Sheila Malcolmson officially opened her campaign office, stressing that there’s a lot of work to be done there and all across the riding.
The Nanaimo-Ladysmith NDP candidate gave a speech to supporters at the Bowen Road office Saturday afternoon.
Malcolmson said she’s encouraged by what she’s hearing knocking on doors. More voters are expressing intentions to vote NDP, she said, than any other party. Based on her canvassing, she added, the Conservatives seem to have the second-highest level of support locally.
She pointed out that the Reform/Canadian Alliance/Conservative party carried Nanaimo-Cowichan for 11 years (from 1993-2004) and that in Nanaimo-Alberni, Conservative-turned-independent MP James Lunney, “despite his values and his beliefs,” was elected five times.
“So we are not complacent about the strength of the Conservative brand in this riding,” Malcolmson said.
She said Canadians “know what’s in the pipe” if Prime Minister Stephen Harper wins another majority.
“I don’t think it’s self-centred to say this is the most important election of our lifetimes,” Malcolmson said. “We’ve seen the damage that a Harper majority has done in just four short years. And we can’t say he didn’t warn us that we will not recognize Canada when he was finished with it.”
Malcolmson said the NDP is very committed to changing the government in Ottawa. She acknowledged it’s been a heavy-duty six-week campaign already.
“We are … recognizing this is a marathon and not a sprint,” she said. “However, we are about to move into the sprint phase.”
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