by Cassidy Olivier and Susan Lazaruk
Canada is heading to the polls.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper put to rest days of speculation with his formal request to Governor General David Johnston to dissolve Parliament, triggering an election cycle that will conclude Oct. 19.
This campaign will be almost twice as long as previous ones and much is at stake. While recent public opinion polls have the Conservatives making up lost ground to Thomas Mulcair's NDP, it remains to be seen how things will ultimately play out come voting day.
Every seat will count, and in B.C., which gained six new ridings, there are several emerging battlegrounds that could prove decisive for either of the three main parties.
What is this election about? Pollsters, candidates and experts are in agreement that much of what British Columbians are talking about centres on issues relating to leadership, the environment, child care, affordability and the economy. These are issues that are particular pressing in many of the Lower Mainland ridings, where two- and even three-way races are shaping up. ...............
KOOTENAY-COLUMBIA
This electoral district, which serves the mostly blue-collar southeastern corner of the province and includes Sparwood, Cranbrook, Nelson and Revelstoke, has been solidly Conservative and Reform or Alliance since 1997.
"Anything that touches the Kootenays is all mines, mills and smelters," said Johnson. "But all that stuff is weaker than it used to be and it's become less proletariat and more middle class and comfortable."
David Wilks, an ex-cop and city councillor, won the riding handily for the Conservatives in 2011, with 56 per cent of the vote, or almost 24,000 votes, compared with just 33 per cent or 14,000 votes for the NDP's Mark Shmigelsky. The Greens had just 2,500 votes and the Liberals 1,500.
The boundaries are changing for the next election to include the West Kootenay communities of Nelson, Salmo and Kaslo and exclude the hamlets of Nakusp and Needles, and the Revelstoke Mountaineer reported that will work against the NDP.
But former Cranbrook mayor Wayne Stetski, who's running for the NDP, has attacked Wilks for a 2012 statement he made (and later recanted) saying as a backbencher he had no power to oppose the Harper government's omnibus bill, and Stetski will likely make that an election issue.
William (Bill) Green has also declared he will run again for the Greens, and Don Johnston is the Liberal candidate.
SOUTH OKANAGAN-WEST KOOTENAY
The new riding of South Okanagan-West Kootenay is made up mostly of the old ridings of B.C. Southern Interior and Okanagan-Coquihalla, plus a small part of Kootenay-Columbia.
The boundary redistribution coupled with the retirement of longstanding NDP MP Alex Atamanenko could leave open the new riding for the next election.
Atamanenko has represented B.C. Southern Interior since 2006, when he beat the Liberal candidate with a comfortable lead, followed by easy wins over the Conservative second-place finishers in 2008 and 2011, when he beat the Conservatives' Stephen Hill by almost 6,000 votes.
But Atamanenko was beaten by the Conservative candidate in 2004, a little more than a decade ago, by just 680 votes.
The Conservatives would take the new riding if the votes from the old districts were transposed to the new one, with 45 per cent of the vote, followed by the NDP with 40 per cent and the Greens and Liberals in distant third and fourth place.
The new riding, according to Elections Canada, includes Castlegar, New Denver, Silverton, Slocan, Nakusp, Pentiction, Oiver and Osoyoos but no longer Nelson, Kaslo and Salmo.
The candidates declared so far are Marshall Neufeld for the Conservatives, Dick Cannings for the NDP and Connie Denesiuk for the Liberals.
colivier@theprovince.com( mailto:colivier@theprovince.com )
twitter.com/cassidyolivier( http://twitter.com/cassidyolivier )
slazaruk@theprovince.com( mailto:slazaruk@theprovince.com )
twitter.com/susanlazaruk( http://twitter.com/susanlazaruk )
On Sunday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper put to rest days of speculation with his formal request to Governor General David Johnston to dissolve Parliament, triggering an election cycle that will conclude Oct. 19.
This campaign will be almost twice as long as previous ones and much is at stake. While recent public opinion polls have the Conservatives making up lost ground to Thomas Mulcair's NDP, it remains to be seen how things will ultimately play out come voting day.
Every seat will count, and in B.C., which gained six new ridings, there are several emerging battlegrounds that could prove decisive for either of the three main parties.
What is this election about? Pollsters, candidates and experts are in agreement that much of what British Columbians are talking about centres on issues relating to leadership, the environment, child care, affordability and the economy. These are issues that are particular pressing in many of the Lower Mainland ridings, where two- and even three-way races are shaping up. ...............
KOOTENAY-COLUMBIA
This electoral district, which serves the mostly blue-collar southeastern corner of the province and includes Sparwood, Cranbrook, Nelson and Revelstoke, has been solidly Conservative and Reform or Alliance since 1997.
"Anything that touches the Kootenays is all mines, mills and smelters," said Johnson. "But all that stuff is weaker than it used to be and it's become less proletariat and more middle class and comfortable."
David Wilks, an ex-cop and city councillor, won the riding handily for the Conservatives in 2011, with 56 per cent of the vote, or almost 24,000 votes, compared with just 33 per cent or 14,000 votes for the NDP's Mark Shmigelsky. The Greens had just 2,500 votes and the Liberals 1,500.
The boundaries are changing for the next election to include the West Kootenay communities of Nelson, Salmo and Kaslo and exclude the hamlets of Nakusp and Needles, and the Revelstoke Mountaineer reported that will work against the NDP.
But former Cranbrook mayor Wayne Stetski, who's running for the NDP, has attacked Wilks for a 2012 statement he made (and later recanted) saying as a backbencher he had no power to oppose the Harper government's omnibus bill, and Stetski will likely make that an election issue.
William (Bill) Green has also declared he will run again for the Greens, and Don Johnston is the Liberal candidate.
SOUTH OKANAGAN-WEST KOOTENAY
The new riding of South Okanagan-West Kootenay is made up mostly of the old ridings of B.C. Southern Interior and Okanagan-Coquihalla, plus a small part of Kootenay-Columbia.
The boundary redistribution coupled with the retirement of longstanding NDP MP Alex Atamanenko could leave open the new riding for the next election.
Atamanenko has represented B.C. Southern Interior since 2006, when he beat the Liberal candidate with a comfortable lead, followed by easy wins over the Conservative second-place finishers in 2008 and 2011, when he beat the Conservatives' Stephen Hill by almost 6,000 votes.
But Atamanenko was beaten by the Conservative candidate in 2004, a little more than a decade ago, by just 680 votes.
The Conservatives would take the new riding if the votes from the old districts were transposed to the new one, with 45 per cent of the vote, followed by the NDP with 40 per cent and the Greens and Liberals in distant third and fourth place.
The new riding, according to Elections Canada, includes Castlegar, New Denver, Silverton, Slocan, Nakusp, Pentiction, Oiver and Osoyoos but no longer Nelson, Kaslo and Salmo.
The candidates declared so far are Marshall Neufeld for the Conservatives, Dick Cannings for the NDP and Connie Denesiuk for the Liberals.
colivier@theprovince.com( mailto:colivier@theprovince.com )
twitter.com/cassidyolivier( http://twitter.com/cassidyolivier )
slazaruk@theprovince.com( mailto:slazaruk@theprovince.com )
twitter.com/susanlazaruk( http://twitter.com/susanlazaruk )
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