Thursday, October 17, 2019 ~ ESQUIMALT-SAANICH-SOOKE
by Mary P Brooke ~ West Shore Voice News
Just how much of a difference can be made for any candidate in the last handful of days of a federal election campaign? Apparently, quite a lot.
Especially in the Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke (ESS) riding where the race is expected to be quite close — possibly a tight four-way race between incumbent Randall Garrison (NDP) and the other three major party candidates: Jamie Hammond (Liberal), David Merner (Green), and Dr. Randall Pewarchuk (Conservative).
There is a population of 120,834 in Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke of which about 98,932 are listed as electors by Elections Canada. The major census subdivisions (municipalities) in Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke are Saanich (part of Saanich in the ESS riding), Esquimalt, Colwood, Sooke, View Royal, Juan de Fuca (part of JdF is also in Cowichan-Malahat-Langford), and Metchosin.
The ESS geographical area is large, covering 404 sq km (156 sq miles). That’s a lot of ground to cover, and some of the candidates have been door knocking since December 2018.
“At this point the priority is to continue to identify our supporters, and then get them out to vote,” according to the Dr Randall Pewarchuck Conservative campaign in Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke.
Green Party candidate David Merner said yesterday after the All Candidates debate in Colwood: “Five days is still a long time in politics.” But he says “it’s all rolling in the right direction,” adding there are lots of high- fives and honks as his team makes their way through the neighbourhoods, in addition to over 1,200 signs on people’s private property with more signs still going out the door. “There are still a lot of undecideds out there,” says Merner.
The Liberal candidate Jamie Hammond team leader says: “We’re continuing to spread positive messages about Jamie, and the real progress that has been made over the past four years – whether it is economy, or environment or poverty reduction. We’ll continue talking with and listening to community members until 6:59 pm on Monday!” Hammond took part in the last All Candidates debate of the campaign, on October 16 in Colwood.
For Randall Garrison‘s NDP team, they’re rolling out the endorsements about Garrison as the incumbent, saying his work in Ottawa the last two terms (eight years) has been positive for the Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke constituents. Door knocking and getting out their supporters to the polling stations on Monday is part of the last few days as well.
The 43rd general election is on Monday October 21, 2019. Voting locations will be open from 7 am to 7 pm (Pacific Time). Your voting location is shown on your Voter Information Card that was sent by postal mail in recent weeks. Or check for your voter information (including a full list of candidates for your riding) at www.elections.ca (search by postal code).
Already, more than 4.7 million Canadians have voted (in the advance voting that ran October 11 to 14 over the Thanksgiving weekend), with 1.6 million of that tally being votes cast on the Thankgiving Monday. Over 111,000 students voted on post-secondary campuses during advance voting.
This year’s advance voting tally is up 29% over the number of advance votes cast in the 2015 election, but in that election there were only three days of advance voting (compared to four in 2019) and voting stations were only open for eight hours per day (compared to 12 hours per day in 2019).