Voters in the federal riding of New Westminster-Coquitlam who wanted to see candidates in action had only two opportunities to do so—and the Tory candidate wasn’t slated to attend either event.

The Douglas College Students Union held a forum yesterday (Wednesday) at the New Westminster campus and the Burquitlam Residents Association is hosting a meeting today in the Sir Frederick Banting middle school gym in Coquitlam.

But Conservative candidate Diana Dilworth wasn’t planning to attend either meeting, according to her campaign manager.

Mike Martens said a scheduling conflict prevented Dilworth from attending the Douglas College event and she’ll be a no-show at the Burquitlam meeting because of concerns the venue isn’t a “credible venue for citizens to find out what the candidates are all about.”

Dilworth wasn’t available to comment before the NewsLeader’s deadline but Martens said the residents’ association meeting held for last year’s federal election was “incredibly biased,” and “unruly.”

Those criticisms come as a surprise to Burquitlam Residents Association president Don Violette, whose group has hosted all-candidates meetings for elections at all levels of government for 10 years and is usually praised by candidates for fairness.

“I find that strange to believe... all we did is ask the questions that are in writing,” said Violette, who said when he moderates, he takes pains to ensure all candidates get a chance to respond and makes sure questions aren’t slanderous or simply full of political posturing.

“I’ve been focused on being totally unbiased,” said Violette, adding that he hopes Dilworth changes her mind and joins the other candidates at the table, who have all confirmed their attendance.

“We’ll have a tent card and a chair for them and hope that for honest questions, they’ll feel it’s a good thing to come out and do,” Violette said.

Dilworth’s campaign organizers had hoped the Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce would hold a meeting but the chamber said it doesn’t host meetings for byelections.

In a press release, New Democratic Party candidate Fin Donnelly expressed disappointment that Dilworth won’t be attending the two public meetings. Liberal candidate Ken Beck Lee and Rebecca Helps of the Green Party both confirmed that they would attend.

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