Dear Editor,
I would like to correct the headline, “Airdrie candidates trade barbs at chamber-hosted election forum” for your report last week of the ‘all’ candidates’ forum held in Airdrie on Tuesday (May 9) evening. It should correctly read, “Selected Airdrie candidates trade barbs at chamber-hosted election forum.”
While the Airdrie Chamber of Commerce in advertising the event declared that “all candidates running in the ridings of Airdrie-East and Airdrie-Cochrane have confirmed their attendance,” the truth is that only the UCP and NDP candidates were invited to participate. Other official candidates running in the Airdrie-Cochrane riding who were not invited included Michelle Overwater Giles from the Alberta Green Party, Michael Andrusco from the Solidarity Movement of Alberta, and myself from the Wildrose Loyalty Coalition.
I sent an email to the Chamber, to which I did not receive a response, asking them to, in fairness, announce at the beginning of the event that I was not invited to attend so I did not come across as a no show. I very much doubt they did so.
It’s disappointing to see this lack of respect for the democratic process. As per George Orwell’s allegorical novella Animal Farm, the attitude of the Airdrie Chamber and the City of Airdrie appears to be one of, “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.”
Ron Voss,
Wildrose Loyalty Coalition Candidate, Airdrie-Cochrane
