All federal candidates welcome on campus, Laurentian University says

Sudbury's Laurentian University says all federal election candidates are welcome to campaign on campus and an apology has been issued after a candidate was told to stop doing so.

Communist Party candidate Elizabeth Rowley was told two weeks ago to stop handing out election material to students, as she said security staff told her she could only campaign in student residences.

"The fact that their first inclination was to escort us off the campus andsay 'You're not welcome here' that is troublesome," she said.

"One would think that the university's first inclination would be to facilitate voting. It's widespread information that voter turnout is low, particularly amongst young people."

The mix-up didn't sit well with Green Party candidate David Robinson, who is also a professor at the university.

"There are lots of people who think that you can't campaign in public places and that means they don't actually understand one of the important guarantees we have in the Canadian system," he said.

"You can campaign in apartment buildings, and in malls and in universities."

Rowley filed a complaint with Elections Canada and received an apology from the school this week.

University 'more than happy' to allow candidates on campus

Laurentian University's chief of staff said the school did speak with Elections Canada about the issue.

"We've been informed that, as a public institution, that there are no such restrictions," Alex Freedman explained.

"We're more than happy to allow any and all candidates to come to campus and to support the students in being able to make an educated decision when it comes to voting day."

The university has resolved the issue, Freedman said, and now any candidate is welcome to campaign on campus.

Other federal candidates in Sudbury said they have not had any issue with Laurentian University, but the NDP notes it did have problems campaigning on campus in past elections.

Rowley said she will return to Laurentian to campaign, but added it would have been nice to have been able to do so over the last two weeks.