Eighteen months ago Canadians elected a minority Liberal government, and now they get to do it again. Or perhaps do something different.
Last week Prime Minister Paul Martin’s federal government lost a vote of non-confidence in the House of Commons, which Martin followed up quickly by announcing a Jan. 23 federal election.
Usually, the government candidate has the inside track in any election, because he or she knows the date before anyone else. But federal Liberals are thin on the ground in rural Alberta and it’s incumbent Conservative MP Brian Jean that has has the local advantage. Not that he had any signs up on Nov. 29 around Slave Lake, but he was already making plans to be here as early as this week, on Dec. 7.
Jean had some company in the early going. Both the Green Party’s Ian Hopfe and the New Democrats’ Roland Lefort had their names and photos on party websites as campaign season kicked off.
Hopfe is no stranger to voters, having run at least a couple of times already in federal and provincial elections on the Green ticket. The computer technician from Wabasca has an excellent package of information available at wabasca.com/ianhopfe.
The quick start by the New Democrats in the Athabasca riding is not par for the course. The NDs have often been slow off the mark in past campaigns. But they were ready this time with Lefort, a Ft. McMurray resident since 1981 who operates heavy equipment for Suncor Energy. Lefort told The Leader last week he is in the middle of contract negotiations as a representative of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union, but he’ll be free to hit the campaign trail in a week or so.
“I plan on visiting all the communities in the riding,” he said, including Slave Lake before Christmas.
The only party for whom candidate information was hard to find last week was the Liberals. The national party website provided no information about a candidate for Athabasca, but it did show the party had 206 candidates out of the 308 they need, as of Nov. 30.
Jean won the 2004 election easily with over 17,000 votes. Liberal Doug Faulkner trailed in second at just over 7,000. Robert Cree of the New Democrats was third with 3,100 votes and Hopfe for the Greens polled 1,542.

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