While the official call isn’t expected till Sunday, some of British Columbia’s members of Parliament have already set up their campaign offices in anticipation of the federal election.
Five-term New Democrat MP Don Davies established his campaign office early this month, and has already prepared phone banks, volunteer co-ordinators, maps and a large stockpile of signs in his riding of Vancouver Kingsway.
“We’re ready to go with hundreds and hundreds of volunteers and we have thousands of sign locations,” he told CTV News, explaining that he plans to use the NDP’s well-known ground game to connect with voters on the big issues of the day.
“There’s a deep affordability crisis, there’s a long-standing housing crisis, there’s problems with our health-care system, people getting access to family doctors, and now we face threats of annexation from Donald Trump and a trade war,” Davies said. “I think once people see the NDP’s policies in that regard, they’ll want to send a lot of progressive NDP MPs to Parliament.”
Volunteers are key
In the Vancouver Granville riding, the Liberal MP was working with staff and volunteers, who were still setting up the campaign office when CTV News arrived on Thursday afternoon, preparing to rev up door-knocking and connecting with constituents over the weekend.
“It’s an incredible task and it’s built on the backs of an absolutely amazing team and amazing volunteers,” said Taleeb Noormohamed, who believes global geopolitics and the Trump tariff threats are top-of-mind issues for voters.
And while his party is now riding high in the polls – even within striking distance of forming a majority government, according to some – he’s not taking anything for granted.
“Whether we’re up in the polls doesn’t matter,” insisted Normohammed. “I’ve got to make sure I’m speaking to every single voter in this riding and communicating to them that we have such an incredible opportunity in this country – for this country – to be able to do some amazing things.”
Silence and rumours
CTV News reached out to multiple Conservative members of Parliament in British Columbia to see how they were preparing for Sunday’s expected election call. At half of their constituency offices, the phone went straight to voicemail, while the rest passed on messages; only one staffer responded and said the candidate was too busy for a brief interview.
As the campaigns gear up, there are only a few days left to finalize the candidate lists and speculation is rampant about which “stars” each party might be recruiting.
Sources tell CTV News Prime Minister Mark Carney personally courted former Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson to put his name on the ballot. Robertson is said to be seriously considering the offer.
Former B.C. premier Christy Clark has publicly stated that she supports Carney and is interested in running as a Liberal candidate. However, she quit the leadership race amid some controversy and it’s unclear if she has a future with the party.
Vancouver police Chief Adam Palmer was coy with reporters when announcing his early retirement from the job last month – half a year before his contract ends. At the time, he wouldn’t confirm rumours he’d be running as a Conservative candidate.
On Thursday morning, a request sent to the VPD communications department asking to connect with Palmer for confirmation went unanswered.
