Frontenac News 2015 Federal Election Primer

Jeff Green | Oct 15, 2015

The election is set for next Monday, October 19, as readers know, and the national campaigns are winding down.

All that is left are the desperate, strategic, final campaign ads and “the ground game” getting out the vote.

In Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston, a riding that is not only vast but also has no cities with a population over 10,000, there is no specific polling data available. Aside from a whistle-stop visit, in late August, from NDP leader Thomas Mulcair, none of the leaders who have been crisscrossing the country for almost three months, have made an appearance. The candidates seem confident, however.

Scott Reid, who represented Lanark Frontenac Lennox and Addington, which has a 79% overlap with this new riding, at the dissolution of parliament, has been in Parliament since 2003, and has a rock solid support base in Lanark County

Meanwhile, Perth mayor, John Fenik, is riding his own personal popularity and a sense that voters he has met at the door are ready to look at the NDP, as well as a relatively strong showing for the party in the former riding in 2011 (the NDP vote jumped to 20% from 13% in 2008).

Philippe Archambault has been on the campaign trail the longest. He was nominated in October of last year and has been working at it ever since. He says he is doing very well in the Kingston and Frontenac parts of the riding and is hoping for a breakthrough in parts of Lanark County.

Green Party candidate Anita Payne is a party loyalist who is a veteran of many campaigns in different Ontario ridings. She is trying to get the Green message out and increase the party's vote share, which dropped to 4.5% in 2011 from a historic high of 8.5% in 2008.

As reported last week, at the candidates' meetings in Frontenac County and Kingston, supporters of the opposition were over-represented and the questions, which varied from economy and environment to social and health issues, tended to be pointed against the three-time incumbent government.

The following candidate profiles are not intended to delve into party policies, as all the party platforms are available elsewhere. They are designed, however, to provide a glimpse into the candidates' own motivations and interests, a chance to get a bit of their personal story out. The interviews all took place last week.