All nine of the candidates who have entered the federal NDP leadership race so far will attend a debate in Sudbury Feb. 5.

The Northern Ontario Leadership Forum, hosted by the Sudbury NDP, will be held at the Steelworkers Hall from 1:30-4 p.m. It will be open to the public.

“It’s very exciting that we will have everyone here,” Allan Byrnes, president of the Nickel Belt Federal NDP, said.

“It shows how important northern Ontario is to the party that our potential leaders have added this debate to their calendar.”

Within a day of the invitation being sent, MPs Paul Dewar, Romeo Saganash and Thomas Mulcair had confirmed attendance. Brian Topp and MPs Niki Ashton, Peggy Nash and Nathan Cullen confirmed within days. MP Robert Chisholm and Martin Singh confirmed late last week, making the Sudbury event the first full debate outside the six officially scheduled by the party, according to a press release.

Local organizers are now working on the details, and studying the format used in the first official debate, Dec. 4 in Ottawa.

“There were aspects of the format that worked very well and others that we will consider closely,” Richard Eberhardt, president of the Sudbury NDP, said.

“Having such a large group of excellent candidates debate northern Ontario issues is a challenge we are happy to meet.”

Posted by Heidi Ulrichsen