Manitoba Tory candidate ditches debate, plans her own

A voter in Manitoba'sPortage-Lisgarriding is furious Conservative candidateCandice Bergenis skipping an all-candidates forum set for Thursday and has now planned her own event the same evening.

"I'm angry because she's our incumbent," voter Stacy O'Connor said. "She's claimed over and over again that she's too busy to attend the last forums and in this one she's clearly not busy. She could choose to attend that forum but she's not going to."

CBC News emailed and called Bergen's campaign team Sunday, but did not receive a response. She did, however, send a statement to local mediathat read, in part: "I love to debateand I would have loved to attend the all-candidates forums. I want to give the public an opportunity to ask questions and discuss their issues with me. That is why I'm hosting this Town Hall."

'That's really scary,' votersays

"She claims she loves forums, that's what she says, but yetshe hasn't been to a single one in her riding. So, if she loves them so much,how could she not make it a priority to attend at least one?!" said O'Connor. "Especially this one, because it's the last one she could possibly attend."

Not only did we invite her to the debate, we allowed her to choose any date that she wanted.- James Kostuchuk

O'Connor said she's never supported the Conservatives and is helping the Green Party candidateputup signs.

"Showing up here is fact, whether I'm a Green, NDP or Liberal supporter, you know? She's not here. She's not showing up," she said.

"We should be able to put them in a room together, ask them questions so we can see how their answers play against each other. That's important. Ms. Bergen [not showing up] that's really scary for me." she said. "That's a scary, scary country if we're going to allow that and we're not going to challenge that."

Bergen invitedto pick forum date

Bergen's event is reportedly at 7 p.m. Thursday in Carman. That's the same time asthe all-candidates forum at Portage Collegiate Institute in Portage la Prairie, Man.

In the statement sent to media,Bergenwrote she was "excluded from a forum organized by a former NDP candidate."

James Kostuchuk,a teacher at the collegiate who ran for the NDP in 2011,said the Portage Teachers' Association is hosting the forum.

"You have to realize it wasn't me that invited her, it was the committee," Kostuchuk said.

Bergen reportedly said she was "excluded," but Kostuchukprovided evidence of an email exchangeand call logs with Bergen's campaigninviting her to the event (displayed below).

"It's all very silly," he said. "It is just absurd that somebody organizing a forum isn't going to invite the incumbent. It just doesn't make sense.

"In fact, not only did we invite her to the debate, we allowed her to choose any date that she wanted," he said.

Bergen won the riding in the 2011 federal election with a whopping 76 per cent of the vote. The four other candidates Ken Werbiski (Liberal), Dean Harder (NDP), Beverley Eert (Green) and Jerome Dondo (Christian Heritage Party) all agreed to attend the 90-minute public event at any time of Bergen's choosing.

• READ about the 5 candidates in Portage-Lisgar

'My pen's not going to sit any longer'

Cartoonist Justin Morison, 31, has made the forum fiasco the subject of his latest cartoon. He drew Bergen handinga "debate permission slip"to an imposing Tory Leader Stephen Harperwho says "NO!"to her involvement in the forum.

The cartoon came to CBC's attention only after Bergen herself tweeted it. "Although inaccurate, still pretty funny...." she wrote on twitter.

Although inaccurate, still pretty funny.... https://t.co/7chFGRIllb

—@CandiceBergenMP

"I was pretty shocked!" Morison said about Bergen tweeting his cartoon. "She doesn't reply to anything."

Bergen tweeted it was "funny,"but Morisondisagrees.

"Everyone will agree she will not show up, but it's like, 'Ha ha, well, whatever we'll just let her get away with it,'" Morison said."I'ma cartoonist my pens not going to sit any longer."

Bergen also tweeted Morison he could set up a phone meeting with her.

"It took all that to get you to call somebody," he said incredulously. "No, I'm not going to talk to her. If she wants to talk, go to the all candidates event."

The 31-year-old Portage la Prairie cartoonist said Bergen couldn't ignore his cartoon and now she's trying to capitalize off it.

"It's a political move. She was doing, 'Oh look I have a sense of humour and I am actually engaging my constituents,'which is crap," he said.

Bergen no-show at previous debate

Bergen's Liberal opponent called her out on Twitter for skipping a previous public forum on Oct.1 hosted by the Morden and Winkler Chambers of Commerce.

"Well organized/attended, the only way it could have been better is if @CandiceBergenMP showed up," he wrote.

Bergen blasted back:

In a separate tweet, Bergen wrote: "I proactively gave dates to @WinklerChamber @MordenChamber , they chose the one date I couldn't attend."

Bergen and eight other Conservative candidates in Manitoba refused to participate in a CBC-Red River College project to interview every candidate in Manitoba. All Greens, Liberals and New Democrats participated. The Christian Heritage Party candidate in Winnipeg Centre also did not participate.

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See the proof thePortage Teachers' Association sent CBC News showing they invited Bergen to the forum: