Even before he quit his job as the Sault’s top cop, Hugh Stevenson was not afraid to speak his mind on a pretty contentious topic: Canada’s bail regime. The now ex-police chief has been a consistent critic of the Liberal government’s so-called “catch and release” policies for accused criminals — and when he talks about the subject, people listen.
Why wouldn’t they? This is a man who served nearly four decades in uniform, led a municipal police service for seven years, and holds a master's degree in criminology. If anyone has the authority and experience to opine on the perceived failings of Canada’s justice system, Hugh Stevenson is surely among them.
That’s exactly why Pierre Poilievre handpicked him as the Conservative candidate for Sault Ste. Marie–Algoma, trumping every other local contender who went through the nomination process. Stop the crime? Make our streets safe? Stevenson certainly has the resume (and the jacket).
I was looking forward to speaking to the former chief about his tough-on-crime promises, including his pledge to transform the Sault’s downtown core into a place where people “can shop, work, and enjoy themselves without fear” (his words).
Like many voters, I also want to hear more about Stevenson’s specific ideas for improving our bail system (which, to be clear, is the point in the legal process where a judge or justice of the peace decides what to do with accused criminals while they await trial).
Here’s the problem: Stevenson won’t talk to me. Not even for a few minutes. His campaign team says he has no time for a video interview inside our SooToday studio because he’s too busy “meeting our voters at their doors.”
Just not our door, apparently.
Am I surprised? On one hand, not at all. Poilievre has made it crystal clear he has little use for journalists. Reporters aren’t allowed to travel with the Conservative leader during the campaign, bucking decades of tradition, and his team wields airtight control over who gets to ask questions at press conferences.
But last time I checked, this is Sault Ste. Marie, not Parliament Hill. And Stevenson was our city’s longtime chief of police, not a political hack from the Ottawa bubble. Maybe I’m naive, but I never expected a local candidate with such impressive credentials to spend the race dodging microphones.
He’s behaving more like a Wanted Wednesday suspect than an aspiring MP — nowhere to be found.
In a perfect world, election campaigns are peak democracy. Voters have a chance to take each candidate out for a test drive, to listen to them speak, to hear their positions on the big issues that keep us awake at night. Yes, there’s lots of door-knocking (and in this town, plenty of handshakes at Soo Greyhounds games). But participating in debates and speaking to local reporters is all part of the democratic process we hold so dear.
Stevenson has done neither. Last night, he skipped yet another all-candidates forum, saying through a spokesperson — again — that he is “focused on meeting voters at the door.” What about the room full of voters who came to yesterday’s debate at The Royal Canadian Legion? Why wasn’t he “focused on meeting” those folks?
To be fair, Stevenson has been consistent in his dealings with local journalists: he’s ignoring all of us equally. Along with my multiple requests for a sit-down interview, my SooToday colleagues have reached out numerous times with various questions. Sometimes they’ll receive an emailed response from Stevenson’s campaign team. Other times, crickets. Our sister site, ElliotLakeToday, did manage to actually talk to him in person — but only because he knocked on the door of one of our freelance reporters.
Our competition at The Sault Star — a newspaper that has served this city since 1901, chronicling local elections for more than a century — can’t even get Stevenson to answer written questions for a weekly series about key issues. Each article contains the same head-scratching line: “Conservative candidate Hugh Stevenson declined to participate in the four-week series.”
I know what some readers are going to say. We’re biased, right? SooToday is yet another woke Liberal news source rooting for Mark Carney to crush the Conservatives, so why would Hugh Stevenson even bother talking to that rag? That claim always makes me laugh. The truth is we hear from just as many readers who accuse us of being a Conservative mouthpiece, so we must be doing something right.
Not convinced that we’re fair and objective? Go back and watch any of my interviews with local political candidates. Whether it was the mayoral race in 2022 or the recent Ontario election, these deep-dive conversations inside our SooToday studio are meant to help voters better understand everyone’s perspective.
Yes, my questions can get tough and uncomfortable. But they’re the same questions the community is asking — and people seem to appreciate that we give each candidate a wide-reaching platform to fully explain themselves.
It’s not the job of local journalists to tell people how to vote. Our role in this beautiful thing we call democracy is to provide every bit of factual information we can to help voters make an informed decision at the ballot box. We report, you choose.
Laura Mayer, the local NDP candidate, has already recorded her one-on-one interview with me. Liberal incumbent Terry Sheehan is coming to the newsroom on Tuesday.
You still have time, Hugh. If you change your mind — or your party gives you permission to speak — you know where to knock.
Michael Friscolanti is Editor-In-Chief of Village Media, which operates SooToday.