2021 federal election

[taylortbb]

It looks like the conservative candidates in the region are declining to take part in any of the local debates or Q&A sessions, whether organized by the CBC or anyone else. Is this a mandate from party HQ to make sure the messaging comes only from O'Toole with no local mis-steps?

Certainly not the first time. When I lived in Toronto 10+ years ago the rules were largely the same for local Conservative candidates. Don't show up to debates, avoid any small local media, etc.

While I dislike it, I'm also never going to vote for the Conservatives. As a strategy I think it's pretty logical. The kind of people that attend local candidate debates, or read their local CBC coverage, probably were never going to vote for the Conservatives anyways. So for them participation is pure downside (might say something dumb) and zero upside.