/ #john turmel #ottawa-vanier byelection 

Debate goes off the rails after perennial candidate crashes stage

[caption id=“attachment_56775” align=“alignright” width=“376”] 2016-11-10-4

It’s a thing![/caption]

The Ottawa-Vanier candidates debate was barely 20 minutes in when it was interrupted by one of Canada’s most prolific political candidates.

John Turmel has run for political office in Canada at least 84 times at all levels of government over the past few decades, frequently in Ottawa. He was even inducted into the 1997 Guinness Book of Records for “most elections contested.”

He is currently running in the Ottawa-Vanier provincial byelection under the Pauper Party, which he founded in 2011.

Turmel was not invited to take part in Thursday’s debate, but he tried to anyway.

https://twitter.com/davidreevely/status/796867065097416704 ** Turmel was joined by another perennial candidate, whose actual name is Above Znoneofthe. ** https://twitter.com/davidreevely/status/796867471592525825 ** The audience had mixed reactions. ** https://twitter.com/davidreevely/status/796867850522726404

Video of the entire incident was broadcast by OttWatch and showed Turmel being escorted off the stage and out of the building by several police officers. Journalists covering the debate tweeted some of their own videos.

https://twitter.com/btaplatt/status/796872326583353345

It wasn’t the first time Turmel crashed a debate - in 2009 the _ ** Globe and Mail ** _ reported on a similar incident at a byelection in St. Paul’s.

Author

Devyn Barrie

Devyn Barrie is the publisher and editor of OttawaStart.com. He currently studies math and physics at the University of Ottawa, and holds a diploma in journalism from Algonquin College.