By-elections were held in four ridings across Canada on Monday.

The spoils were shared between the Conservatives, which gained two seats, and the Bloc Québecois and the NDP, which held onto their two seats.

In the riding of New Westminster-Coquitlam, which was held onto by the NDP’s Fin Donnelly, carrying on where Dawn Black (who resigned to run provincially in May) left off, the win might be credited in part to a campaign that effectively drew a connection between the widely-despised Harmonized Sales Tax and the Harper government.

Also highlighted in the recent by-election in New Westminster-Coquitlam is a worrying trend among the federal Conservatives. Candidate Diana Dilworth, by all accounts a strong politician in her current role as a Port Moody city councillor, became like most Tory candidates in recent elections. Difficult for media outlets to contact for interviews, and avoiding all-candidates debates altogether.

“I chose to engage the voters on a one-to-one basis on the doorsteps,” she told the NewsLeader, “rather than going through an all-candidates meeting where you are sitting there addressing scripted questions.”

If anything has been scripted, it’s that refrain about preferring one-to-one contact. Is it coming from the Prime Minister’s Office itself? Free to run her campaign as she chose, perhaps Dilworth would have attended the meetings. She needed to elevate her profile against a tough opponent.

The Tories need to reconsider this practice of skipping debates. Who knows, it might be baggage from the old Reform Party days when a few candidates raised an ugly stink through their racist comments.

Being an MP is an important job. Particularly in minority government times, a single by-election win could tip the scales of power.

Candidates should be put through as rigorous a screening process as possible. And if that means sitting through “scripted questions” and being subject to some jeers from the partisans in the crowd, so be it.

Ottawa is a tough place to work. And representing 100,000 or so residents, arguably, even tougher.