Although there are 50 Greater Sudbury municipal candidates in this year’s civic election, you won’t necessarily have heard from all of them.
Not everyone is using lawn signs, some have websites and social media while others don’t, and some aren’t using traditional media or responding to organizations (whether news organizations or community groups) seeking their insights.
With some candidates less visible than others, Sudbury.com reached out to the election cycle’s most elusive candidates to learn the status of their campaigns.
This excludes Mayor Brian Bigger. Although an active participant earlier on, Bigger ceased campaigning after announcing on Oct. 4 he intended to withdraw himself from the race, though his name will still appear on the ballot. Ward 9 candidate Keith Clarkson has similarly announced that he is no longer seeking election, citing personal reasons.
Although David Popescu is running for the mayor’s seat, Sudbury.com has not actively covered his campaign due to his conviction as a purveyor of hate speech.
There have been at least four points of contact Sudbury.com is aware of wherein all city council candidates were reached out to for public comment.
This includes a social and environmental pledge the Coalition for a Livable Sudbury asked candidates to sign and a platform response by the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce. Last month, Sudbury.com reached out to all candidates to learn where they stand on the city proceeding with a new or renewed municipal arena, and then again for a series of stories this month introducing each ward’s candidates and their platforms.
Of the city’s slate of municipal candidates, 19 did not respond to the Coalition for a Livable Sudbury, 20 did not respond to the Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce, 15 did not respond to Sudbury.com’s arena question and eight did not respond to Sudbury.com’s introduction/platform highlights information request.
Among these unresponsive candidates, four did not respond to any of the four points of inquiry. This slate of candidates includes Ward 2 Coun. Michael Vagnini, Ward 7 candidate Daniel Wiebes, Ward 8 candidate Gordon Drysdale and Ward 8 candidate Carla Ross-Arsenault.
Sudbury.com reached out to these four candidates, but did not receive a call back from either Vagnini or Ross-Arsenault.
Vagnini has declined to return Sudbury.com’s messages for the past several months. Although his silence has been without explanation, it accompanied a wave of negative press related to an accusation he spread various points of misinformation regarding the city’s homeless community, his removal from the police board, abstaining from votes, an allegation he threatened Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc, his mileage claims, an accusation he threatened a deputy chief, and city council voting to dock him 40 days’ pay.
While Sudbury.com has no insight regarding Carla Ross-Arsenault’s campaign, Vagnini has taken to social media to share points from his campaign, which appears to be active.
In conversation with Sudbury.com, both Wiebes and Drysdale said they didn’t respond to the four points of inquiry because they’ve been too busy with both their campaigns and other work, but pledged to make time for city council business in the event they are elected.
Wiebes said he would step down from some of his business activities, while Drysdale said he has been busy on a film project and would “make the time” if elected.
Both Weibes and Drysdale have participated in public debates within their wards and have various platform points they were keen on sharing over the phone with Sudbury.com.
Drysdale said he is committed to the city’s downtown, and would work to attract more housing to the city’s historic core.
“You come up with a concept, make it available and entice developers with low-cost land to do it with the condition that this is what we want,” Drysdale said, adding he’d also work to establish a more equitable development fee and property tax system.
Wiebes is similarly committed to lowering fees associated with new builds and investigating how properties are taxed to ensure people are paying their fair share. He describes his campaign as “common sense,” and that includes his commitment to working alongside other organizations to help end the homelessness crisis.
While the Wiebes campaign includes lawn signs, Drysdale’s doesn’t.
“The plastic in the signs is just another form of pollution,” Drysdale said. “What happens to the signs after the election is over?”
He is also not knocking on doors, which he considers “intrusive.”
There are many approaches to political campaigns, but a unique tactic that arose during this year’s provincial election found candidates bypass traditional media altogether and focus on door-knocking and social media campaigns, as Vagnini appears to be doing.
Earlier this year, both Sudbury and Nickel Belt’s Progressive Conservative candidates avoided all media interviews and public debates.
Looking back, Nickel Belt candidate Randy Hazlett, who is now seeking election in Ward 7, believes the approach harmed his provincial campaign.
Although he hasn’t responded to all points of inquiry during his current municipal campaign, Hazlett has engaged in public debate and picked up the phone when Sudbury.com called earlier this week, which wouldn’t have been the case during his provincial run.
During the provincial election, he said the Progressive Conservatives’ central campaign team had issues with candidates in Toronto “going off in odd directions that were off-point.”
“The central campaign team made a decision that no candidate should be doing interviews without the pre-questions as I had suggested, and we weren’t doing debates or interviews.”
During the provincial election, he said he knocked on 10,000 doors in 18 months, which includes approximately one-third of the Nickel Belt population.
“I missed out on an opportunity to reach a larger portion of the population by not participating in those debates,” he said, adding the approach “did hurt.”
This time around, he said he’s thankful to have the freedom to get his voice out to the broader community through media participation and debates.
Hazlett said his campaign has been focused on ensuring the city pays better attention to outlying communities and day-to-day operations like road maintenance, which he said should be better prioritized over larger projects such as the Junction East Cultural Hub.
Looking back on this year’s provincial election, Nipissing University Political Science and Economics professor David Tabachnick told Sudbury.com that “voters lost” in the Progressive Conservatives’ approach.
“But it was a winning strategy … considering the election results,” he added.
“If you’re a front-runner, there’s always a risk in exposing yourself to a debate where you might misspeak or someone might get the better of you.
“I think certainly some do not distrust the media, but are weary because of the potential for hard-hitting questions they are unable to answer or some investigation that will reveal malfeasance.”
Politicians who don’t participate risk alienating themselves from the public consciousness, he said, adding it’s also an approach that’s “detrimental to democracy, in general.”
A full collection of Sudbury.com’s ongoing civic election coverage is available by clicking here, including a series of 12 stories providing a rundown of who’s running in each ward and what their platforms consist of.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.
