Prime Minister Stephen Harper called the 42nd federal election on Aug. 2, making the lead-up to the Oct. 19 vote the longest campaign period in Canadian history since the nation began holding coordinated voting in the late 1800s.
Coast Reporter caught up with incumbent Conservative MP John Weston on Aug. 5 while he was spending a few days with his family before delving into the 11-week campaign.
“It’s the last time we’re all five going to be together before Oct. 18, so I thought this would be an important commitment to keep to them,” Weston said.
After his short vacation, he said, he planned to get right into campaigning, which, on the Sunshine Coast, will involve scheduled meet-and-greet events in public and in people’s homes.
“I’m looking forward to hearing from people during a time when I think they’re going to be very generous in sharing ideas and opinions on how government can serve them well in the years to come.”
This will be the first federal election since Powell River was excluded from the West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country riding. Instead, Pemberton and some areas north of Whistler have been added. Weston said the swap shouldn’t make much difference in the vote, although it will cut down on his travel time within the constituency.
“The same themes I think will repeat themselves in the riding as would have been the case with Powell River,” he said.
Green party candidate Ken Melamed said the demographic change in the riding will be good for the Greens.
“From a purely logistical standpoint, the shift in riding boundary, basically exchanging areas north of Whistler for Powell River, is really helpful for us. It eliminates one ferry and, of course, I have better name recognition and knowledge of the areas north of Whistler, because Pemberton’s so close to Whistler, and many people who lived in Whistler while I was mayor live in Pemberton now,” Melamed said.
He noted there are many ways to try to interpret how the votes will go, but stressed that West Vancouver doesn’t hold the key to the outcome, as some may think.
“There are basically three areas to think about in the riding, and West Vancouver no longer has the ability to decide who wins or loses,” Melamed said.
He said he plans to spend a lot of time campaigning on the Coast in the coming weeks.
“We’ve already spent a tremendous amount of time on the Coast and we plan to spend a lot more time there because it’s a way of gathering votes from a very green-friendly mindset.”
NDP candidate Larry Koopman said he sees the new electoral boundary as “creating a pretty even playing field,” and noted his strategy for campaigning during the next several weeks will be meeting people one-on-one to win their vote.
“I’ll be going door to door to door,” Koopman said of his campaign, adding that he was planning “a day of action” on Aug. 8 in Sechelt that would end with more door knocking.
“We’ve also got house meetings lined up for various parts of the riding. We will be having more MPs come in for special events and more meet-and-greets as well,” Koopman said.
“We’re going to be very active on the Coast.”
Liberal candidate Pamela Goldsmith-Jones said she’s been campaigning since she got the nomination last August.
“I lived in Sechelt for all of August last year right after I got the nomination, and we have been holding democracy talks, which is our sort of public face of the campaign, in the last year equally on the Coast as we have in West Vancouver and the corridor,” Goldsmith-Jones said.
She said she’ll be on the Coast campaigning on Aug. 9 during the Liberal party’s national day of action and said that coming to the Coast will be “a significant priority” during the rest of her campaign.
“My plans for the Coast really have everything to do with the fact that I view it as an equal third of the riding in the same way that the corridor and West Van are, and I’m counting on this campaign to be a connecting force to pull us together.”
The exclusion of Powell River allows the riding to focus more on “what we have in common here, and that is largely defined by Howe Sound, of course,” she said.
Candidates have until Sept. 28 to file their nomination papers.
Find out more about the federal election, where to vote and how to vote at www.elections.ca
