After Lisa Vezeau-Allen was the only MPP hopeful at an all-candidates meeting Wednesday night, the Progressive Conservatives and Liberals told SooToday they did not attend because they were not aware of the event.
Dozens showed up at the Royal Canadian Legion to hear the candidates’ platforms, and several residents openly expressed frustration that only Vezeau-Allen was in attendance.
However, Conservative candidate Chris Scott’s campaign manager, Ross Romano, categorically denies they ever received an invitation to the meeting, which was hosted by United Steelworkers Local 2251.
“That was not an all candidates meeting at all. Chris Scott, nor anyone at the Ontario PC party, certainly not at the campaign office, was ever invited to that meeting,” he said. “The president of the union even has my personal cell number. Most of them have my cell number.
“At no point in time did we receive an invitation at all.”
Liberal candidate Gurwinder Dusanjh similarly explained that he was unaware of the meeting, mentioning he does not have a campaign manager or community outreach team.
“Unfortunately I was not aware of the meeting. With the short election, my direct contact was not made public and most of the inquiries to meet with me went through [email protected] and have taken time to be forwarded to me. I still have yet to receive the correspondence for that event,” he said in an email to SooToday.
Dusanjh did say, however, that he will “certainly be attending” the all-candidates meeting scheduled at the Royal Canadian Legion this afternoon, from 2 to 4 p.m., which is being hosted by local seniors groups.
A representative from the steelworkers union told SooToday that the Liberal, NDP, and Conservative candidates were invited to attend the meeting. Union president Mike Da Prat said the only available means to contact them was through contact forms on each party's website.
The union also advertised the event through local media outlets.
"We tried everything that we could to contact these people," Da Prat said.
On Thursday, the union publicly endorsed Ontario NDP candidate Vezeau-Allen.
“All candidates were invited to attend, the only candidate that attended was Lisa Vezeau-Allen. Lisa made an opening statement, participated in a question period and made closing statements,” the union said in a press release.
“A vote was taken after the General Membership meeting and Ms. Vezeau-Allen was endorsed overwhelmingly by the members of Local 2251.”
Other local candidates include:
- Jaycob Jacques is running for the Green Party
- Arnold Heino is running for the New Blue party.
- And the Ontario Party candidate is Paul Frolich.
Voters will head to the polls on Feb. 27.