Can you imagine a provincial leader, or your local candidate, asking not to be spoken to on election night, regardless of the race’s outcome?

Well, that’s exactly what is happening.

The party has also said there will be no media scrum with Doerkson on election night.

“Should the Conservative Party of BC be in a position to form government, a media availability with the Leader will be arranged for Sunday, Oct. 25. Further details will be provided.”

Locally, the Conservative candidate in Delta North, Monica Mohan, is taking it a step further.

In response to the Reporter‘s email (emails, really) enquiring about her election night plans and asking for the best way to get in touch for a quote once the results are known, Mohan (or someone in her camp) sent us this Thursday at around noon:

"Thank you for your interest. We kindly request that there be no media coverage or media presence during election night. We appreciate your cooperation and respect for our wishes.”

No media coverage? Of live provincial election results? Really???

Mohan has also chosen not to respond to several requests for her to fill out a candidate questionnaire sent out by the Reporter to help local voters learn more about those running to represent them in the legislature. Both the NDP and CentreBC candidates have done so, and their responses can be found on our website now.

In my decade at this paper (plus the year prior attending journalism school), I have covered 10 elections in Delta — municipal, provincial and federal.

And never, in all that time, has someone running to represent the residents of Delta/North Delta asked me not to cover them on election night.

The crazy thing is, this is the second provincial election in a row where I’ve had to write a column stemming from a Conservative candidate’s refusal to communicate.

In 2024, the candidate at the time was completely unreachable, seemingly refusing to answer my simple, straightforward questions (Do you live in North Delta? Are you taking part in the planned all-candidates meetings?) for close to two weeks, despite a dozen-or-so emails and messages via Whatsapp, Instagram and Facebook.

(He did, after the column was published, finally contact the paper. He did not take part in either all-candidates meeting, leaving NDP incumbent Ravi Kahlon the lone attendee at both.)

What I wrote then still applies today: avoiding public accountability (i.e. the media) during an election doesn’t bode well for a candidate’s approachability once in office, or their willingness to fight for local concerns or champion their constituents in the legislature.

If a local candidate — or party leader, for that matter — is unwilling to engage in an easy interview on election night (such tough questions as “How does it feel?” and “Why do think your message resonated with voters?” and “What do you plan to tackle first?”), how open will they be to harder questions once the real work begins?