Vancouver Sun
TORONTO — Less than a week before a federal byelection, Conservative candidate Julian Fantino, decried accusations Thursday he was ducking the democratic process by not attending a public all-candidates' debate earlier this week.
"At the end of the day, I have great faith in the people of Vaughan to sort truth from fiction, fact from innuendo and all that," the former Ontario Provincial Police commissioner said in a rare telephone interview.
On Thursday, the Vaughan Citizen newspaper published a scathing editorial titled "Fantino cops out" criticizing his no-show at a Tuesday night debate organized for the leading four candidates in the riding.
"To us, it seems that public debates have become an important part of the election process at all levels of government because they provide an opportunity for voters to see the candidates answer tough questions, confront each other face-to-face and generally show which of them is most worthy of being trusted with the electorate's confidence as its chosen representative," the newspaper wrote. "Mr. Fantino, regrettably, doesn't see it that way."
The newspaper had postponed the debate for a week because Fantino was unable to attend the original Nov. 16 date.
Liberal candidate Tony Genco, NDP candidate Kevin Bordian and Green party candidate Claudia Rodriguez-Larrain were all in attendance.
The byelection in the riding of Vaughn, just north of Toronto, is one of three scheduled on Nov. 29. The other two are being held in Manitoba.
The Conservatives hope that law-and-order candidate Fantino will be able to win the important riding, which has been a Liberal stronghold for 22 years. If the Conservatives win, it would signify another example of the party making inroads in the Greater Toronto Area.
Liberal MP Maurizio Bevilacqua stepped down earlier this year to make a successful bid in the Vaughan mayoral race. His replacement, Genco, is the lesser-known candidate nationally but has worked for years in Ottawa and at Queen's Park.
He was most recently the head of Downsview Park, the former military base in Toronto, best-known for its role in hosting the July, 2003 SARS concerts, featuring among others, the Rolling Stones.
Fantino said he never told the newspaper he planed to attend the debate. Instead, he had told one of its reporters earlier that day that he had to attend a special mass Tuesday night, marking the one-year anniversary of his father-in-law's death.
In the editorial, the newspaper compared Fantino's prior engagement to Genco's decision to attend the debate instead of a Justin Bieber concert with his daughter.
"I think it's all part of a little bit of panic and maybe a whole lot of nothing else to write," said Fantino. "We're talking about obvious bias. I don't know what else more to say here."
Earlier on Tuesday, Fantino and the other candidates participated in a 90-minute debate televised on Rogers Television. The debate was chaired by former Progressive Conservative provincial minister David Tsubouchi and not open to the public.
The Conservatives have been criticized in the last few weeks for running a so-called "peek-a-boo" campaign with Fantino, to ensure that the controversial ex-career police officer does not make any missteps before the byelection.
But Fantino denied he was being muzzled by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and said he was doing everything he could to be "visible, available."
"It isn't so much about countering the spin, the bias, or any of that for me," said Fantino. "My point of view is to deal directly with the people that count, the people who vote."
Earlier this week, his campaign was given a boost by Don Cherry, the Hockey Night in Canada hockey commentator. Cherry had recorded automatic calls to a number of houses in Vaughan to endorse his "good friend" Fantino.