The only political provincial debate open to the public in Glengarry-Prescott-Russell

TVC22 organized and broadcasted live and uploaded on their media a political debate between the provincial candidates for the provincial elections on February 27. Since there wasn't any other debate for the candidates of the Glengarry-Prescott-Russell area in front of a public, we had the exclusivity on the matter and the public was very thankful of our initiative to hold a debate. We even held and uploaded the debate before the anticipation round of votes was open, so everyone could have been well informed well in advance. It also started a conversation about the presence of the different candidates at the debate since the returning deputy and conservative representative; Stéphane Sarrazin, did not attend the debate even tough he had done many interviews with us in the past. This was a clear disparity between the openness of the different parties to participate in diplomatic conversations before an election. This important detail was highlighted by a comment on our live broadcast, which said : "A free and democratic government has a responsibility to ensure the well-being of its citizens by guaranteeing quality public services. [...] Rather than meet these challenges with courage and transparency, this government prefers to avoid debate and accountability. [...] Faced with these major challenges, does the absence of concrete solutions and the avoidance of discussion reflect an inability to govern effectively?" Our program Political Progress will give us an opportunity to ask the returning deputy why conservative representatives were not present during debates across Ontario at an important time and place for democracy.