Last night’s debate at Nipissing University highlighted the Green Party and NDP platforms. Those were the two candidates who accepted the invitation to attend. Notably, the Liberals and Conservatives were absent.
The Nipissing University Political Science Society, which hosted the debate, did not invite candidates whose parties received less than 2 per cent of the vote in the last election. Hence four candidates received the call, Liberal, PC, NDP, and Green.
See: Local candidates square off at Nipissing Theatre
David Tabachnick, a Political Science professor at Nipissing University, who helped the Nipissing University Political Science Society organize the debate, shared his thoughts on the missing candidates with BayToday.
Speaking of Vic Fedeli’s absence, Tabachnick said, “I think this is generally a strategy that comes from provincial party headquarters. They did this during the last election cycle where there were very limited opportunities for candidates to talk to the media, and that was the same for debates.”
Tabachnick found it exceptional that Fedeli even participated in the one debate hosted by Cogeco. When he tried to reach Fedeli to invite him to last night’s debate, “It was very difficult to communicate with the campaign, but ultimately I did get word back that Fedeli was not going to participate.”
See: Local candidates respectfully tackle the issues on cable TV
Tabachnick noted the PC’s strategy of keeping candidates away from the public during this election “Is kind of a weak strategy, although perhaps successful for the party, but you’re not putting a lot of confidence behind your candidate, are you?”
He noted the point is to avoid any public gaffs or mistakes – the less candidates say, the less chance there is of controversy – but that tactic removes the individual and relies more heavily on the Party’s reputation.
Tabachnick added the strategy “Is troubling and bad for democracy now, but it’s probably good for the party. They don’t trust their candidates to not make mistakes.”
As for Liam McGarry, the Liberal candidate for our riding, Tabachnick wouldn’t even give him the credit of being called a parachute candidate.
Tabachnick noted, “He hasn’t even gotten out of the plane, let alone parachute in, he hasn’t gotten off the tarmac, so I don’t know if we can call him a parachute candidate. He has zero presence. A parachute candidate is someone who appears in a riding and becomes the candidate.”
That requires showing up, and by all accounts, McGarry hasn’t stepped foot in the riding since the election was called. The Nipissing University Political Science Society reached out to the Liberals several times for comment, with no response. The same is true for BayToday. All messages to the party went unanswered.
Tabachnick concluded, “It seems to me there is no riding association at all for the Liberals here in Nipissing.” However, he added it’s important for the Liberals to have a full slate of candidates to bolster the party’s image.
As for the candidates who did participate in last night’s debate, each had words on the absentee candidates.
Colton Chaput, the Green Party candidate, noted he was happy to participate, “A really important part of our democracy is having our candidates available, telling people what they’re going to bring to the table.”
Further, Chaput noted, “I can’t really hide my disappointment that these parties would sidestep the debate without giving much of a reason why. They don’t want to be accountable to the people and answer their questions.”
NDP candidate Loren Mick held a similar opinion, “From what I’ve been hearing in the news it seems to be a recurring theme, Ontario PC candidates not showing up to debates. That speaks volumes. We’re a tight-knit community in the north, we look out for each other, and part of that is showing up. We need our representatives to be here for the people.”
When asked if he was excited about this election, Tabachnick said he’s a political science professor, “So I do get excited about elections.”
And as a voter? “No, I would say it was an unnecessary election. Maybe the PC’s will pick up a few more seats, maybe they will lose some, but they’ll still be the majority government.”
Tabachnik added, “They already had the mandate in the first place, that’s what having a majority government means. It seems like a craven, crass attempt to stay in office longer, knowing that the NDP and Liberals didn’t have a lot of momentum.”
David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.