TRURO - Candidates are criss-crossing Cumberland Colchester Musquodoboit Valley looking for votes.
From the New Brunswick border to the Pictou County line and the Halifax Stanfield International Airport, candidates in the Nov. 9 byelection have a lot of ground to cover during the next five weeks.
"It's such a large area and to get out to everyone ... you're not going to do it in an eight-hour day, so we're going to have some 12- and 16-hour days," said Bob Hagell, campaign manager for Liberal candidate Jim Burrows.
During the past two days Burrows has been busy going door-to-door in Cumberland and Colchester counties, meeting with party organizers and conducting media interviews. He has also met with people designing his website and getting furniture for his campaign office in Truro.
Mark Austin, the NDP's candidate, has been finishing off a few items at work. He has also conducted news interviews, met with Colchester County Mayor Bob Taylor and local businesses. In addition, he's met with people to discuss a transition town initiative on environmental issues.
While Austin is a political rookie, he is very optimistic given the party's strong showing in the provincial election earlier this year, which saw three of the five provincial constituencies, located in the federal riding, elect NDP members.
"I truly am in this because I believe it should not be as much about the power games and which party gets what," he said. "It should be about our community and what we have here and the support we need to be even better."
Christian Heritage Party Leader Jim Hnatiuk is running in his fourth federal election, but first in Cumberland Colchester Musquodoboit Valley. He previously ran in Kings-Hants (2004, 2008) and South Shore-St. Margaret's Bay (2006).
He has been in contact with the national office in Ontario and is co-ordinating efforts with leadership throughout the country to assist in the campaign. He has also been meeting people, getting signs ordered, and setting up phones in the office.
"It's flat out," he said. "It's a real whirlwind."
The Conservatives' Scott Armstrong campaigned in Cumberland and Colchester counties, visiting both the hospital and IMP in Amherst and meeting with people in the Stewiacke area.
Green candidate Jason Blanch has been collecting signatures for his nomination papers since being nominated last week. The main thrust of his campaign deals with the next Kyoto meeting, Copenhagen 2009, which is scheduled for Dec. 9.
"Currently there is no senior official of our Canadian government booked to be going there," Blanch said.
"If they voted Green we would be able to send a message to Prime Minister Harper that
climate change is actually important to Canadians and they should take this meeting seriously."
jmalloy@trurodaily.com
Byelection candidates hit the trail
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Comments
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- Nunes
- - January 18th, 2010 at 10:10:45
Great comments by Truro's Deputy Mayor on Monday Truro Town Council meeting setting all candidates straight with regards to funding for the Civic Center and Peter MacKay, way to go
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- Anderson
- - January 18th, 2010 at 10:10:27
Scott Armstrong was unable to get his own party to come out and buy a few votes with the arena funding announcement.
That's the kind of MP he's going to make. A backbencher that nobody is going to pay attention to. -
- Sam
- - January 18th, 2010 at 10:08:40
Should be an interesting race. Given Casey's landslide victory at the poles last time I'd say the conservatives have their work cut out for them .... which is why they've been going at it for 6 months.
You can't change the past but you can certainly learn from it. What happened to Casey could very well happen to Armstrong again. We learned our lesson with what happened to Casey - will we allow history to repeat itself? I hope not. -
- jack
- - January 18th, 2010 at 10:08:24
Armstrong has been thirsting for this for years. Most of the Casey saga was a strategic plan the back room boys manouvered.
Send an MP who will do something for us, not himself. -
- Heck Ler
- - January 18th, 2010 at 10:03:06
The Liberals and NDP had 6 months to get ready for this election and failed to get it done. Both parties are behind the eight ball on their campaigns. This doesn't bode well for IGGY or Jack's numbers in Ottawa and proves they don't care about our area. I can't believe they have no signs up.
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- flogger
- - January 18th, 2010 at 09:56:53
Anderson, which party are you going to run for in this area next time? I think I will vote for you because you seem to have all the answers and the inside track with all the powerbrokers in Ottawa. I am impressed.
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- Heck Ler
- - January 18th, 2010 at 09:53:14
The Liberals and NDP had 6 months to get ready for this election and failed to get it done. Both parties are behind the eight ball on their campaigns. This doesn't bode well for IGGY or Jack's numbers in Ottawa and proves they don't care about our area. I can't believe they have no signs up.
