Cancellation of the Ward 2 All Candidate Meeting

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Urban League of London has been working with a team of volunteers to organize All Candidate Meetings in all 14 wards of London for individuals running for city council in the October municipal election. The meetings are taking place in the weeks before the October 24th election, between September 14-October 1.

As an organization that has as its mission to strengthen civic participation, the Urban League of London believes that All Candidate Meetings are an important way for Londoners to learn about where leaders stand on civic issues and become engaged in local democracy.

We first contacted all the individuals that filed for candidacy to let them know about the planned All Candidate Meetings and dates for each in July and then again in late August. On September 3rd, we contacted all candidates again to provide final details for these meetings.

After releasing the proposed dates and times for each meeting, a candidate for Ward 2 got in touch with us to express his concern about scheduling. Due to the complexity of organizing 14 meetings in a two-week period, ULL was unable to accommodate a date change.

Following our most recent communication confirming details, we received an email from the Ward 2 candidate expressing that they would not be attending and that they understood the other candidate running in Ward 2 did not plan to attend either. This was confirmed by the other candidate in an email the following day. As such, the League has opted to cancel the event.

“The ULL and its volunteers have been planning these All Candidate Meetings for eight months, which has been an extraordinary effort,” said Morena Hernandez, President of the Urban League.

“Organizing and hosting 14 meetings in this short time span has taken a tremendous amount of coordination and work, and the ULL is immensely appreciative of the volunteers who have taken this work on,” she added.

The League will continue with all other All Candidate Meetings, as planned. For a full list of events, see: https://www.urbanleague.ca/all-candidate-meetings.

- 30 -