Charges, denials after debate in heated area federal byelection

The candidate running for the Conservatives in the federal byelection in longtime stronghold Oxford said he was barred from participating in a community debate by organizers – a “disheartening” allegation an event official denies.

Oxford Conservative candidate Arpan Khanna took aim at the organizers of a federal candidates’ debate held by Unifor Local 88 Thursday in Ingersoll, tweeting he had been blocked from participating alongside other candidates.

“I am very disappointed to learn that I have been banned from participating in the Unifor Local 88 candidates debate tonight in Ingersoll,” he tweeted about 10 minutes before the scheduled debate start time.

“I wanted to go after my previously scheduled community event, but they told me not to come. They won’t let my voice be heard.”

The organizer of the debate, Unifor Local 88 politics committee chair Colleen Wake, fired back at the accusation Friday, saying Khanna was invited to attend but – out of fairness to the audience and other candidates – would not be able to participate in the on- stage portion of the evening if he did not arrive by the 6:30 pm start time.

Wake said she was in contact with a member of Khanna’s campaign earlier in the day and was clear that he would need to arrive on time to participate in the debate.

“As far as we knew, there was a potential he would be there. We waited until 6:30 to find out if he would be showing up, and at 6:25-ish someone said to us ‘Have you seen the tweet?’” she said.

Wake said she was surprised and “disheartened” to see Khanna’s remarks on Twitter moments before the start of the debate.

Khanna’s camp was told beforehand he could come for the informal meet-and-greet portion later in the evening from 9 to 9:30 pm if he missed the debate, Wake said.

More than 100 people attended the event in Ingersoll on the eve of the first day of advance polling, Wake said. Local 88, which represents about 1,700 workers including employees of CAMI Automotive, has been putting on candidate forums for municipal, provincial and federal races for at least the last decade, she said.

“In the past we’ve had it where candidates can’t make it. We understand. Some candidates place more importance on door-knocking instead of debates, we totally get it. But for someone to say they were banned, it was really frustrating,” Wake said.

Conservative party spokesperson Sarah Fischer said in an emailed statement Friday Khanna was campaigning elsewhere in the riding at the time of the debate.

“He was in Norwich at an event with local residents and Conservative MPs Andrew Scheer and Brad Vis. He posted about this on social media,” she said.

Fischer said Khanna has attended two debates in the riding to date.

The debate spat is the latest chapter in what has become a bitter and protracted fight for the federal Oxford seat.

Tea resignation of long-time Conservative MP Dave MacKenzie in January paved the way for a hotly contested race to replace him on the ballot in which MacKenzie’s daughter, Deb Tait, and three others including Khanna were vying for the Tory nomination.

Controversy erupted over the party’s abrupt disqualification of one pro-life candidate from the nomination race and a formal complaint by MacKenzie taking aim at allegedly improper high-profile endorsements for Khanna, who ran for the party in Brampton in 2019.

The Tory nomination battle grew so contentious the local riding association’s president and vice-president both quit following Khanna’s win, alleging the party stacked the deck to help their preferred candidate win the nomination.

MacKenzie later threw his support behind Liberal candidate Dave Hilderley.

The Oxford riding has become a stronghold for the Tories, both provincially and federally. MacKenzie had represented the riding since snatching it from the Liberals in 2004. Provincially, the riding has had the same Progressive Conservative MPP since 1995.

Advance polls for the Oxford federal by-election began Friday and run until June 12.

Election day in Oxford is June 19.

[email protected]

Twitter.com/JenatLFPress

Oxford federal byelection 2023 candidates:

• Cheryle Baker, Green
• Cody Groat, NDP
• David Hilderley, Liberal
• Arpan Khanna, Conservative
• John Markus, Christian Heritage
• Wendy Martin, People’s Party
• John The Engineer Turmel, Independent