Last month, The Georgia Straight's Carlito Pablo reported Vancouver-Quadra federal Conservative by-election candidate Deborah Meredith "decided not to participate" in a debate being organized by Engineers Without Borders Canada. And now Public Eye has learned she's skipping another chance to face off against her opponents. In an interview, Friends of Canadian Broadcasting spokesperson Jim Thompson said he's been told Ms. Meredith won't be showing up for their all-candidate debate because it's a "busy time." This, despite the fact the debate is being held this coming Friday at the University of British Columbia - where Ms. Meredith works as a law lecturer.

Mr. Thompson said Ms. Meredith was also the only by-election hopeful who didn't complete a three-question survey (distributed on February 18) asking candidates for their opinions on "broadcasting issues." According to the spokesperson, the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting "went to great lengths to make sure the emails weren't lost on the Internet. And I had a number of conversations with their campaign office. But the deadline - which was the end of business yesterday - came and went with no reply for their campaign."