There’s a dearth of provincial candidates in the Greater Sudbury area, given the fact an election is little more than one month away.
Earlier today, Premier Doug Ford said he’d visit with Lt.-Gov. Edith Dumont on Tuesday to kick off a campaign culminating in a Feb. 27 election.
As of today, Sudbury.com is only aware of NDP candidates in the Nickel Belt and Sudbury electoral districts, with incumbents France Gélinas and Jamie West in place respectively.
Though there’s been no lack of tire-kicking in recent months, there’s still no official word from the local Progressive Conservatives and Ontario Liberals.
Past Sudbury candidate David Farrow has critical words for the Ontario Liberal Party.
“As we sit here today, a week away from an Ontario election being called, the Ontario Liberal Party still has 60 ridings that don’t have candidates in place,” he said.
“I think that has to be a real concern when it comes to an organizational point of view.”
Farrow sought public office under the Ontario Liberal banner in the 2022 election and was elected to the party’s executive council the following year.
Late last year, he stepped down from the executive council and pulled himself out of the nomination process for Sudbury.
“Sudbury has a bit of a history of people interfering with the nomination process,” he said, adding that he believes that history repeated itself, with interference he did not define coming from both local and provincial sources.
"I think there was a lot of interference that was going on locally with the nomination process," he said. “I’m not going to name any names or talk out of school, but you know when the cards are stacked against you, that it’s time for you to move on.”
Pressed further, Farrow said “past behaviour is a really good predicator of future behaviour, and that’s all I want to say about it on the subject.”
As for the upcoming provincial election, he said it’ll be a tough one for the Liberals.
“If you ask a Liberal what time it is they’ll ask you to build a watch,” Farrow said. “There has to be a real focus on getting the nomination process in place earlier.”
The party needs to get outside of the “central Ontario focus of the Liberal party — the Toronto focus of the party” and look at Northern Ontario, he said, adding they also need to follow a centrist path and talk more with the “silent majority.”
“If we’re ever going to get back to a position where we’re going to be government again, we have to spend the time and engage people on the ground in rural and northern ridings,” Farrow said.
"That's something I came into the Ontario Liberal Party believing, and I continue to promote that time and time again.”
There’s no word from the Progressive Conservatives regarding candidates in the Nickel Belt and Sudbury electoral districts.
Sudbury.com reached out to 2022 candidates Marc Despatie (Sudbury) and Randy Hazlett (Nickel Belt), seeking phone interviews. Despatie emailed back to say, “As far as I know, I’m not running.” No response came from Hazlett.
Regardless of the candidates chosen to represent the Progressive Conservatives in Nickel Belt and Sudbury, it’s unclear whether they will be allowed to speak publicly.
During the 2022 provincial election, both local Progressive Conservative candidates skipped debates and avoided all media interviews until after the polls closed.
This, despite Sudbury.com’s numerous attempts throughout their respective campaigns to secure interviews and answers to questions.
In October, Sudbury.com asked Premier Doug Ford whether local candidates would be allowed to speak publicly during the next election cycle, and he declined to answer.
The Green Party of Ontario’s website indicates “candidates coming soon” for both the Nickel Belt and Sudbury electoral districts.
During the 2022 election, the New Blue and Ontario Party had candidates running in both Nickel Belt and Sudbury, while Sudbury also had a Libertarian and Independent candidate. There has been no word from any of these parties regarding local candidates thus far.
Confident he’ll retain his seat but not taking it for granted, West told Sudbury.com he would have preferred to have seen an election take place in 2026, as scheduled.
West also questions Ford’s claim that he needs a strong mandate to fight against United States President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs, which Nipissing Progressive Conservative MPP Vic Fedeli also expressed during an interview with Bay Today earlier on Friday.
West countered that Ford would be hard pressed to find an MPP who opposes taking action against the tariffs.
“I’m ready for an election, but frankly, Doug Ford doesn’t need a mandate,” West said.
“He’s been fishing for a reason to call an election since last spring, and we weren’t even looking at tariffs back then. … I’m frustrated that we’re doing this.”
During a time in which West said the Government of Ontario should be focusing on combatting the impacts of potential Trump tariffs, politicians will instead be embroiled in election campaigns.
As for the potential that local Progressive Conservatives will be silent again this election cycle, West said that such an approach “erodes trust.”
“Why should I trust somebody who won’t speak to me until they’re in power?”
Sudbury.com will continue to follow this story and report on local candidates as they are announced.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.