A large crowd of people stood outside the Tidemark Theatre on April 22, hoping to connect with their local candidates, with an all-candidates forum scheduled to take place.
Some of them were unaware that the event had been cancelled hours before. Some had knowledge already. Instead of being led inside and seated, where they could hear the candidates answer submitted questions and debate, a microphone was set up beside the doors, offered to the four candidates who did show up despite the cancellation: the Green Party's Jessica Wegg, the NDP's Tanille Johnston, the Liberal Party's Jennifer Lash, and Independent Glen Staples.
Johnston took the microphone first.
"This specific all-candidates debate is one that you and numerous community members from our surrounding area have been waiting for," she addressed the growing crowd.
The forum, organized by the Campbell River & District Chamber of Commerce, was originally scheduled for April 6 but was postponed until April 22.
Johnston told the Mirror that the message she received from the Chamber was that it was cancelled due to far left and far right protesters being in the area at the same time and that it was going to be unsafe for the candidates. An Indigenous-led protest was happening across the street at Spirit Square prior to the scheduled start of the debate (4:30 p.m.), but it was peaceful. No pro-right protest was happening.
"It is extremely disheartening that a single candidate can derail an all-candidates forum," she said. "If you can't face difficult conversations [and] if you can't face crowds of people that may feel in opposition to you, then how are you going to do that in the House of Commons? How are you going to represent us in numerous very difficult conversations in our federal government?"
One man in the audience spoke up, saying, "No, that isn't true." Others called out "shame."
North Island-Powell River Conservative Party candidate Aaron Gunn has yet to appear in any public debates within the riding.
Johnston talked about her party's line on fish farms, which is getting them out of the water. She met with industry representatives earlier in the day, calling it a difficult room to put herself in, knowing that thousands of jobs are on the line for loss due to the fish farm ban brought forth by Justin 台湾MM裸聊室's Liberal government.
"But I still showed up," she said. "I still went. I heard their needs. I heard the message they wanted me to carry through my party and into the House of Commons, and that's the job. It's hard. It's difficult, but you have to show up and do it."
Johnston handed the microphone to Wegg, who talked about her disappointment at the forum's cancellation.
"This stinks. There's no two ways about it. We do hope that you will reach out to us with your questions and let us know what your concerns are. We want to work for you."
Lash then took her time to speak.
"Everything I have done has been about finding that balance between looking after our amazing place and having our resource industry and building the economy. It would be such an honour for me to represent this riding in Ottawa," said Lash.
She spoke about her experience as the Liberals' senior policy advisor for the last two years, adding that she knows how Ottawa works.
Lash also spoke on polls and projections, which she says are causing angst.
"I feel like everyone is looking for something to tell them how to vote, and I'm here to tell you that nothing is going to tell you how to vote except for yourself. There will probably be more coming up right until Election Day (April 28), and it's always going to feel like it's competing. I know it's causing a lot of angst, and I'm sorry for that. But I think, ultimately, you need to choose the candidate and the leader of the party you want to see."
She spoke of her belief that the Liberal Party is the best option to steer the country through what she called "an existential incident we are going through with the United States."
Staples was next to take the microphone and took the time to introduce himself, telling everyone he grew up on a farm in Saskatchewan and how he won a maths contest, which ended with him studying the subject and becoming a maths teacher, along as a journeyman carpenter before coming to Vancouver Island.
"Why am I running as an Independent? Party of one, not likely to win, actually, but the reason I'm doing it is to get other ideas out there. I think our system is really on the rocks. Look at what happened today as an example. The polarisation is really, really bad. Myself I like to think I can understand both sides. I'm with the left on a lot of issues. I'm on the right with a lot of issues," Staples said. "We have to think of the future. The future matters more than the present."
Staples then talked about the Carbon Tax, which he said was the "only good thing" 台湾MM裸聊室's government did as far as he could tell.
"The Carbon Tax was taxing pollution. Now we're going back to taxing people on minimum wage, taxing their income."
He also spoke about what he called short-term solutions introduced to fight the opioid crisis and the welfare system, building dependents.
"I would rather deal with someone who hates me than someone who pities me. You cannot recover from that pity, and that is what we are building, a society that is built on victimology," Staples said, before thanking the other candidates, whom he called good people with good intentions.
"I've been really hoping to meet Aaron Gunn myself. He's not here... The thing is truth springs from arguments between friends, but you have to be friends, and the people here are upset that Aaron is not here. If you can find someone who likes Aaron and talk to them, well, seriously, you've got to make friends first and then you can learn. When you disagree with somebody, someone has something to learn. You don't know if it's you or the other person. You can't talk to them if it's just hatred. That's not going to solve it."
After Staples spoke, Johnston spoke again briefly about the polls and projections. After she wrapped up, the microphone was taken away and residents were free to speak to candidates one-on-one.
"What I was uncomfortable with is that they (the chamber) put that statement out on socials, cancelling and saying the candidates would be unsafe without consulting the candidates, or at least me, they may have consulted other candidates," Johnston told the Campbell River Mirror afterwards.
Johnston said she was not aware of any threats towards her.
"It just sucks. It's supposed to be part of the process. We are supposed to be available to people to answer questions, we're supposed to be accountable to our constituents, and when you don't see that from the other candidates, it really mocks the whole system," she said.
Gunn and the People's Party of Canada's Paul Macknight did not show up for the meeting, nor the impromptu meeting outside the Tidemark Theatre. However, Macknight was not scheduled to appear at the debate.
Johnston and Wegg found out about the cancellation at the same time. They were both attending Phoenix Middle School, where they were speaking to students.
"We both agreed right on the spot if we can turn this around and still make it happen somehow that we would find a new moderator somehow, that we would see if the Tidemark would be okay being ahead with this, we would make it happen," she explained.
Wegg called Staples to see if he could still participate, and Johnston contacted Lash's camp.
Johnston said they did find a moderator, but unfortunately didn't hear back from Lash in time, but she was there anyway. She also said her campaign manager reached out to Gunn's campaign to invite him, but did not hear back.
"I personally do not think that a candidate鈥檚 forum is productive given the time frame and some questions," Macknight told the Campbell River Mirror when asked if he had any thoughts on the forum's cancellation and why he hasn't attended any. "Having said, I could be wrong.Everything I am standing upon can be read and properly considered by reading through my web site. A lot of effort went into it and of course the Peoples Party of Canada main platform is linked.As well, I have networked with groups, some media and social sites requesting my signature on their followers value system. I believe the request for signatures/vow is because of a serious trust component in Ottawa.That is how I鈥檓 campaigning this time around."
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