La Ronge Debate To Include Conservative Candidate

Wednesday, October 01, 2008 at 14:26

All five candidates running in northern Saskatchewan will be taking part in a candidates’ forum in La Ronge tonight.

It was initially thought Conservative MP Rob Clarke would skip this evening’s debate, based on comments he had made to various media outlets — comments that were jumped on by a few of his rivals.

But forum organizer Mike Mercredi says Clarke is a go for this evening, after getting confirmation of Clarke’s attendance yesterday.

Mercredi also says Clarke never told organizers he wasn’t participating — he just took longer than the other candidates to confirm he was taking part.

Clarke’s challengers include Rob Ballantyne of the First Peoples National Party of Canada, the Liberals’ David Orchard, the Green Party’s George Morin and the NDP’s Brian Morin.

Mercredi says this evening’s exchange promises to be interesting — and the format has been designed to maximize interaction between the candidates and the public.

Constituents will be welcome to pose questions to any or all of the candidates, and the candidates will be encouraged to debate the issues.

Mercredi says the primary objective of tonight’s forum is to give the public an opportunity to hear the “debating and negotiating skills” of the candidates.

Tonight’s Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River candidates forum is scheduled for 7:00 at the La Ronge Hotel and Suites.

It is being hosted by the La Ronge and District Chamber of Commerce.