Tory avoidance of public forums not exactly hurting

It is, by now, fairly well-known that the Conservative party does not like doing all-candidates forums. In the past two federal elections, the pattern was established: Various groups organizing forums and debates would put out invitations only to find out the Tories would not show up. There have been a few, but only a few, where Tories took part. That tradition is being upheld in this campaign.

All over the province, community groups, lobbies and special interests are scrambling to get candidates from all parties to pre-election forums. The Tories are once again proving to be the hardest to get.

The Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce had hoped to organize a forum with representatives from all three parties. A chamber source confirmed the event is now in limbo after the Conservatives refused to provide a candidate to represent their party. Not a one. The chamber even offered to change the date, but still it turned out all the Tories were apparently washing their hair that night. An offer has been made to reschedule the event for April 26. No word yet on whether everyone's hair will have dried by that date.

The same predicament faces the University of Manitoba Faculty Association and University of Manitoba Students' Union, which organized a forum for candidates running in Winnipeg South, the riding that captures the Fort Garry campus. At last word, Tory MP and Conservative candidate Rod Bruinooge had not agreed to appear and organizers were unsure whether to proceed or cancel.

It would be unfair to say the Conservatives have boycotted all forums. On April 20, Bruinooge will represent his party at a forum on arts and cultural issues. On the one hand, this one makes sense, because Bruinooge was, prior to politics, involved in the local film community. On the other, it doesn't make sense because government arts funding is not a good issue for the Tories and this is unlikely to be a friendly crowd. Creative, but not friendly.

Why all the reluctance? The Tories have not made a secret of the fact they do not see great value in candidates' forums. Many of these events are organized by groups that are not necessarily part of the core Conservative support, and strategists believe they are really public stonings disguised as community forums. Another Tory source suggested these forums, in and of themselves, simply don't influence a lot of voters. Apparently, candidates are better off spending their time knocking on doors than prepping for free-for-all scraps at the local community centre.

On a province-by-province basis, the Tories tend to funnel media requests through a single spokesperson who is usually the province's regional minister. In B.C. recently, I was given access to Heritage Minister James Moore but denied interviews with individual candidates. In Manitoba, however, the most-seen face has not been Regional Minister Vic Toews, the minister of public safety, but Saint Boniface MP Shelly Glover. She does not do pan-Manitoba interviews but is seen almost daily on national television and in some national print coverage.

Toews, meanwhile, seems to be spending most of his time in Provencher, the riding that covers the southeast corner of the province. And in an ironic twist, he is doing all-candidates forums. Next week, he will go head-to-head with Al Mackling, the former provincial NDP cabinet minister who is now running for the federal NDP in Provencher. However, it appears Toews has not, to date, accepted a single invitation for an event in Winnipeg. That could change before the May 2 election but if it doesn't, Toews will have done little to combat the allegation that he acts more like the regional minister for Steinbach than for Manitoba.

The Conservative strategy might be sound but it still doesn't quite smell right, especially not in the middle of a campaign where voters are already pretty cynical. Surely democracy demands that those people who want to represent us appear in public in front of small crowds to explain why they and their parties deserve our support.

Unfortunately, the Tories have found success in limiting access to candidates and even the prime minister. On the national tour, where news organizations pay tens of thousands of dollars to travel on Conservative Leader Stephen Harper's plane and buses over the five-week campaign, questions have been limited and access to the first minister almost completely eliminated. And so far, the Tories are leading this race. In the final analysis, it seems quite pointless to continue arguing for a more democratic approach when there is electoral success doing the complete opposite.

dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 15, 2011 A6