What a way to put the binders on a perfectly good summer! Thank you Prime Minister for thrusting your presence yet again into the forefront of the news.
Perhaps it’s the fact that for the past year, press releases on my desk that for decades read “The Government of Canada” have been reading “Harper Government...” Did you know that he and his government discovered Franklin’s ship, The Erebus, last year? That was after his government declared nearly 1,000 lighthouses around Canada “surplus”, and after the Parks Canada workforce was severely downsized.
Still, I don’t suppose there were any lighthouses in the Northwest Passage in 1845, and with a few thousand less employees, maybe Parks Canada needed help in raising Franklin’s ship.
But I digress. I suppose the longer one remains Prime Minister, the more actions they’re going to take that people don’t agree with. Like making Veterans fight for their benefits and taking them to court.
Last week Harper requested writs of election for a federal general election from Governor General David Johnston on Aug. 2. The date of the vote is determined by the fixed-date Canada Elections Act.
This comes just a week or two after local voters in the new Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Canyon riding (us) find out their Conservative candidate has been disqualified. At this point, voters have only Liberal candidate Jati Sidhu (Abbotsford) and Green candidate Arthur Green (Hope) to choose from. But one would hope that an impending election will cause the riding officials in at least one of the seven national parties fielding candidates to get their act together before Oct. 19 and provide us with at least one - hopefully two - more candidates.
Kelowna-Lake Country has five candidates including one from the Pirate party and one from the Libertarian. Good choice!
In Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo, incumbent MP Cathy Mcleod (Cons.) will be on the ballot with Liberal candidate Steve Powrie and NDP candidate Bill Sundhu.
Variety and choice is always key to voter turnout. Let’s hope our riding isn’t shortchanged.
Wendy Coomber is editor of the Ashcroft-Cache Creek Journal