Voters in Red Deer's two electoral districts got a chance to see their candidates in action Thursday night.
The Red Deer Chamber of Commerce, along with the Red Deer College Student's association, hosted the event.
Seven out of the 10 candidates were in attendance. For Red Deer – Mountain View, only Liberal Candidate Gary Tremblay was missing, while for Red Deer – Lacombe, Conservative Party candidate Blaine Calkins and Green Party candidate Sarah Palmer were absent. In a statement, Calkins said he had come down with an illness.
A wide range of topics were covered, including tuition debt, home affordability, Indigenous rights, equalization payments, pipelines, trade, the budget and party whips.
"I think the debate was a great exchange," said the moderator, Ken Kobly. "I think overall people were polite, they were willing to listen to candidates that may have disagreed or had different positions then they agreed with, so I think it was a good exchange of information."
Those in the crowd had the chance to write in questions for the forum as well.
"Getting written questions from the crowd in my opinion is the best type of forum where the folks who are actually here, took the time to come, could actually get an answer to their question that's important to them," said Kobly.
Voters will head to the polls on Oct. 21.
