Most Hamilton Conservative candidates skip televised election debates

Hamilton Spectator

25-04-2025

All but one of Hamilton's federal Conservative candidates appear to be skipping
televised local election debates
.
Cable 14 partnered with local news agencies, including The Spectator, to stage candidate debates in each of the five Hamilton-based federal ridings. Ken Hewitt, the Conservative candidate in the Hamilton Mountain riding, was the sole Tory candidate expected to take part.
Hamilton East—Stoney Creek's Ned Kuruc, Erika Alexander in Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, Hamilton Centre's Hayden Lawrence and Dan Muys in Flamborough—Glanbrook—Brant North all either declined or did not respond to invitations to the televised debates.
Cable 14 general manager Jonathan Freedman said the lack of attendance from candidates is 'disgraceful.'
'The candidates that are running in the ridings should be here debating,' he said, adding the forums give voters a chance to see and make a choice on who the right candidate is for their riding.
Cable 14 was forced to cancel the Hamilton East-Stoney Creek debate slated for Wednesday because the only major party candidate who agreed to attend was Liberal incumbent Chad Collins.
Freedman said the Tory candidate, Kuruc, declined the invitation to take part, while organizers got 'complete radio silence' from NDP candidate Nayla Mithani. The Green Party did not field a candidate.
Kuruc, who did not reply to Spectator requests for comment, was also a no-show at debates hosted by the Stoney Creek Chamber of Commerce and the Bosnian Islamic Centre of Hamilton.
In an interview, Collins said he was disappointed by his Tory challenger's decision to skip the Cable 14 debates, which he called a tradition at all three levels of government.
'Debates are important because it gives residents, especially those who are undecided, the opportunity to make an informed decision about how they cast their ballot,' he said.
During Monday's
Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas debate
, Liberal candidate John-Paul Danko questioned whether the missing Tory candidate 'actually exists,' while Green candidate Georgia Beauchemin questioned whether Alexander was a 'paper candidate.'
Alexander told The Spectator in a later interview her campaign is 'focusing on voter contact, so we're out 12 hours a day' and added the national Conservative campaign did not tell her to skip the debate.
The candidate also said she was unsure whether her campaign received a 'proper' invitation. Cable 14 moderator Mike Fortune said at the start of the debate the candidate did not respond to emails, calls or messages on social media inviting her to attend.
In Hamilton Centre, the campaign for Conservative candidate Lawrence declined to participate, telling Cable 14 that 'Hayden would be focusing on door-knocking.'
Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas Liberal candidate John-Paul Danko, NDP candidate Roberto Henriquez and Green candidate Georgia Beauchemin squared-off during the televised Cable 14 debate April 21. Conservative candidate Erika Alexander did not take part.
Muys, the Flamborough—Glanbrook—Brant North incumbent, said he was attending the Hamilton Jewish Federation's Yom Hashoah Holocaust commemoration Thursday evening when the debate is scheduled — something he 'agreed to a month ago.'
Muys also noted he has attended two debates during this campaign —
an all-candidates debate in Paris
and an all-party forum hosted by the Hamilton Muslim Association.
The federal Tory no-shows come after
all but one Progressive Conservative candidate — Flamborough-Glanbrook's Donna Skelly — skipped the Cable 14 debates during February's provincial election
.
McMaster University political scientist Peter Graefe said the absence of a debate is 'a loss' for the community to see candidates defend their ideas, as well as evaluate their personalities and competence.
'If you want the support of the people in a riding, you should show up in places where the people in the riding can assess your talent and quality.'
Graefe said while candidates from different parties skip debates for various reasons, there seems to be 'fairly strong evidence' that Conservative candidates are 'almost systematically avoiding' debates.
He said one reason could be the party has a sophisticated technology for tracking voters and may feel their time is better spent engaging specific voters likely to vote Conservative, versus a debate.
He added the Conservatives may also be particularly concerned about message control.
Hamilton East—Stoney Creek Conservative candidate Ned Kuruc took part in the televised Cable 14 debate in the 2021 federal election alongside Green Party candidate Larry Pattison. Kuruc declined to participate in the debate during this campaign — as did NDP candidate Nayla Mithani — leading to its cancellation.
'They don't want the party's message for that day being derailed by what some no-name candidate in some riding they might never hope to win said at some candidates meeting,' he said.
—With files from Matthew Van Dongen.