Liberal candidate noticeably absent from all-candidates debate
Tori Weldon, Gabrielle Fahmy | CBC News | Posted: August 31, 2018 10:41 PM | Last Updated: August 31, 2018
Liberal candidate for Shediac-Beaubassin-Cap-Pelé, Jacques LeBlanc drops out evening before debate
The Liberal candidate in Shediac-Beaubassin-Cap-Pelé, Jacques LeBlanc, was booed at an all-candidates debate Thursday evening because he decided to withdraw from the event.
The debate at the Pointe-du-Chêne Community Centre was organized by a community group called Save Our Wetlands, Waters and Tourism, or SWATT.
People in the crowded room booed and jeered when moderator Warren Redmond announced that the Shediac mayor, who's on leave from the post while running for office, had changed his mind with little warning.
"He did accept....and at the last minute decided to pull out."
Before the meeting got underway, organizers gave reporters a printed email exchange between LeBlanc's campaign manager, Andrew Bell, and event organizer Tim Borlase.
Bell accepted the invitation on LeBlanc's behalf on Aug. 24. After an exchange about the format and topics on the evening of Aug. 29, Bell forwarded a message from LeBlanc, indicating he'd changed his mind and was declining the invitation.
LeBlanc wrote: "there is absolutely no way that I would be able to participate in all the debates".
At this point, there are no other all-candidates debates scheduled in the riding.
Bad blood
Since 2015, LeBlanc and Pointe-du-Chêne residents have clashed over the Town of Shediac's approval of a controversial mega-campground project near Parlee Beach — which former Shediac MLA Victor Boudreau was an investor in before eventually pulling out.
The project, slated to be the largest RV campsite in the Maritimes, faced fierce opposition from the start.
On Thursday, one citizen asked the candidates how they felt about LeBlanc's absence from the debate.
"I'm not very surprised," said the Green Party's Sarah Colwell, the Moncton Southwest candidate who was sitting in for Greta Doucet, who has not yet officially submitted her candidature for the riding.
"He seems a bit, um....how shall I say? Invisible? Uncaring. A bit too proud of himself, a bit too sure of himself," she said.
"Well, well, well," said Progressive Conservative candidate Marcel Doiron, as the crowd laughed.
"I've known Jacques for a long, long time. And right now, he is scared. Because he did not do what he was supposed to do. If you're an honest man, you don't have to be afraid to be in front of people."
Through the evening, as citizens got up to the microphone to ask questions, constant references were made to the empty seat.
Linda Forestell, a Pointe-du-Chêne cottage owner, said she attended the debate specifically to hear Jacques LeBlanc's and the Liberals' take on environmental issues.
"I was disappointed, discouraged, annoyed and baffled all simultaneously," she said.
Forestell said she thinks LeBlanc's absence will hurt not just him but his party's image as well.
"I don't understand why any candidate for a political office would first accept an invitation to attend a meeting and then at the last minute cancel."