About 120 people showed up for the final all candidates forum for Moose Jaw-Lake Centre-Lanigan candidates Wednesday night.

The Moose Jaw & District Chamber of Commerce hosted the event at the Golden Nugget Centre on the Moose Jaw Exhibition Grounds. 

A dividing line split up the rows of seats, with a few more spectators in the seats to the left of the crowd microphone.  It was a somewhat symbolic visual, as the crowd appeared to be mostly"left leaning" in their ideology and were vocal in their support of NDP candidate Dustan Hlady.  They clapped loudly for many of his answers, and some even lightly heckled Conservative candidate Tom Lukiwski at various points. 

Hlady and Lukiwski were joined by Liberal candidate Perry Juttla and Robert Thomas of the Rhino party.  Shawn Setyo, the Green Party candidate in Moose Jaw-Lake Centre-Lanigan, was unable to attend. 

The candidates were all allowed five minutes to address the crowd at the start of the forum and make broad statements about their parties' relative strengths, with Hlady touting the NDP promises of "$15 a day daycare" and to "make prescriptioin drugs affordable and available to everybody in Canada". 

Lukiwski addressed the crowd by acknowleding that most already have "their minds made up" on who they will vote for.  Lukiwski defended the Conservatives record under Prime Minister Stephen Harper, saying they are the "only party that is standing for lower taxes", and that "Canadians...workers and businesses are paying less tax than they have in 50 years". 

In his opening remarks, Juttla advocated federal Liberal promises of reopening Veterans Affairs offices that were closed by the government in 2014, and keeping the eligible age for Old Age Security at 65.  That age is scheduled to move to 67 starting in 2023. 

As for Thomas, he says he's running for the Rhino Party "as a comment on what our political system has become...and make this riding's race less boring". 

Outside of one question about the Pro Life/Pro Choice debate, most of the questions were focused on the Canadian economy and other monetary issues such as post-secondary tuition and student loans. 

One audience member asked the candidates to define their positions on the recently signed Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) between Pacific Rim countries.

Conservative candidate Tom Lukiwski defended the deal, which was signed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, but opposed by Tom Mulcair and the NDP.

"It's the biggest trade deal in history and affects over forty per cent of the world's GDP (Gross Domestic Product)," Lukiwski responded. "It's a great deal for Canada and an even better deal for Saskatchewan.  That's why it's so troubling to hear the NDP say they're going to oppose it."

Hlady suggested that the only opposition to the TPP is the finer points of the deal. "We're not against free trade," said Hlady, "but Harper has failed in some very clear ways. Right now in the Canada and the U.S. the auto industry is integrated but the (United States) got a better deal. The U.S. can phase out tariffs in the auto industry over 25 years.  Guess how many (Canada) has to do it in?  Five.  That puts our auto industry at a great advantage."

Liberal leader Justin Trudeau was cautious in his support for the TPP, saying he wanted to look closer at the deal before giving it full approval. Perry Juttla echoed his party leader's sentiment with his response. "I think TPP could be very beneficial for us in Saskatchewan..I think we have to look out for the people in our (industries) and make sure they're not being taken advantage of."

Among the interested observers at the forum was Moose Jaw mayor Deb Higgins, who had voiced some frustration just last week over the lack of public information available from the local candidates. 

She took a turn at the podium and asked the candidates about infrastructure spending, specifically as it pertains to cities the size of Moose Jaw and smaller. The candidate responses didn't amount to much in the way of specifics, something Higgins acknowledged is tough to accomplish in a forum format. 

"At a forum you've only got a minute to give an answer, so it is just kind of a glance over the topic.  What I generally gleaned from the answers was everyone has talked a little bit about infrastructure, so I'll have to delve into it a little more on the (federal party) websites to see what the actual (platform) details are."

This was the last public forum before election day, October 19.