Friday September 6, 2019 ~ COLWOOD / SOOKE
by Mary Brooke ~ West Shore Voice News
Younger voters are still looking to the NDP for their federal voting choice, says Randall Garrison, MP. He’s the incumbent NDP candidate for Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke where he’s held the riding since being elected in 2011 and again in 2015.
People who have careers and lives ahead of them are looking for leadership on job equity, green technology, and opportunities for affordable accommodation.
These are areas where NDP federal leader Jagmeet Singh has brought out policies in recent months, reminding Canadians that they are often the genesis of progressive policies. In the present political system that often means the government of the day picking up on their ideas, such as recently with the Liberals now discussing and promoting pharmacare.
Today Garrison has been out door-knocking, as he has for weeks and months. The election date is set for Monday October 21 but all parties have had their candidates in campaign mode for months if not all year.
There is no official date for dropping the writ, but that is now expected to happen (officially starting the federal campaign) on Sunday September 15.
In Canada, a federal campaign must be a minimum of 36 days and a maximum of 50 days. See Elections Canada website.
Garrison sees in political science studies that there is “more volatility, more votes changing than there used to be”. But he says he doesn’t see much vote-shift on the doorstep. He feels people will probably vote as they did before, with perhaps some shift in the younger demographics. “Among previous donors, campaign workers, volunteers, and supporters there has only been a handful of movement. I just don’t see a shift,” he told West Shore Voice News this week.
“An incumbent riding is always more of a judgement on returning the person or not,” says Garrison. Serving two times now as MP over eight years, he brings experience to the job. He says that knowing the ropes is especially important if there’s going to be a minority government.
The general consensus among political pundits and commentators is that a minority government led by the Liberals under Trudeau is the likely outcome from the October 21 election. Under such dynamics, “smaller parties are more powerful, and every MP”, says Garrison.
Issues that matter to voters in Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke on this southwest side of Vancouver Island (including Colwood and Metchosin which are not in the riding name) include the environment.
“I see my record as being an effective advocate for things that matter to people here. I have a long and strong and specific record on environmental issues, affordability, Pharmacare and housing. I have been constantly dogging the government to actually do things that would make a difference for families and seniors,” says Garrison about his service as an NDP member of parliament.
He says he’s on the only federal candidate presently mentioning the challenges to the fishing industry. “We have to put more fish in the water, and support local fishing communities and the orcas. I haven’t seen anybody else talking about that,” Garrison said today.
Garrison outlines that he has also worked on supporting initiatives that provide resources to the Canadian forces so they can defend sovereignty, helping to see that federal resources handle more frequent emergencies likes forest fires, and in Canada playing a lead role on peacekeeping and nuclear disarmament. Garrison is specifically attentive to the needs of the DND base at Esquimalt, and himself traveled to Bali as part of Canada’s peacekeeping there.
Garrison’s campaign office is getting set up at 829 Admirals Road at Colville Road in Esquimalt near the naval base. Their official opening will probably be on Saturday September 14.
Campaign spending limits are finalized this close to the election, based on the riding size and number of eligible voters. Garrison has kept the office overhead small for this campaign, gearing most resources to online and social media presence. That’s where the NDP expect to reach the younger voters, seen as the growing edge of their base in addition to their stalwart of long-time supporters over the decades.
Vancouver Island has a particularly strong NDP grassroots organizational network which does the tried-and-true work of ‘getting out the vote’ through constant exposure between elections and working hard in campaigns to bring people to the polls on voting day.
There are seven federal ridings on Vancouver Island, five of which are presently held by NDP MPs (the other two are held by the Greens).