There are some accusations flying over the recent political debates in the Wood Buffalo region, with Kyle Harrietha, the Fort McMurray-Cold Lake Liberal candidate, making accusations about lying against David Yurdiga, the incumbent candidate for the Conservative party. Harrietha is accusing Yurdiga about lying concerning the reasons that Yurdiga has skipped recent debates. The Conservative campaign apparently gave different reasons for why Yurdiga missed a recent debate. First a member of the campaign team for Yurdiga, who insisted on anonymity, told the media that the politician would not attend any of the local debates. On the exact same day the politician told a radio interviewer that his original plan was to attend the debates, however this was changed when his wife experienced a flare up of her multiple sclerosis.

Yurdiga told the media that “We had our debate binder all ready to go, but unfortunately, things do happen. My wife’s health is the most important thing to me and unfortunately her condition caused her to be rushed to the emergency room. She’s back in McMurray, so I have to tend to her. She’s resting right now, but I don’t want to be too far from her.” Kim Farwell, the campaign director for Yurdiga, disputed the lying claims by Harrietha, saying “We planned to miss the (Westwood) school debate due to a scheduling conflict. Then the situation with Kathy changed our plans and we missed Lac La Biche and Fort McMurray. After that, we did refocus the campaign on meeting constituents.”