Peter Julian has represented New Westminster in the House of Commons for more than a decade, but he still feels a need to pound the pavement.
Julian said he’s doing a lot of door knocking in New Westminster-Burnaby for the 2015 election campaign, but it’s something he does even when no election is on the horizon.
“I have been doing that for 11 years. I have never stopped. I do that during municipal elections, provincial elections. I do that during federal elections. I do that when I’ve got a few moments during the week, when I’m back here from Ottawa,” he said. “I’ve never stopped knocking on doors. I’ve knocked on doors every single month since I’ve got elected.”
And then there were six
Six candidates will be vying for your vote in New Westminster-Burnaby on Election Day.
The electoral district has six confirmed candidates for the Oct. 19 general election: Rex Brocki (Libertarian Party of Canada); Chloe Ellis (Conservative Party of Canada); Peter Julian (New Democratic Party); Sasha Ramnarine (Liberal Party of Canada); Kyle Routledge (Green Party of Canada); and Joseph Theriault (Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada).
Meet the candidates
Royal City residents will get a final chance to hear from their federal election candidates just days before they head to the polls on Oct. 19.
The New Westminster Chamber of Commerce, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver and the Record are holding an all-candidates’ meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 14 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Inn at the Quay.
Chamber board member Stephen Bruyneel will moderate the event that will feature “business-focused” questions for candidates.
Green Party candidate gets suport
Green party candidate Kyle Routledge is getting a lot of help on the home front from his bride-to-be.
Routledge has been busy attending all-candidates meetings, festivals and other events and knocking on doors to get his message out to constituents in New Westminster-Burnaby – while holding down a fulltime job, volunteering at a bird-banding station every Sunday and planning a wedding. When approached by the Green party about running in the Oct. 19 federal election, Routlege had to think long and hard about it because he knew his wedding was set for Oct. 31.
“I am marrying such a sweetheart,” he said of his fiancée Meghan. “She said, ‘If this is what you believe in and this is what you think needs to be done, then I will take on more of the wedding planning responsibilities.’ It hasn’t been easy for her. I think planning a wedding at the best of times can be a stressful thing. She’s been such a great partner and has been supportive all the way through. I couldn’t be happier.”
Keeping it clean
Respect is the word that’s being used to describe the tenor of local all-candidates meetings thus far in the federal election campaign.
“We all get together, we are respectful of one another,” said Green party candidate Kyle Routledge. “It’s so tough that these people don’t get out and meet the people they want to vote for them.”
Routledge was referring to Conservative candidate Chloe Ellis, who hasn’t attended any of the all-candidates meetings in New Westminster.
“It’s so disrespectful. She is going to have thousands of people vote for her and she can’t even go out and introduce herself,” Routledge said.
Running on the River
NEXT New Westminster and Tenth to the Fraser held a Cruisin’ with the Candidates’ meet-and-greet aboard the MV Native paddlewheeler on Oct. 6. Along for the ride were NDP candidate Peter Julian, Liberal candidate Sasha Ramnarine and Green candidate Kyle Routledge.
Tej Kainth, founder of Next New Westminster, said 50 people attended the event, which was both fun and informative.
“There were good questions raised during the Q&A portion of the night, and each candidate responded very well,” she said. “Overall, people really enjoyed the format and getting to know their candidates.”
