Mayoral debate axed over demand all 35 candidates participate

Thestar.com
October 1, 2018
David Rider

Organizers have cancelled a major debate on seniors’ issues that was to be held Monday at city-owned Metro Hall, saying Toronto city staff belatedly insisted dozens of registered mayoral candidates all be invited to participate.

Previously invited mayoral candidates who got the news Friday have also been told Heritage Toronto, a charitable agency of the City of Toronto, has cancelled its traditional debate, also scheduled for this week, citing “accelerated timelines we are all working under.”

Metro Hall was to be the site of a mayoral debate on seniors’ issues on Monday that has now been cancelled.

Besides 2018 city council races plagued by turmoil and confusion after the Ontario government slashed the size of council in mid-election, Torontonians will see their mayoral candidates debate ideas and promises a fraction of the number of times in past elections.

On Friday evening, candidates invited to the Seniors Mayoral Candidates Forum, organized by nine seniors groups, received an email stating that the City of Toronto informed organizers at 4 p.m. that day the event must be cancelled because the city’s facility use policy requires all candidates be “personally invited to speak.”

Invited to the forum were Mayor John Tory, Jennifer Keesmaat, Sarah Climenhaga, Saron Gebresellassi and Knia Singh. Thirty-one other people are running for mayor of Toronto.

“This would have been impossible” to conduct, states the email from representatives for CARP Toronto, Commitment TO Community, Care Watch and Toronto Council on Aging.

“Additionally, as sponsors, we declined to invite three candidates who espouse policies and beliefs that violate the city’s anti-discrimination/anti-harassment and hate speech policies, as well as our organizations’ own core values and principles.

“We are in the process of trying to contact the 200-plus seniors who registered to advise them of the cancellation. It is unfortunate that on National Seniors Day, seniors will be disenfranchised.”

Tammy Robbinson, a city spokesperson, on Sunday pointed the Star to the following policy on a city elections website: “All-candidate meetings may be held at city facilities for a nominal fee or other consideration provided that all candidates for an office are invited to attend such meetings.”

She could not immediately say why organizers were reminded of the rule three days before the debate. Toronto’s election is Oct. 22, with advance voting from Oct. 10 to 14.

Earlier Friday, mayoral candidates who had been invited Sept. 14 to the Oct. 4 Mayoral Debate on Heritage received an email saying that forum is also cancelled.

Allison Bain, executive director of Heritage Toronto, wrote to them: “For many years, Heritage Toronto has hosted a Mayoral Debate on Heritage. Unfortunately, due to the accelerated timelines we are all working under, we have made the decision to cancel the live debate.”

Robbinson has not yet responded to a question about the accelerated timelines. The mid-election council cut did not affect timelines for the mayoral election. It did put pressure on some city departments, particularly the clerk’s office that conducts elections.

Heritage Toronto, a charitable arm’s length agency of the city with a mission to “promote a greater appreciation for the city’s rich architectural, cultural, archeological and natural heritage,” is instead sending candidates a questionnaire on heritage issues and will publish responses before the election.

The agency’s last mayoral debate, held in late August 2014, drew about 250 spectators to the Cathedral Centre on Church St.

Climenhaga said she is “very confused” as to why the city didn’t raise the Metro Hall issue earlier with the seniors debate organizers; disappointed to miss a chance to hear from elder Torontonians, and distressed that those who planned to attend won’t get to hear directly from her and other candidates.

“The cancellation of debates is reducing the opportunity for Toronto residents to participate in what is shaping up to be the least democratic election in Toronto in years,” she said.

Tory campaign spokeswoman Keerthana Kamalavasan said in an email the decision to cancel the seniors debate “was entirely the decision of the debate organizers. Our campaign encouraged the organizers to look for another venue.” Tory, she said, “is ready and willing to debate any candidate who does not have a history of spreading hate speech or bigotry.”

Keesmaat called the cancellations “unfortunate” and renewed her call for Tory to debate her one on one, something he has so far refused to do.

Singh, Gebresellassi, Keesmaat and Tory are all expected at a debate on “Toronto’s Black community issues” Monday evening at Tropicana Community Services in Scarborough, organized by Operation Black Vote Canada and several other groups.

Toronto saw two mayoral debates last week. Other forums include a Wednesday town hall held by the Toronto Real Estate Board and an Oct. 9 debate held by the Toronto Region Board of Trade.

In each of the past two elections mayoral candidates have squared off almost 100 times, with front-runners picking and choosing which debates in which to participate.

Even without the cancellations and focus on ward races triggered by the council cut, there would have been fewer debates in 2018 because the previous provincial government shortened municipal election periods so campaigns that previously started in January could not launch until May 1.