Unable to attend the lunchtime all-candidates meeting last week, one resident has set out on a mission to organize a second debate in Squamish before voters head to the polls.
On Tuesday, Sept. 22, the Squamish Chamber of Commerce and Quest University hosted a lunch-time all-candidates debate at Quest, marking the first time the Liberal, Conservative, NDP and Green party had come together in the West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky riding in the run-up to the federal election Oct. 19.
Debbie Forsyth wanted to be there, but she said the timing, location and $27 bill attached to the luncheon portion of the event kept her away.
“I felt excluded,” Forsyth said. “A lot of people are working at 12:30 in the afternoon and Quest isn’t the easiest place to get to.”
Forsyth, known online as Dee Hildebrand, set about contacting candidates to see if they would come back to Squamish, this time for an evening meeting, tentatively Oct. 15.
“Everything is in place, we just need the candidates to come,” she said.
But with the hopefuls’ and incumbent’s calendars jam-packed leading up to election day, it doesn’t look like a second debate is in the cards. Ken Melamed, the Green Party candidate for the Sea to Sky riding, said he would come back if something was organized. However, he added his schedule is quickly filling up. Melamed noted he does plan to visit Squamish again with Green Party leader Elizabeth May on Saturday
(Oct. 3).
NDP candidate Larry Koopman said he did not have time to attend another all-candidates meeting in Squamish. “I have already committed to participating in 12 all candidates debates throughout the riding,” he wrote in an email to The Squamish Chief. “In such a large riding, I realize that it is a challenge to accommodate everyone’s schedule.”
Incumbent John Weston followed suit. The Conservative MP is extremely busy, his assistant stated in an email.
Liberal candidate Pamela Goldsmith-Jones is open to the idea, but it all comes down to exactly when the debate would be planned, said Goldsmith-Jones’s campaign manager, Mark Masongsong.
“She is in Squamish a couple of times a week,” he noted.
All candidates praised the chamber and Quest for the organization of the last debate. They agreed the event was well attended, informative and allowed for community engagement.
Last week’s debate marked the start of the chamber’s annual luncheon series, executive director Suzanne McCrimmon said. It was open to the public with no fee attached, she noted, adding approximately 60 Quest students attended the debate.
“It was a great success,” she said.
The debate was videotaped and can be viewed via a post on the chamber’s Facebook page that was also shared on The Squamish Chief Facebook page.
Forsyth said she hasn’t given up on her hopes to see the candidates return to Squamish. If there is a will, there’s a way, she said. “It’s not over until the fat lady sings, and this fat lady isn’t singing yet.”
