‘I don’t understand it’: Why are Barrie, Simcoe County PC Party candidates skipping out on debates?
Accountability Assembly moderator and Empower Simcoe chief executive officer Claudine Cousins (right), with candidates Beverley Patchell, Elyse Robinson and Jeff Lehman during the event held at Grace United Church May 11. Incumbent Doug Downey declined an invitation to attend. | Shawn Gibson/BarrieToday
From Simcoe.com, May 24, 2022
By Chris Simon, Frank Matys
Barrie-area debate organizers are expressing disappointment over the decision by Progressive Conservative Party candidates to decline their event invitations ahead of the June 2 election.
Of five known candidate forums held among two Barrie-area ridings as of May 20, there has been only one appearance by a PC candidate — Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte (BSOM) incumbent MPP Doug Downey participated in a forum held by the Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP) Barrie chapter May 16.
Downey chose not to attend the Accountability Assembly hosted by several community groups May 11, as well as a virtual debate run by Just Recovery Simcoe the following day.
“Doug has been invited to a number of debates, but with the busy schedule over the campaign period we aren’t able to attend them all,” Downey’s campaign manager, James Nicol, told Simcoe.com.
Candidates from other parties with representation in the Ontario legislature — the NDP, Liberals and Greens — attended the aforementioned events. Generally, candidates from smaller parties, like Ontario and New Blue, have not been invited.
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