A Toronto community radio station manager has expressed disappointment after the city’s mayoral front-runners issued a statement saying they won’t be taking part in a debate scheduled for Monday.
The debate was to be held at the University of Toronto’s Hart House, and broadcast on local radio station CIUT 89.5.
“Shortly after announcing the debate, the station received inquiries from the invited candidates regarding the composition of the panel and the criteria for their selection. My initial announcement was poorly worded, stating that the top four candidates have been invited to participate rather than four of the top candidates as was my intention. I regret the error,” CIUT station manager Ken Stowar said in a statement on Sunday.
Many were baffled when Stowar wrote in a statement on Wednesday that he was “inviting the top four candidates in the race for Mayor of Toronto,” but did not invite Karen Stintz, who has come in fourth in every public poll.
David Soknacki, polling just behind Stintz in fifth place, was invited to the debate one day later, on Thursday.
On Saturday morning, however, the station tweeted that participants would include Ford, Chow and Tory, as well as Sarah Thomson.
Thomson made headlines last year when she famously accused Ford of groping her at party -- allegations that Ford denied. Thomas, a businesswoman who publishes an online publication called The Women’s Post, also ran for mayor in 2010, but ultimately dropped out of the race.
In a joint statement issued on Saturday night, Ford, Chow and Tory said they had been “misled by the organizers of the debate.”
“After much consideration, we, the undersigned, will not be participating in the CIUT debate planned for Monday,” the statement said.
“After multiple attempts for clarification on which candidates would be attending the debate, our questions have still been left unanswered. Combined, we feel that we have been misled by the organizers of the debate. As always, we welcome the opportunities to discuss the issues facing our city with other candidates and look forward to well-planned debates with transparent processes.”
Stowar apologized Sunday for the confusion and blamed his slow response to the situation on the station’s radio transmitter, which experienced a “catastrophic failure” last week.
“As a result, I did not attend to the organization of the debate as closely as I should have, or the inquiries about it from candidates and the media,” he said. “Altogether it was more than I was able to accomplish.”
Stowar said he had hoped that a “lively debate” among the candidates “would have made for entertaining politically salient radio and helped raise the profile of the station in the city.”
