Jeff Lehman, the Liberal candidate in Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte (BSOM), held a news conference Sunday morning to call out his Progressive Conservative opponent and others from the party for not attending all-candidate meetings.
During the news conference, which was held at Lehman's campaign headquarters on Blake Street in Barrie and was live-streamed on socia media, Lehman said he wanted to address something he and other Liberal candidates have become concerned about during the Ontario election campaign.
“It appears that PC candidates have been instructed not to attend all-candidate meetings and media appearances. (They’re) avoiding debates, especially on issues where the government’s record is weak,” Lehman said. “This is bad for our province, it is bad for democracy.”
The BSOM riding has had three all-candidates meetings since the start of the campaign and PC incumbent Doug Downey has attended one.
In a phone interview with BarrieToday on Sunday afternoon, Downey said he has never received direction from anyone in the party about attending — or not attending — debates or all-candidate meetings leading up to the June 2 election.
“I went to the CARP meeting last week, I’m going to the Barrie Chamber of Commerce meeting next week,” Downey said. “I mean, we’re doing a ton of stuff. I’m at the doors connecting with people one-on-one, thousands of them, and I find that to be time well spent.”
Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford was in Bracebridge on Sunday for a campaign stop and was asked about the challenge issued by Lehman and if PC candidates had been instructed to not attend all-candidate meetings.
“No, not at all. We have a great, great candidate in Doug Downey, the Attorney General, up in Barrie. He’s done a great job representing the people,” Ford said. “There’s going to be some candidates that want to do the debate and some who aren’t going to want to do the debate.”
Lehman told BarrieToday it was a “cynical move” to not attend debates and make yourself accountable to questions from the voters.
“I think the most basic part of being a public representative is being accountable to the public and showing up," Lehman said. "The most basic test of leadership is showing up.
“We’ve been praising essential workers, health-care workers, emergency service workers all through the pandemic for going to work everyday and I think the least elected officials can do, and those who seek those offices, is to show up for an hour or two and answer people’s questions," he added.
Lehman said even uncomfortable questions are part of the job and he believes it 's important that all parties be accountable by addressing those questions.
Downey was asked what he thought about Lehman’s “challenge” to PC candidates to be more accountable and attend the question-and-answer events.
“I think the Liberals are in trouble and they’re trying to find a story when they really should be talking about the issues,”Downey said. “The Bradford Bypass is a perfect example. One candidate says we’re not doing it, one says we’re going to study it, one says we’re going to do it later. They’re all over the place on some of this stuff.
"I think they’re trying to find an issue that the media can run with," he added. "I’d rather spend my time knocking on doors. It's just a better place to be.”
Lehman says candidates need to be at local debates so the “public can ask questions and hold candidates accountable for their party platform and their government’s actions past and present.”
“For anyone concerned about what kind of representative they’re going to have, what kind of message does it send when you are not willing to show up and answer those questions,” Lehman told BarrieToday. “I think it speaks to what kind of representative you're going to be for the riding in the future.”
