Former New Westminster MP Paul Forseth is scratching his head about some Conservative candidates’ decision to skip all-candidates meetings.
Forseth, who served as New Westminster’s member of Parliament from 1993 to 2006, was never one to shy away from all-candidates meetings during his political career. He thinks it’s “quite valuable” for politicians to attend community meetings during – and after – election campaigns as it makes them aware of issues at the grassroots level and shows accountability to the people who elected them and pay their salary.
“If I had my way, I would show up to everything possible,” he said.
Some community members have taken to social media to voice concerns that New Westminster-Burnaby Conservative candidate Chloe Ellis has been a no-show at local meetings.
“I don’t know what instructions she has been given or the strategy,” Forseth told the Record. “My view is you should show up to them all. I remember when I was first elected, I think I went to 13 different community events – even strata councils put on their own information session. I really enjoyed them, even though there may have only been 25 people in the room, it was wonderful. You were able to present yourself. I think it’s very important.”
While there’s an old saying about all-candidates’ meetings that “there’s no votes there,” Forseth thinks there’s value in attending the election events.
“It’s not so much what happens in the room but how it is reported, that makes the difference” he said. “I always felt, even when certain ones were completely stacked against me and were subversively organized by the NDP, I knew that anyway and would just go in there and enjoy myself and present a viable alternative.”
Forseth has popped by Ellis’s campaign office and attended her office's grand opening, but said he hasn’t been actively involved in her campaign. If he had a chance, he’d encourage her to attend the meetings.
“I would. That would be my style,” he said. “Things have really changed. I remember the ’93 campaign. There was no such thing as the Internet. They actually had a fax machine and we had telephones. We did door-to-door and tried to phone people off of lists. By the ‘97 campaign, most national parties had some kind of a nominal website that you could go to, and emails were beginning to get going. By the year 2000, if the candidate didn’t have their own webpage and so on, you were really not in the game. Now, of course, it has even morphed to Facebook and Twitter.”
Forseth hasn’t attended any of the all-candidates meetings during this federal election campaign, but said he may attend one of the upcoming gatherings.
“If she doesn’t show, maybe I’ll show as a resident,” he laughed. “That would be funny. I’ll try and answer anything. I’m not afraid of that. It’s public service.”
