All-candidates debates for provincial election cancelled in Windsor

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All-candidates debates in three local ridings that were to be organized by the Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce for the upcoming provincial election have been cancelled. 

Ryan Donally, the chamber’s president and chief executive officer, said one party had declined to take part in the debates while some candidates had yet to be chosen. Only one party out of the three local ridings had fielded complete slates for the debates. 

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“Two of the parties had only submitted one candidate for us and one of the parties had informed us that they were choosing not to participate in local debates.” 

A source with knowledge of the debates said that party was the Progressive Conservatives. 

Eligible parties include all those who have representation at Queen’s Park – the Progressive Conservatives, the Liberals, the NDP and the Green Party.  

“When we made the decision (to cancel), we’re not in a position that we felt that it was OK to put a single candidate up on stage to essentially debate against nobody,” he said. 

The affected ridings for the debates are Windsor West, Windsor–Tecumseh and Essex. 

“The integrity of what we were going to be able to put on stage at that time … was not going to be good,” said Donally. 

The chamber was set to hold all three debates Feb. 19 at the Serbian Centre, which would be broadcast on YourTV/Windsor local cable television. 

The format will now move to fireside chats, he said.  

There was also fairly low registration to attend the debates. 

“The registration was extremely low for a not-for-profit. We need to look at every event and see if we have the ability to at least come close to breaking even. And we were looking at a significant financial loss.” 

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The chamber had to secure a date and make a decision earlier this week on whether to hold the debates, Donally said. Cable television also had to make arrangements for the debates. 

Waiting until later on in the election – set for Feb. 27 – wasn’t an option considering the logistics of both the chamber and local cable television, he said. 

Other chambers, which typically hold all-candidates in ridings throughout Ontario, have also cancelled debates, Donally said. “We’re not the first chamber to move away from doing traditional debates into different formats. And not just this year. They have happened in past.” 

Lisa Gretzky, the NDP candidate for Windsor West, said in an email she was “disappointed but not surprised” by the cancelled debates. “I was looking forward to speaking to voters on how a NDP government would support businesses and workers during this unprecedented time,” she said. 

Donally said the chamber plans to hold all-candidates debates for the next federal election. 

“We look forward to seeing a full slate of candidates so we can put on a high-quality debate for both the people in person and the audiences at home to get to know them.” 

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In Windsor-Tecumseh the registered candidates are Andrew Dowie for the PCs, Kyle Ford for the Communist Party, Steven Gifford for the Ontario Party, Gemma Grey-Hall for the NPD, Sophia Sevo for the New Blue Party and Roxanne Tellier for the Greens. 

In Windsor West registered candidates are Mark Dewdney for the None of the Above Direct Democracy Party, Tony Francis for the PCs, Matthew Giancola for the Ontario Party, Lisa Gretzky for the NDP, Joshua Griffin for the New Blue Party and Nick Kolasky for the Greens.  

In Essex candidates are Brigette Belton for the New Blues, Stephen Higgins for the Greens, Travis Jacques for the Ontario Party, Anthony Leardi for the PCs, Kevin Linfield for the None of the Above Democracy Party, Rachael Mills for the NDP, Tamara Stomp for the Liberals and William Szabo Verzoc as an independent. 

Declared candidates for Chatham-Kent — Leamington include Matthew Davey for the Green Party, Trevor Jones for the Progressive Conservative Party, Rhonda Jubenville for the New Blue Party, Bill Kirby for the Liberal party, Christian Sachs for the NDP and Phillip St-Laurent for the Ontario Party. 

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