'Brutally honest' debate in Timiskaming-Cochrane, despite only 2 candidates showing up

For empty chairs, they got a lot of attention.

Five of the seven people running to be the MPP for Timiskaming-Cochrane did not attend a debate organized by the Temiskaming Shores and Area Chamber of Commerce Tuesday night.

"For whatever reason, be it legit or not, they have chosen to not attend," moderator James Patterson said to a round of laughs from the crowd of about 50 voters.

Organizers say Progressive Conservative candidate Margaret Williams and Green Party hopeful Casey Lalonde declined, and they couldn't even find contact information for Liberal Brian A. Johnson.

The two candidates in the room—incumbent New Democrat John Vanthof and Northern Ontario Party candidate Shawn Poirier— frequently referred to the missing candidates, and said they wished they were there to defend their party platforms.

Over the two hours, Poirier and Vanthof did more agreeing than debating.

They both want to bring back the Northlander passenger train that ran through the riding before being scrapped by the Liberal government.

They both want the government to work more closely with First Nations, address poverty in rural parts of the province, spend more money on northern Ontario hospitals and make Highway 11 safer.

But they disagree on the best way to make those things happen.

"The Northern Ontario Party won't have a southern leader telling us not to voice our issues in the north," said Poirier, a truck driver making his first political run.

"This is where Shawn and I disagree, because I don't think the Northern Ontario Party is the way to go," Vanthof shot back.

The two-term MPP took exception with Poirier's repeated belief that people in the south get everything they want, mentioning the high cost of childcare in Toronto.

"I'm pro-northern Ontario, but people in Toronto have just as many problems, different problems, as we do," he told the crowd. 

"We have a chip on our shoulder here in the north."

Asked a question about bringing down the provincial debt, Poirier suggested that the base $112,000 salary for MPPs is a good place to start.

"I'm even willing to donate 15 per cent of my own salary because I think MPPs are overly paid," he said.

"I'm not going to match that," Vanthof replied. 

"I'm going to be brutally honest. You wonder why you don't get the best and brightest? Sometimes, because, we don't pay a lot."

Vanthof was surprisingly frank at times during the debate, saying that "we face a lot of racism on that file" when answering a question about Indigenous peoples and that a question about merging the four school boards was the "toughest of the night" before saying that his party wasn't going in that direction.