(Facebook/Nipawin & District Chamber of Commerce)

By Becky Zimmer

Election forum cancelled

Nipawin chamber cancels election debate; only two candidates confirmed attendance

Sep 7, 2021 | 5:30 AM

Organizers in Nipawin have cancelled the federal all-candidate forum that was previously planned for Sept. 8.

Nipawin and District Chamber of Commerce president, Ben Paskaruk, told northeastNOW that only two candidates from the Prince Albert riding had confirmed their attendance, one by late Friday afternoon. However, he would not confirm which parties the two who responded represented.

“It would not be fair to have a debate without all six candidates participating. We didn’t want to come off as catering specifically to the major parties and leaving the others behind. Their viability should be considered just as much as any other,” Paskaruk said.

While Paskaruk couldn’t say for sure why all of the candidates did not confirm their attendance, he suspects it may have to do with the relatively close proximity of Nipawin to Prince Albert. The Prince Albert and District Chamber of Commerce is scheduled to hold a federal election all-candidate forum Tuesday evening in Prince Albert. Still, Paskaruk said the rural parts of the riding deserved the chance to talk with candidates and ask them about issues that matter most to them.

“The Prince Albert riding, despite the name, does include a large rural population”, said Paskaruk.

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According to Statistics Canada, the riding has a population of 79,625. Over half of that population live outside Prince Albert, a city with over 35,000 people.

“(Nipawin) makes a big part of that and we have slightly different concerns than they do…The opportunity to have the specific needs of our community and our surrounding communities, to have our voices heard and have our questions answered, that’s the big loss.”

Mayor of Nipawin, Rennie Harper, agreed with Paskaruk and said the people of Nipawin and area may no longer have an opportunity to talk to their candidates.

“(A debate) is one of the opportunities for the public to ask questions and learn about candidates and their motivation for running for MP in this case.”

Paskaruk said the Nipawin chamber will be promoting the Prince Albert and District Chamber of Commerce event and will be sharing questions from their members in hopes they can be answered in Prince Albert.

The debate starts at 6:30 p.m. at the John M. Cuelenaere Public Library and will also be live-streamed through the chamber’s Facebook page.

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becky.zimmer@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @bex_zim