The candidates who attended last night’s forum pose for a photo. L-R, Alex Gagne (NDP), Dominic LeBlanc (Liberal), Donna Allen (Libertarian), Eddie Cornell (People’s Party). The Conservative and Green Party candidates in the riding declined the invitation to attend

About 150 people who attended an all-candidates forum in Middle Sackville on Tuesday heard some polarizing disinformation along with a wide range of citizens’ questions about the environment, local housing, and poverty.

Donna Allen, the Libertarian Party candidate for the New Brunswick riding of Beauséjour, walked out of the forum after moderator Carol Cooke questioned her facts.

Allen was answering the first question of the evening about the potential recessionary effects in Beauséjour of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian exports.

She noted that Canada should “fix the problem first” before talking to President Trump.

“It’s not a tariff problem. It’s a drug problem. We keep letting drugs like fentanyl into the United States,” Allen said, adding that fentanyl is the number one killer of 18-to-35-year olds.

Cooke interrupted to say that the cross-border flow of fentanyl is not a problem.

“We’re going to fact check as much as we can,” she added, “but fentanyl…has not been a problem.”

“I’ll shut the microphone down right now,” Allen replied saying she was being censored.

“Oh, it wasn’t censorship, it was just fact checking,” the moderator said, apparently referring to figures published by the federal government that show fentanyl seizures by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol at the Canada-U.S. border represent less than 0.1% of U.S. fentanyl seizures between 2022 and 2024.

After Cooke invited another candidate to comment on the tariffs issue, Allen got up and left the room.

People’s Party candidate Eddie Cornell chided members of the audience.

“I see some people laughing out there,” he said. “I think it’s disgraceful. We’re trying to answer your questions in a respectful manner.”

Climate change misinformation

About 150 people attended the forum in the gym at Middle Sackville’s Baptist church. Photo: Erica Butler

Later, when answering the second question of the night, about whether his party would promise not to invest in large fossil fuel projects such as pipelines, Cornell said the People’s Party would accelerate fossil fuel production in Canada.

“That’s key,” he said. “Canada is already basically carbon neutral,” a statement that flies in the face of the facts, but does align with his party’s false claim there is no scientific consensus that greenhouse gas emissions cause climate change.

“The policy debate about global warming is not grounded on science anymore. It has been hijacked by proponents of big government who are using crude propaganda techniques to impose their views,” the People’s Party says on its website.

Cornell also claimed when he answered a question about immigration that Canada follows an “open border policy” letting “everyone in, unvetted.”

He said that immigrants “don’t bring anything to the table” because “they’re not vetted for skills,” adding: “These people are earning thousands of dollars every month, living in hotels while our people are starving, our own citizens.”

To read common myths about immigration including ones expressed by Cornell, click here and here.

Taxing churches: Facebook misinformation

Facebook post claiming Dominic LeBlanc wants to tax churchs. It urges people to vote for his Conservative opponent

Sackville resident Merlin Estabrooks caused a stir when he accused Liberal candidate Dominic LeBlanc of wanting to tax churches.

“When you were finance minister, you’re doing away with the charitable donations that people give for churches,” he claimed.

“A lot of our churches are dying because they haven’t got the finances,” Estabrooks said, adding that if the Conservatives hadn’t blocked it, people wouldn’t be able to claim charitable, church donations on their taxes.

“Mr. Estabrooks, the very premise of your question is false,” LeBlanc answered.

“You’re going with a social media posting that I read that is full of misinformation and, if not, disinformation, that endorses a Conservative candidate who didn’t have the guts to show up at the Middle Sackville Baptist Church tonight to answer questions.” he said.

“You have been misled. When I was finance minister, I had nothing to do with the idea of removing charitable donations for religious organizations. That is completely false. It’s not true. We haven’t done that. We’re not going to do that. We support those charitable donations, and will continue to do so.”

Background

As is often the case, the Facebook misinformation is based on a kernel of truth — a recommendation from the House of Commons Committee on Finance that heard 828 submissions from 74 groups and individuals in its public consultations for the 2025 federal budget.  (Dominic LeBlanc did not serve on this committee as claimed in the misleading Facebook post.)

The Finance Committee accepted the recommendation of one of those groups, the B.C. Humanist Association. It recommended amending the Income Tax Act to create a statutory definition of a charity that would remove the privileged status of “advancement of religion” as a charitable purpose.

The Association pointed out that “advancement of religion” is a relic of English charity law dating back to 1601 and that New Zealand, Australia, England and Wales have modernized their legislation.

Their brief states:

Doing so would eliminate the presumed public benefit of belief. Any organization that is presently registered as advancing religion would simply need to identify how their activities benefit broader Canadian society. That is, what benefit do they provide to those who do not necessarily agree with their orthodoxy or do not attend their services. A church that runs a soup kitchen or homeless shelter relieves poverty, so long as they do not discriminate in the provision of these services. This approach has the added benefit of removing the requirement that bureaucrats arbitrate what constitutes a religion when an organization applies for charitable status.

To read the Association’s brief, click here.

Meantime, Trump-style misinformation seems to have spread to Canada and was on full display for all to see and hear at Tuesday’s all-candidates’ forum in Beauséjour.

This is the first of a two-part series on the Beauséjour all-candidates forum.

Listen to a recording of the forum at  CHMA.com. It will also be broadcast on CFTA 107.9 FM at 1 p.m. on Sunday, April 20.