Doug Eyolfson, Liberal — Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia-Headingley

Why do you want this job?

I think there are things that need to be done. A lot of things in our society need to be fixed.

My experience as an emergency physician has given me a very good outlook on a lot of social problems. We're the canary in the coal mine of the health and social safety net and I see the effects of poverty, homelessness, substance abuse, crime and just inadequately treated medical conditions. There are social matters leading to all of these things that we can't fix in hospital.

I do know that there's government policy that can be altered to help with all these matters, and I think I can use my perspective on them to help make positive changes.

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

The answer would be the same for both — the economy, particularly of the lower- and middle-class people. I find that is a tremendous contributor to so many problems, including poor health. When people are economically disadvantaged, that goes hand-in-hand with poor health.

What would you do with the Senate?

It needs some reforming. The first thing it needs is much greater surveillance of how money is spent so that we know our money is being used properly.

I believe we should have an appointed Senate, but I don't think it should just be appointed by a leader. I would be personally in favour of a non-partisan committee that would look at people's qualifications and find the best people to fill the posts.

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

Education is the big thing. I think people just need to understand what makes people different and the fact that our differences actually make this country more interesting.

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

I think we need to decrease our dependency on fossil fuels. There are a number of ways that can be technically feasible as well as economically feasible.

One of the planks in our platform is that we want to decrease subsidies to the oil companies. We want to start investing money in green technologies — solar and wind.

There's been a lot of experience in jurisdictions in the United States and in Europe where they make investments in these kinds of energy production. This creates a large number of manufacturing jobs, which are good for the economy. Once you start manufacturing a lot of this equipment, you get the economies of scale that make these types of energy more efficient. It becomes good for the environment and workable because it's good for the economy.

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

The example that comes to mind for me is Germany. From what I've been reading on different policies, I'm impressed with Germany's social safety net, particularly for young people and young families. They have a tremendous support system so there is robust daycare and there is subsidization so young, single women end up going back to work very quickly and look after their children and live in good homes.

Under what circumstances is deficit spending a good choice?

When you have matters that you need to spend money on, that are necessary for the wellbeing of Canadians, I think it is irresponsible not to spend that money even if you risk going into deficit.

The infrastructure is in great need of repair — roads, bridges. We're behind in the state of our infrastructure and we need to make major investments in how that is funded. If the only way to fund that were with a deficit, it would be irresponsible to attempt to balance the budget.

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

Addressing poverty and making sure that when people do offend they receive rehabilitation. Sometimes incarceration is necessary, but that incarceration cannot just simply be locking someone away for long periods of time. People need to be rehabilitated, they need to be given job training and skills, and they need to be equipped to be productive members of society when they are released, so that crime is no longer the best option for them to make a living.

What should be done about homegrown terrorism?

Education and inclusion. A lot of young people who become so-called homegrown terrorists have heard messages from outside. Meanwhile at home, if they're marginalized due to their race, their religion, their personality or they find themselves alone, isolated and hostile, they can find themselves susceptible to messages that come over a media like the internet. Terrorism can seem like a way of making themselves important.

I think if we make sure that all elements of society are included, that no one feels excluded and that people realize that society is not hostile to them, they won't find terrorism to be anything of interest to them.

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

Absolutely. We have to be inclusive of all people in our society. The LGBT population is a particularly marginalized population. I think we need to, as a society, make a strong statement and say, "You are included in our society."

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

My family has been very, very fortunate. We've been in good health. We have had very little in the way of frustration with the health-care system on a personal level. I see those on a professional level in my job, but nothing that's happened to me on a personal level.

What would you do to get more people to vote?

Education. We need to change the laws. We have an agency called Elections Canada that under the Fair Elections Act is prohibited from actually telling people to go out and vote. That's a law that needs to be changed. Elections Canada should be allowed to put the message out to the public to vote.

We also need to increase public awareness, not just at the party level but also at the public level. All broadcasters should be putting out the message. If there's a requirement to have free time to put out that message, that should be done. But everyone should know that it's their duty to vote.

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

It's tricky. We do need to look at transit. I think the bigger priority is the transit system in general as opposed to the rapid transit. If you compare the amount of people using rapid transit to the amount of people using the roads, including those on other transit, the priority would probably be on the roads. I think it's going to affect more people if the roads are fixed.

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

Whether or not I've tried it is a personal matter I would put under things like my medical history, so it's not something I would talk about.

I certainly support legalizing the possession and purchase of it. I think that the current system of laws do not do anything to make the community safer. I think prohibition is a failure. It's widespread in the community and the fact that it's illegal is a large criminal enterprise, which is actually making the community quite unsafe.

I've seen this from my own personal experience at work. I look after a lot of victims of violence, and much of that is violence of gang members involved in the drug trade. We need to get this out of the hands of criminals and into the hands of responsible licensed vendors.

This will also get it out of the hands of kids. We have the highest rate of marijuana usage among youth in the entire industrialized world because they have absolutely unrestricted access to it. They actually use it much more than alcohol because it's easier to get.

What we need to do is regulate it the way we do alcohol. You have to go to a licensed vendor and you have to produce ID to prove you're an adult. And when you regulate it like that, you can also tax it. That can create a revenue stream that's going into our general revenue, including things like infrastructure, as opposed to profits for criminal gangs.