On election night it's quite typical for members of the media to be invited to different events to get photos of victory celebrations and quotes from the candidates about how they are feeling at the end of a long campaign.
Even though PC's Jess Dixon won the Kitchener South - Hespeler riding Thursday night, her team refused to let several media outlets, including CambridgeToday, into the event to capture the moment.
Dixon won the riding by a wide margin, 4,723 votes at last count, capturing 40.3 per cent of the vote to beat out her nearest rival NDP candidate Joanne Weston with 29 per cent of the vote.
In an email to CambridgeToday, Jess Dixon's campaign team had said the event was a "private gathering" and only open to supporters, volunteers, family and friends.
Her campaign office was dark on election night, Dixon nowhere to be found.
"I find that very odd," said Belinda Karahalios the Cambridge incumbent from the New Blue Party.
"When I had won in 2018, we had media there," she said. "The media is there to help educate the community and let them know what's going on and of all the times to let media in, it should be at your victory party. It's very bizarre."
David Weber, Green party candidate for Kitchener South Hespeler celebrated the end of his campaign at Ernie's Road House in Hespeler.
Hearing his new MPP wasn't available for comment about her win didn't sit well with him either. He doesn't think it bodes well for constituents when an elected person isn't accessible to the community they are seeking to represent.
"Anyone can come and join us. I have my volunteers here, I have monthly town hall meetings for people to come and talk with me and then the next month they can come back and see what I've done regarding the issue they raised.
"I hold my feet to the fire. As an elected person, you should be accountable," Weber said.
"I think when someone doesn't want the media there on election night, that causes me concern about how accessible they will be when they are elected.
"But we have seen how accessible the conservatives are. Jess Dixon was not at any single debate, no round tables, no meetings with other candidates. Not being accessible to the community, I think that doesn't bode well for someone seeking office."
