Editor:
Both Mr Miller and his boss, Mr Harper, are playing hide and seek with the voters in the most important election since the free trade debate of 1988. The issues, and the decisions facing voters, couldn't be more stark.
Are we to go down the path of the USA, switching between one grand old party and the next and subject ourselves to 5 more years of Parliamentary gridlock? Are we, at last, going to attend to poverty and the inequality that drives it and do something about it? Are we going to huff and puff our way into another cold war, or are we going to be a force for peace in a world so desperately in need of it?
And yet, Mr Harper has not held a proper press conference since December 2012. And now Mr Miller won't debate in public unless he gets to pick the format.
So what are we to make of this PM and his MPP who prefer to spin their policies in private conversation rather than debate them publicly, warts and all? Public debates are messy, noisy and awkward. But they are the stuff of democracy. If, as a candidate for public office, you are not willing to stand and defend your policies and your beliefs in a public forum, perhaps you don't have what it takes.
Transparency and debate are the sun and the moon of good government. The public will have a chance to scrutinize all the candidates this Thursday, June 18 at the Owen Sound Public Library, from 7:00 pm. The issue is how do we get more democratically representative governments—the Conservatives won a majority in 2011 with less the 40% of the vote. The NDP won in Alberta the same way. Should this trend continue?
The planned format is to discuss this state of affairs with whomever comes out, and do it in small groups—one of the formats Mr Miller says he favours. I'm going. Ms Love is going. Mr Miller has declined.
So, allow me to state that I will debate Mr Miller any time, any place, in any format, in front of anyone.
David McLaren, NDP candidate, Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound
Editor's Note: MP Larry Miller has contacted the Hub to explain that he will be in the House of Commons on Thursday, June 18 as votes are scheduled for 5:30 p.m
