As we type this, here is what we know about the April 28 federal election: Too little.
On a national scale, we know the leaders. They include Mark Carney, the Liberal prime minister that has not even been elected in a riding; Pierre Poilievre, Conservative leader and angry not-so-young man; Jagmeet Singh, leader of the flailing NDP; Yves-Francois Blanchet, boss of the Bloc Quebecois who only has the interests of a single province at heart; the two-headed confusion that is Elizabeth May and Jonathan Pedneault as co-leaders of the Green Party; and Maxime Bernier, leader of the seatless People’s Party of Canada.
Locally, at the time we typed this – Friday – the ONLY confirmed candidate in Chatham-Kent–Leamington with Elections Canada – according to its website – was incumbent Dave Epp, Conservative. His team hit the ground running, splattering signs across the riding the day Carney opted to call the election.
After that, Seamus Fleming has said he’ll represent the NDP here, and the People’s Party of Canada will trot out Trevor Lee.
This past week, the Liberals announced Keith Pickard, son of the late Jerry Pickard, would run for them locally. Jerry Pickard served as MP for our area from 1988 to 2005.
On Monday morning, Fleming, Pickard and James Plunkett (Green) were all confirmed on the Elections Canada website.
What took so long?
One would think the party that called the election would have all its candidates lined up when the writ dropped on March 23. Epp had signs hammered into the ground that day, but no Liberal surfaced to oppose him until more than a week into the campaign period, thereby missing out on about 30 per cent of the election run.
Some polls have the Liberals ahead of the Conservatives, and others show the opposite. Again, more confusion.
What is not confusing is the need for everyone who is eligible to vote. Get out there and take part in the democratic process. And please, please do your homework before casting your ballot. That doesn’t mean reading memes on social media website, but following, and trusting, traditional Canadian media sources.
