About 60 people turned out yesterday to see three out of four candidates in Ottawa Centre debate issues important to the many new Canadians in the riding.

Conservative candidate Damian Konstantinakos didn’t attend the debate and his party became a target for the others.

Incumbent Paul Dewar criticized a leaked Conservative strategy document which described some ridings as “very ethnic.”

“First of all, it’s important that we don’t use terms like ‘ethnic’ and ‘very ethnic’ and then exploit people to get elected,” Dewar said.

All three candidates made promises to improve the speed of refugee claims and help new Canadians get improved access to the job market.