Guelph‘s People’s Party of Canada candidate in the federal election says he’s disappointed after a debate at the University of Guelph was cancelled.
Mark Paralovos was not invited to Wednesday’s forum by the organizers, the Central Students’ Association and CUPE 1334, which represents 250 workers on campus.
The organizers said the decision was made not to invite Paralovos because the party’s policies and platform “discriminate against people in the University of Guelph community, especially marginalized groups.”
The PPC and its leader, Maxime Bernier, have been criticized over policies that call for a reduction in how many immigrants and refugees are accepted into Canada per year.
But Paralovos’ exclusion went against free speech policies that the Ontario government mandated earlier this year. Failure to comply in implementing such policies would result in funding losses, the province said at the time.
The organizers said the policies introduced by the government are heavy-handed, and as a result, the debate was cancelled.
“The policies force post-secondary institutions to accept hateful language in their spaces under the guise of free speech, which is unacceptable,” the organizers said in a statement.
They said they stand behind their decision not to invite Paralovos.
“We do not want to compromise the safety of our students or workers by bringing this candidate and his supporters to campus, therefore this event has been cancelled,” the organizers said.
In a statement, Paralovos said the students will be missing out on the opportunity to hear from federal candidates “due to organizers who are peddling misinformation” about him and the party.
READ MORE: Guelph federal candidates discuss their plans to tackle food insecurity
“All ideas should be heard and the electorate informed,” Paralovos said. “Silencing people or candidates you disagree with is not democracy. It’s abuse of power.”
The now-cancelled debate would have featured Liberal incumbent Lloyd Longfield, Steve Dyck of the Green Party, the NDP’s Aisha Jahangir, Ashish Sachan with the Conservative Party and Juanita Burnett of the Communist Party.
Comments