JCT: As I had emailed everyone, including my opponents, in my
last post titled: Crooked debate moderators in St. Paul's
byelection as usual

>I can tell you that in the past, when I have been excluded from
a question, I leave the stage and go pass out my literature until
I'm invited back on stage to respond. I won't sit there like a
lump on a log while the same four candidates keep getting asked
all the questions."

JCT: So they knew what was going to be happening if they opened
up the option of excluding candidates for their questioners,
didn't they?

Police called to candidates' debate
Globe and Mail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/police-called-to-candidates-debate/\
article1283295/

Sep. 11, 2009 03:14AM EDT
JOE FRIESEN

A candidates' debate in the St. Paul's by-election briefly
descended into farce last night as police were called to rein in
an independent candidate who refused to sit quietly while
questioners ignored him.

John Turmel, who styles himself Turmel the engineer, one of five
fringe or independent candidates contesting the race in St.
Paul's, was upset at not being allowed to answer questions being
directed to the four major party candidates.

He was asked several times to be quiet or leave, but refused,
continuing to walk around the church hall where the debate was
being held. An hour into the debate, a recess was called and a
group of audience members confronted Mr. Turmel.

"You want to cheat me quietly, I won't be quiet," Mr. Turmel
cried as he was surrounded. "Call the police. Assault! You can't
touch me, you can't touch me."

The police were called, according to the event's moderator, but
did not arrive for 45 minutes. They decided not to intervene at
that point. The debate was eventually resumed, but Mr. Turmel
continued to wander the aisles, objecting loudly each time a
question was asked to the major candidates. When Liberal
candidate Eric Hoskins was posed yet another question, Mr. Turmel
said, "Oh, Eric again - give us a show, Eric the one man band."

The drama overshadowed an otherwise tepid debate at the First
Unitarian congregation on St. Clair Avenue in which most
candidates turned their attention to criticizing the Liberal
government of Dalton McGuinty.
--

High drama hijacks debate
By-election contest features shouting, shoving and police
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/694129

Sep 11, 2009 04:30 AM
Rob Ferguson Queen's Park Bureau

Chaos erupted last night at a debate by nine candidates hoping to
become the new MPP for St. Paul's in next Thursday's by-election
when an independent candidate rebelled after being denied the
chance to answer questions from the audience.

The debate was briefly adjourned and interrupted several times as
fringe candidate John Turmel got off the stage and rambled around
a church auditorium, complaining loudly and repeatedly that he
was being bypassed with questions aimed at candidates from
mainstream parties.

"Why should I sit like a lump on a log?" Turmel beefed aloud to
the crowd after he abandoned the stage in frustration. "This is
democracy in Canada?"

He was threatened with ejection several times by the moderator of
the debate, organized by the local Town Crier newspaper.

Police were also called and Turmel later returned to the stage
and settled down, but only after a shoving match had ensued and
nearby audience members feared it might come to blows.

JCT: Not from me, I wasn't the one upset.

One supporter of Progressive Conservative candidate Sue-Ann Levy
held back an angry audience member who made a move toward Turmel,
an engineer by training who is known in political circles for
running in virtually every election he can.

JCT: I wasn't one of those in a rage.

As the debate began, Turmel told an overflow crowd of about 300
at a church hall in the mid-town Toronto riding that he was not
so much concerned about taxes the provincial government collects
but how "tax money is wasted."
--

St. Paul's foes show little harmony
Toronto Sun
http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2009/09/11/10832721-sun.html

By ANTONELLA ARTUSO, QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU CHIEF
11th September 2009, 2:47am

Countering claims by his opponents that the harmonized sales tax
is a cash grab, St. Paul's Liberal byelection candidate Dr. Eric
Hoskins says the McGuinty plan will actually cost the government
money. "It's not revenue neutral. In fact, it's going to cost us
$2 billion over the next three years," Hoskins said. "It's the
right thing to do at this time, the right thing for business ...
It's the right thing for families as well." Hoskins, the
perceived frontrunner in the race, was the target of most of his
opponents, who took aim at the 13% HST throughout an all-
candidates meeting held last night at a St. Clair Ave. W. church.

The riding of St. Paul's, which encompasses the mid-town Toronto
area, became vacant with the resignation in June of former
Liberal MPP Michael Bryant.

PC candidate Sue-Ann Levy called the HST a massive tax hike,
which will devastate St. Paul's residents and businesses, driving
up rent, utilities and even cups of coffee. Levy, who is on leave
from her position as City Hall columnist for the Toronto Sun,
said she has always been an advocate for lower taxes and
responsible government. "When this byelection was called, I
decided I had sat on the sidelines long enough and wanted to make
a difference in my community," she said.

NDP candidate Julian Heller suggested voters shouldn't pass up an
opportunity to pass judgment on the Liberal government's HST and
its eHealth and Ontario Lottery Corp. spending scandals. "Each
one of you deserves better than you've been receiving," Heller
told the crowd of about 300 people.

In a bizarre twist, the meeting was halted briefly while one
candidate -- apparently angry he wasn't allowed to answer all the
questions -- began pacing the room and shouting. "Why should I
sit like a lump on a log when I get excluded," independent John
Turmel said.
--

JCT: Terry Parker caught an hour and a half on video and I don't
know where to post it since Google shut down. Maybe the high-
lights at youtube, especially when I was surrounded by the angry
mob.

When they started grabbing me to throw me out, I wasn't about to
fight back. They were ready to carry me out. I had to shout "Call
the cops, assault, call the cops. Trespass is not an indictable
offence, you can't touch me, call a cop. You need a badge." They
did seem to wither away.

Still, it's just like the time Tory Phearful Phil McColeman ran
out of a debate to call the cops on my loud-mouth and by the time
they got there, everything had calmed down and the debate was
back to normal.

This fluked because one man had the audacity to ask if he could
have answers from all the candidates at one point which got me
back on the stage in a quiet mood. No matter that there were a
lot of angries, there were still people taking my flyer.

Someday, I'll get the time to edit the video of the "bizarre"
"chaos" "farce" debate down to bite-sized youtube portions.