Sydenham Councillor Peter Stroud left the Sydenham District all-candidate’s debate on Sunday after a resident raised issues he felt personally attacked him.

Lindsey Foster, a Sydenham resident, planned to ask about inclusivity in the district, but began by addressing Stroud’s “ability to respond to a constituent that may disagree with him.”

She suggested he had “conflictive tones” and referenced Stroud leaving a council meeting in June 2017 for the Tir Nan Og Pub.

Before finishing her question, Stroud left the stage and approached Foster and the microphone. He said her question was a personal attack and then exited.

At the time the debate was running long and Foster’s question was the final one of the evening. However, the three other candidates remained at the debate and discussed inclusivity within the district.

When asked for a comment, Stroud told The Journal, “It’s not really very helpful for voters to dwell on an insignificant incident.”

“I had just asked her preferred candidate, [Chenier], why he was running in a district other than where he lives … It was just [her] trying to make the opponent of her candidate look bad by gutter politics,” he said.

“She didn’t even pose it in the form of a question it was the form of an insult.”

Stroud also addressed the “pub-night” story, calling it “one-sided” as reported in the Kingston Whig-Standard and “not really relevant.”

Stroud said the council meeting that night was composed of briefings on the Third Crossing Project. He’d already sat down with the director of engineering that day and discussed the project at length.

“I apologized on television … and I never heard a complaint from a single Sydenham resident in the next two years leading up to this election of that incident.”