A trend has emerged ahead of the 2024 provincial election in B.C.
It involves Conservative candidates, many of whom are not showing up at all-candidates debates and in many cases, avoiding media interviews.
“I think all-candidate debates are a foundation of democracy in Canada. I think it is the best opportunity most voters have to go see their candidates in action,” said Hamish Telford, Fraser Valley political science professor.
Telford said he believes taking part in the debates is an obligation when running for public office.
“Part of their job as MLAs is to debate other MLAs in the legislature, so this is practice for the job that they are running for,” Telford said.
In the Central Okanagan, both Kristina Loewen, who is running in Kelowna Centre, and Tara Armstrong, running in Kelowna-Lake Country-Coldstream, have been absent from debates.
Global News approached them at a recent event at UBC-Okanagan to ask why they have been no-shows.
“It’s so challenging because, you know what, we are a grassroots party. We are trying very hard to gain, you know, credibility and and we’ve been working really hard,” Armstrong said. “So I think for me personally, I have found that most of my information comes from talking to people … in their homes … knocking on their doors and really understanding what they need and what their priorities are.”
Loewen also said her priority has been door-knocking and not debates or media interviews.
“I feel like time is best spent at doors, getting to know my voters, one on one,” Loewen said. “Interviews are fun. Actually, I think I’m going to love them in the future. But also, I’m not a career politician, and this is new for me, so I’m trying to stick to what I know and kill it where I know I can kill it.”
Kelowna resident Gary Gustafson said the decision was “very selfish of them.”
“I would like to ask what are they trying to hide,” Gustafson said.
“You need to answer the questions, we need to ask the questions and if you don’t want to go there and do that, don’t run,” said Karen Woloshyn, another Kelowna resident.
Telford said he believes avoiding debates and the media seems to be a centrally organized phenomenon.
“This is a new party, which has attracted a lot of inexperienced candidates and and I think the party fears that inexperienced candidates may say something inappropriate or not perform well in a debate,” Telford said.
When asked about candidates not showing up for debates, Conservative Leader John Rustad said his candidates are engaging with voters face-to-face in their respective ridings.
“Our candidates had the opportunity to be out and about engaging with people in their ridings on a regular basis,” Rustand said. “They’re still doing that, and they will be doing that right up until October 19, on voting day.”