November 20, 2010
York Region.com
The telephone town hall is becoming a popular tool for aspiring politicians during election campaigns and Vaughan Conservative candidate Julian Fantino is no different. He held his own town hall Tuesday night.
But while the event was listed on Mr. Fantino's website, the media, including The Citizen, were not invited to listen in and report on the outcome.
"I don't think there was any secret on anyone's part. There were 15,000 people that got onto the call," Mr. Fantino said. "It certainly wasn't a secret. It wasn't anything I had anything to do with, but it was set up the way it was. It would be a quantum leap of faith to believe it was a secret or an exclusive kind of situation. Fifteen thousand people participating is pretty public to me."
During the recent municipal election, Woodbridge East candidate Steven Del Duca held a telephone town hall and federal Liberal candidate Tony Genco last week conducted one as well. Both invited The Citizen to listen in as they fielded questions and concerns from potential voters and talked about their ideas and vision for Vaughan.
"Unlike my Conservative opponent, I'm running an open, unscripted campaign. Directly and through our local media, every Vaughan resident deserves the opportunity to hear each candidate's views on important issues like health care, retirement security and jobs in Vaughan," Mr. Genco said.
Canadian company Picea Partners Inc. conducted the tele-town hall for Mr. Fantino. Conservative Senator Mike Duffy was on hand to host it at Mr. Fantino's office.
The call initially went out to 40,000 homes, according to Picea Partners principal Andrew Harris, of which 15,000 stayed on the line for about average of about 18 minutes. Mr. Harris said the time on the line is standard for these types of calls.
"This was one of the better calls I've seen, which I think has to do with Mr. Fantino's reputation throughout the community and his reputation within the public service in Southern Ontario," Mr. Harris said, adding that having Mr. Duffy on the call also helped peak interest.
Mr. Harris has been doing a lot of work with Tim Hudak, leader of the official Opposition at Queen's Park.
"Tim was the first Canadian politician to do this during his leadership campaign," Mr. Harris said. "The federal MPs are getting on board and the Ontario PC party is on board," he said.
During the 60-minute phone call, listeners could try to ask the candidate a question and were also asked four poll questions.
Callers were asked if Vaughan needs its own hospital, to which 96 per cent of those who answered said yes.
They were also asked if the Harper government was on the right track with the economy, to which 73 per cent of those said yes. Residents were also asked if the government's tough-on-crime approach, which has been central to Mr. Fantino's campaign, is the right one, to which 68 per cent of those who responded said yes.
"It was more of the same, but obviously I was able to speak and network with a greater audience than I would be able to do under normal circumstances," Mr. Fantino said. "I was very much in tune with doing it. As you know, it's a virtual world now, very sophisticated. What a great way to reach out to thousands of people, It's something that one needs to do these days to communicate."
Mr. Fantino said he was impressed with the feedback from the calls and said it was in tune with what he's hearing at the door. Health care came up as an important issue, which validates why we need a hospital here, the Conservative candidate said.
The Citizen's efforts to locate and speak with residents who participated in the town hall were unsuccessful as of press time Friday.