At this early stage in the election campaign the result here in Newmarket-Aurora is too close to call. 
The CBC’s Poll Tracker and expert number-cruncher, Éric Grenier, tells us the NDP is haemorrhaging support across the country and much of it is going to the newly ascendant Liberals.
We don’t know yet who will be running for the NDP. Nominations close on 7 April and there will be a complete list of candidates posted on the Elections Canada website on the 9th.
Advance voting begins in just over three weeks (on 18 April) so the Parties and the candidates have to hit the ground running.
Time to debate
On Monday I ran into the Liberal candidate, Jennifer McLachlan, whose team was putting the finishing touches to the Campaign HQ at Main and Botsford – a terrific location.
I asked her if she would be participating in any election debates and, without missing a beat, she told me she would be there. I was left wondering if her Conservative opponent, Sandra Cobena, would be quite so forthright or would she duck out of any invitation like so many of her Conservative predecessors. I hope she'd turn up. But the omens are not good.
Dawn Gallagher Murphy, the PC’s newly re-elected MPP, always boycotts debates. ‘Family emergency” was an early favourite but then she dropped all pretence and didn’t bother with excuses.
In the 2021 Federal Election here in Newmarket-Aurora, Conservative candidate, Harold Kim, boycotted the debates, citing diary clashes. And in the 2019 Federal Election Lois Brown was a no-show at the debate.
Consequential
But this election is different. It is truly consequential. We face an erratic and unhinged Donald Trump who talks enthusiastically about Canada becoming the 51st state. He mocked Trudeau as Governor of the “Great State of Canada” and ignorantly boasts there is nothing we produce that the United States needs.
So this is not another “business as usual” election. Far from it.
It is, therefore, a tragedy that the Chamber of Commerce will not be organising a candidates’ debate. Their Chief Executive, Chris Emanuel, told me on Monday they would not be taking the lead on organising a debate:
“We have expressed our willingness to partner with orgs (like the media) but we don't have the capacity to run all of the logistics like we once did.”
Full of hope, I contacted Newmarket Today who told me:
“We will not be organizing an election debate, it's not something we have the resources for at the moment.”
So it looks as if it will be left to citizens’ groups to organise something but if it is not “official” experience tells us some candidates may not show up.
Optional add-on
Debates are not an optional add-on to a properly functioning democracy. They are absolutely central.
When there are big policy differences between politicians a debate will elucidate. I recall Newmarket Mayor John Taylor demanding a debate in 2022 with Ford’s then Housing Minister, Steve Clark, who later presided over the Greenbelt scandal (and claimed ignorance of what was going on under his nose).
But here we are, at a crisis moment, and, shockingly, we have no debate to test the candidates. Voters need to see for themselves how the candidates measure up. Are they quick on their feet? How good is their grasp of policy? Can they persuade voters to support their platform? How would they deal with Trump?
Disturbing Trend
Two years ago, I wrote about the disturbing trend where candidates boycott debates when they see no advantage in attending. Back then I floated the idea of giving municipalities powers (if they don’t already have them) to organise election debates through an arms-length, independent agency if no other respected and independent third party was prepared to do so. If municipalities can appoint wholly independent people as Integrity Commissioners then why not let them appoint Debates Commissioners?
Of course, candidates could still choose to ignore an officially organised debate but I think the voters would notice.
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Update on 29 March 2025: The Newmarket Era has confirmed it will not be organizing an election debate citing lack of resources.
