It’s official – Canadians are heading to the polls on Monday, Sept. 20, after Justin Trudeau set in motion an early federal election this past Sunday.
Incumbent MP Rob Morrison of the Canadian Conservative Party for the Kootenay-Columbia is disappointed in the move, saying that right now the country is trying to rebound from COVID-19.
However, he says that they’re ready to stick to their plan of rebuilding the economy, increase accountability and bridging the rural/urban divide.
“I think it’s disappointing, but the election being called is not up to me,” said Morrison.
“But since it has been called, we’re going to go out there and stick with our plan, we really need to get the economy back up and running.”
When Morrison ran in 2019, he says that a big priority was accountability, specifically holding the government accountable, something he says still has some work left to be done.
Across the other parties, Kootenay Columbia voters will be able to choose from Wayne Stetski of the NDP, who served as Kootenay-Columbia MP from 2015-2019 before losing his seat to Morrison in 2019 by 7,000 votes.
READ MORE: Canadians will head to the polls for a federal election on Sept. 20
Robin Goldsbury of the Liberal party will also be running for the second time, after earning just shy of 10 per cent of the vote in the riding in the last federal election.
Rana Nelson will be running for the Green Party, which will be the first time she has sought election.
No other candidates have been announced at this time. In 2019, Kootenay-Columbia also had candidates from the People’s Party of Canada, led by Maxime Bernier, and the Animal Protection Party, which focuses on environmentalism and animal rights.
Advanced voting will take place from Friday, Sept. 10 until Monday, Sept. 13.
The English language leaders’ debate is scheduled to take place on Sept. 9 at 5 p.m. MT, while the French-language debate will be held on Sept. 8 at 4 p.m. MT.
Parliament stood at 155 seats for the Liberals, 119 for the Conservatives, 32 for the Bloc Quebecois, 24 for the NDP and two for the Greens before being dissolved. There are also four Independents and one vacant seat.
