Let’s talk about communication.
On Wednesday, February 12 at 6:43 p.m., PC Candidate Amy Martin posted to Facebook:
“My campaign agreed to participate in an all candidates debate organized by the Haldimand Press on the understanding that multiple candidates from all recognized parties would be participating. It has since become clear that representatives from no other parties will be attending. This information was not communicated to us in advance by the debate organizers. As a result, we have made the decision to withdraw from tonight’s event.”
Martin is correct that we did not reach out to advise her, or any candidate, on the status of other candidates’ attendance.
Had Martin ever entered the hall that evening, I would have approached her to welcome her and update her personally on the last minute withdrawal of the Liberal candidate earlier that day and the inability of other candidates, two of whom had only registered in the last couple of days, to attend. I welcome her feedback that we should have sent her a message earlier so she could better prepare for the evening and will make that a point for future debates.
In all honesty, we were so busy scrambling to deal with losing our previously booked moderator on Monday (which we did communicate to candidates when we found a replacement, as the name of the moderator was provided in the candidate debate info packet), and with the potential storm shutting down our venue, that it never occurred to me it was necessary for the candidates to have an updated list of who they would be seated with.
Perhaps that was an oversight. However, I do not see why it ultimately matters for anyone’s participation. A candidate debate is a chance for each candidate – who is willing and available – to share their views with constituents, not the other candidates.
Martin said she wouldn’t participate because “no other parties will be attending”. To be clear, all registered candidates were invited and one candidate was inside and ready to begin the debate. Unfortunately, it’s not in my power to force anyone to attend. This was on full display at the last election, when PC candidates across Ontario were not allowed to participate in debates, including Haldimand’s.
But yes, let’s talk communication. I had to email Martin and her team three separate times to get a response on whether she would attend our debate; Martin herself did not acknowledge receipt of a single email. I offered all candidates the opportunity to ask questions if there was anything we had missed on our info sheet; the only question her team asked was if a table would be available for them to set up a display.
And as I watched that same team quickly tearing down their impressive display of stacked signs just 10 minutes before our debate was to begin, I was presented with an unknown person’s phone to read a message from Martin – her public Facebook post withdrawing from the event. That person then played messenger between us and the parking lot as we encouraged Martin to participate, but were ultimately told, by that unknown someone, that Martin’s decision was final.
That was certainly a loud and clear message.
The following day Martin took to Facebook again, this time to post a video to “correct the record”. She stated, “I was ready to debate. I was there…. This is about fairness. It’s about you. I agreed to an all candidates debate, however when I arrived I learned that no other candidates from any other party were there. The organizers knew this and they failed to tell us. The voters deserve to hear from all parties for their vision for Ontario.”
We agree that voters deserve to hear from all candidates for their vision for our community. That’s why we invited them all to the debate, that’s why we’re running profiles on every candidate, and that’s why it was so imperative to have our debate early enough that we could share an overview of that planned debate with our readers before the election (this paper is that last chance!).
Again, we couldn’t magically make all the invited candidates appear, as much as I would love that superpower to get answers out of politicians. An election season is a super busy time, and with such a short campaign season – early votes were already rolling in before the candidate registration closed – there’s bound to be scheduling conflicts and candidates unprepared to hit the ground running. Amy Martin is a very intelligent woman, and I believe she would have the foresight to expect not every candidate might attend.
We did have a candidate present and ready to debate, although Martin appears to think that doesn’t count without “any other party” backing them.
And I don’t blame any of the other candidates for being unable to attend – even the Liberal changing his mind last minute. It’s fair that he felt unprepared and that the others had plans already – they’d all only known they’d be a candidate for about a week or less.
The fact is, the PC Party burned us in 2022 when they denied our request to participate in the debate, and I expected as much this year as well when my first emails went without a response.
If this was truly about an error in communication Amy, I would think you could have had the respect to tell me that directly. You have my cell number in those emails, and of course you knew exactly where to find me on February 12.
You can blame us all you like, but we provided you the opportunity to speak to your constituents on a grand scale. You made the choice to reject that line of communication altogether. You made the choice to join in as one of the 13,000 (and counting) views on our livestream rather than to be one of two candidates showcasing your platform to constituents.
I hope you’re happy with your choice.
