This year’s mayoral front-runners have backed out of a debate planned for Monday on a community radio station, citing a lack of organization, the Star reports. The debate was to be held on University of Toronto radio station CIUT 89.5. Many observers were surprised when long-shot candidate Sarah Thomson was invited but not Karen Stintz or David Soknacki. But Saturday night, the campaigns of mayor Rob Ford, Olivia Chow and John Tory issued a joint statement saying they were backing out. “After much consideration, we the under signed will not be participating in the CIUT debate planned for Monday,” the statement said. “After multiple attempts for clarification on which candidates would be attending the debate, our questions have still been left unanswered. Combined, we feel that we have been misled by the organizers of this debate. As always, we welcome opportunities to discuss the issues facing our city with other candidates and look forward to well-planned debates with transparent processes.” Station manager Ken Stowar said he learned of the withdrawal via media reports.
