it “rage baiting.”
“An example was when Mr. Poilievre, yesterday (Monday) was asked by a Global TV reporter to give an example of where mass murders have actually been let back out on the street, because Mr. Poilievre came up with this crazy talk idea of invoking the notwithstanding clause to keep people in jail again. A Carney government will toughen the criminal code and make bail laws stricter for violent and organized crime, home invasions, car thefts and human trafficking, including and especially for repeat offenders,”
Federal Conservative Party candidate for the Bay of Quinte, Ryan Williams, speaking at the candidates debate at Empire Theatre. April 15, 2025. (Photo: Zach McGibbon/Quinte News)
Conservative Candidate Ryan Williams says he takes it upon himself to take part in a ride along with Belleville police, specifically requesting being a part of the midnight shift.
“The officers are asking for help. They’re demoralized,” Williams said of reactions he’s gotten from speaking to police.
“They’re talking about not being able to do their job well and what they need for that job are the tools to do their job well. The tools for that are to ensure that the judges have in place the ability to put those that do wrong in jail, repeat violent offenders and those who are dealing and who are manufacturing drugs in this country.”
Federal NDP candidate for the Bay of Quinte, Kate Crothers, speaking at the candidates debate at Empire Theatre. April 15, 2025. (Photo: Zach McGibbon/Quinte News)
Kate Crothers also spoke out against Poilievre’s talk of using the notwithstanding clause, saying that that should worry Canadians.
“We are seeing this down south what is happening when people in power start abusing that power,” Crothers said.
She echoed sentiments from Charlton about addressing foundational issues in order to address crime.
“Putting money to our police force is not the answer. People need to be taken care of in their communities. They need affordable housing. They need mental health services. They need addiction counselling. They need a living wage.”
You can listen to the full debate below:
Audio Player