The London Free Press reports that newly-minted Conservative candidate for the federal by-election in London North Centre is, all of a sudden, not talking to the media. Diane Haskett, a former mayor of London who some believe could be a controversial candidate, won her party’s nomination on Tuesday night.
Since then, the Free Press reports,
“…[she has] cancelled radio interviews … scheduled and… cancelled a TV interview. The short-notice cancellation vexed CJBK-AM host Steve Garrison and staff at CBC Ontario Morning, who had to scramble to find replacements. No new dates were promised.
“She's being muzzled and told not to talk to local media,” said Garrison, who got five minutes' notice… that his pre-arranged 8:20 a.m. live interview was off.
Local CBC representative Gary Ennett said he got a voice-mail message … cancelling a 7:15 a.m. live interview. The reason given was “she had another scheduled appointment,” Ennett said.
Still later, staff at CTV's Mike Duffy Live were told Haskett wouldn't be available until tomorrow.”
I just checked with the producers on MDL and she still hasn’t been on the show. Incidentally, Ryan Sparrow — well-known to the Ottawa Press Gallery for his work as Environment Minister Rona Ambrose’s Associate Director of Communications and, before that, as a communications person in the Opposition Leader’s Office, has taken on the job of handling Haskett’s communications for the campaign.
[A tip of my black beret to Cerberus]