Ontario voters should be mad as heck. Progressive Conservative candidates are making it a habit of not showing up at local election debates.
I am not talking about a couple of no-shows. The media is reporting dozens and dozens of local election forums where the PCs failed to participate. One of the largest was a televised session organized by the Archdiocese of Toronto on behalf of its 225 parishes. Although the Liberals, NDP and Greens all agreed to attend, the Tories wouldn’t even acknowledge the invitation and the event was cancelled.
Although the central PC campaign refuses to admit that they have directed their candidates to avoid these types of events, the evidence is overwhelming. Several unnamed PC insiders have admitted that this is the way the Ford campaign is playing the game, and Neil Lumsden, the P.C. candidate in Hamilton-East—Stoney Creek, told the Hamilton Spectator that he had stayed away from an election forum on the direct orders of the central Tory campaign.
It's easy to understand the PC strategy. When you are ahead in the polls, why risk an appearance at an all-candidates meeting where awkward questions might be asked or more importantly, awkward answers might be given?  In these days of social media, one misstep by a local candidate can create a firestorm that can be felt across the province.
Wouldn’t it make more sense to go door-knocking instead?
As someone who participated in dozens of all-candidates meetings and election forums, I understand the temptation to skip them. They tend to be poorly attended and those that do show up have often made up their minds. In addition, election debates usually occur in the early evening which is prime door-knocking time.
For new candidates, these types of meetings can be extremely stressful and involve hours of preparation. For veterans, they can be mind-numbingly dull and if the meeting is hosted by a group that is hostile to your policies, quite dispiriting.
I also understand why the PCs might be particularly wary of these gatherings. All-candidates meetings tend to be organized by social activist organizations that favour more government spending, regulation, and higher taxes on the wealthy. Despite the Tories' promise to spend like their opponents, they often don’t get a warm reception.
My response to all these realities is simple: Nobody has any sympathy for you.
By agreeing to become a candidate you are agreeing to be accessible, accountable, and prepared to meet and talk with any voter about any subject. You are now a public figure and need to behave like one.
Elections are auditions. Candidates are trying out for the role of local Member of Provincial Parliament and, guess what, the life of an MPP is not all sunshine and lollipops. A major part of the job is meeting with constituents who disagree with your policy position — often in public meetings or forums. As an MPP, I recall dozens of heated town hall-type gatherings with large groups of angry constituents loaded for bear. None of them had probably ever voted for me and most would likely spend the next election trying to defeat me.
But I went to those meetings anyway.
Why? Because it was part of the job.
And part of the job of a candidate is to go to all-candidates meetings and hear people out. To boycott them to gain a partisan edge is demonstrating the worst kind of political cynicism. It is sending a message that all you care about is winning the most votes, not representing all the citizens of your riding.
Before my horse gets too high, I have a confession to make. As a candidate I did skip the odd all-candidates meeting for one simple reason — sometimes there were simply too many. Multiple community groups decided to organize forums over many nights and rebuffed suggestions that they try to merge the meetings.
But that is not what I am talking about. This is not a scheduling issue. This is an apparent systematic strategy to keep Progressive Conservative candidates away from local election forums.
Many may argue that this is inside baseball. With all the problems facing our province, whether a PC candidate shows up at some local election forum may appear to be of little importance.
I disagree. I believe that this strategy should cause all of us to pause and wonder about a potential second-term Doug Ford government. To what extent will it be prepared to meet and hear the voices of those that disagree with their party’s policies? Will it even care what others think?
One of the biggest criticisms of the pre-pandemic Ford government was its tendency to steamroll over anyone who stood in its way. Is the current strategy suggesting that not much has changed?
John Milloy is a former MPP and Ontario Liberal cabinet minister currently serving as the director of the Centre for Public Ethics and assistant professor of public ethics at Martin Luther University College, and the inaugural practitioner in residence in Wilfrid Laurier University’s Political Science department. He is also a lecturer in the University of Waterloo’s master of public service program. John can be reached at <a href="mailto:jmilloy@luther.wlu.ca">jmilloy@luther.wlu.ca</a> or follow him on Twitter <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://twitter.com/john_milloy__;!!AlmGDlt8!yki9HPOCRiv5XjdB1VlxEqeGtkVFC1QlfCsIQ18br0jgoshzWlF4hyfo9IrzXiQ7U-oZZB61HcV7bgf53TsR$">@John_Milloy</a>.

Milloy: The PC boycott of local election forums is unacceptable

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