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If there is one point that’s not debatable during an election campaign, it’s that candidates need to show up for debates.

It’s truly astounding that during the current federal campaign, some Conservative candidates have not been attending debates. Whose votes are these people hoping to snare, if not those of the folks in their constituency who attend these forums in the expectation that the candidate will be there? Only sheer arrogance, born of a certainty of epic proportions that Calgary ridings are theirs for the taking, could be the motivating factor for these seemingly apathetic candidates.

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No one can blame voters for feeling insulted at these no-shows. It’s as though they’re simply not important enough for the candidates to waste their time with.

Brian Lee, a former Tory MLA himself, and member of the Calgary Leadership Forum, which has been staging the events, says the only political party to be less than keen on attending is the PCs. Good for Tory hopefuls Ron Liepert in Calgary-Signal Hill and Tom Kmiec in Calgary-Shepard for diligently showing up.