Sounds of silence from Tory candidates
HALIFAX— You may think you’ve heard it all before, but when you spend two weeks talking politics during an election campaign from British Columbia to Nova Scotia — as I have — it’s time to think again.
You can hear an immigrant from Trinidad grill Liberal candidate Raj Grewal in a backyard on Bayridge Drive in Brampton East; talk to community elders at an impromptu senior’s association meeting, a mela, in Brampton’s Red Willow Park; talk to the youngest elected official ever in Canadian history, Burnaby North—Seymour Liberal candidate Terry Beech; move over to Edmonton—Mill Woods to spend time with Amarjeet Sohi, the Liberal candidate who spent 18 months in solitary confinement on a false terrorism charge in India.
You can (partially) climb Burnaby Mountain with Green candidate Lynne Quarmby so she can show you where she was arrested protesting against Kinder Morgan’s TransMountain pipeline; watch Davenport New Democrat Andrew Cash take a selfie with a busker on stilts at the Dufferin Farmer’s Market; listen to a remarkably wellinformed rant against the Harper government from Gord Kapasky as he sat with his pit bull on Bloor Street near Lansdowne.
But there’s one thing you can’t always do: get a Conservative to talk.
Stephen Harper is downright verbose on the campaign trail compared to some of his candidates.
I never met Mike Little, the Conservative candidate in the key riding of Burnaby North—Seymour. I met every other candidate, but Little had personal considerations so he couldn’t meet me.
His campaign ignored my entreaties anyway until I was about to leave Vancouver, when I got a noncommittal statement on an environmental issue. It got worse. In Edmonton—Mill Woods, the campaign of Tim Uppal told me the minister of state for multicultur- alism couldn’t meet me because he was too busy meeting voters.
That wouldn’t be so odd, except I had first requested time with him dating back to June, before the election was even called. A request for his public appearances while I was in Edmonton was ignored.
But the highlight — lowlight? — had to be Brampton East.
After I called candidate Naval Bajaj on his cellphone, he agreed readily to an interview, but when I arrived at the strip mall that housed his campaign office a week later, it had been mysteriously cancelled.
Like Uppal, a campaign aide told me he was too busy meeting voters. So, I offered to come back later that evening. Meeting voters, I was told. The next day? Meeting voters. The next evening? Meeting voters.
Finally I was told he wasn’t doing media, even though I was standing in front of a board in his office listing his Tuesday 4 p.m. appointment as “media.”
That’s just local media, I was told. “We’re just running a nice, little, local campaign,’’ the aide said.
Finally, by sitting there and refusing to leave, I was granted an interview with Bajaj, who I must report was absolutely engaging and totally conversant on the issues.
By the way, I am heartened to learn it’s not just me.
Globe and Mail writer-at-large John Ibbitson reported on the weekend that he could not get an interview with the Conservative candidate in Mississauga Centre, and Glen McGregor of the Ottawa Citizen was told by the office of Don Valley North Conservative candidate Joe Daniel that he would not be doing any interviews until after the election.
Vancouver Island Conservative candidate Mark MacDonald’s team has decided he will “decline all invitations of debates, positions and questionnaires during the election campaign.’’
After he is elected, his office says, MacDonald — a journalist — would be happy to discuss issues. His campaign manager, Glen McPherson, says that is not a “blanket policy,” and that the candidate, in fact, has done media interviews.
This is what I’ve learned in a distinctly unscientific, highly anecdotal tour, so far.
In chats with dozens of voters, the economy tops the list of voter concerns and many believe we are in recession, are unhappy and worried.
A surprising number of conversa- tions turn to the environment and people are talking about Harper’s anti-terror bill; there is anxiety about a piece of legislation they believe goes too far.
It is difficult to go three or four conversations without someone telling you they are going to the polls solely to get rid of Harper. Yes, a lot of that comes in ridings that are distinctly anti-Conservative, but I also heard it in Alberta and British Columbia in ridings that should be Harper-friendly.
And don’t let anyone tell you Canadians aren’t engaged. They’re talking. Everyone, it seems, is talking, except some Conservative candidates. Tim Harper is a national affairs writer. His column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. tharper@thestar.ca Twitter: @nutgraf1