The YM-YWCA of Guelph hosted an laid back open forum for candidates this evening at its Woodland Glen Drive location. Each candidate present was given an (approximate) five-minute intro before people in attendance were able to talk to the candidates one-on-one. In this friendly, open, and surprisingly sunny given the weather engagement, one might have thought that even Conservative candidate Marty Burke would have put in an appearance.
But he didn't
Even though he said he was planning to.
So what's the deal? Interestingly, a source told me that Burke told the Mercury that he would be attending, but he never RSVPed with the organizers at the YMCA. Given this information, it will be interesting to see if Burke will be able to make it to CJOY for their on-air debate tomorrow morning. Still, the Burke campaign is moving full steam ahead with their own plans. It was reported today that Jim Flaherty will be coming to town sometime later this week for a speech and possible door-knocking. The exact details are not clear, but it's expected the media will be asked to pay an admission fee before being allowed to ask the Finance Minister some questions.
Yeah, I'm not bitter.
Here's some photos from the candidate's forum
Posts
2 comments:
So I get the whole thing about Marty Burke. It's really disappointing, but what about the other candidates?
I'm really curious what was said there, what people thought, what you thought and how well the candidates spoke.
I am following you on your blog and really appreciating the info and your perspective though. I'm from Guelph, but I'm not home, so your blog is really helping to keep me updated on the whole campaign while away from home. THANK YOU! :)
Stacey
Hey Stacery123,
Thank you for reading. To answer your question, the reason I didn't write much about what the candidates said is because a lot of it was reiterated in previous write ups about their platform. The thing about these meets when you go to them all is that you sort of hear the same stuff. That's not a criticism, that's the nature of campaigning.
It was a much more personal sort of forum anyway where the candidates could spend one-on-one time with voters. The substance of those exchanges I can't comment on.
As for Marty Burke, he did show up after 6:30, as reported by Greg Layson in the Mercury http://www.guelphmercury.com/news/local/article/522659--candidates-get-close-to-their-voting-audience-during-intimate-forum I however had to leave at around quarter past 6 because of my involvement in SharpCuts. It seems like Marty Burke is my own personal Polkaroo
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