The federal election swung into action across Haldimand-Norfolk yesterday with Liberals and Conservatives taking their first swipes at each other while the Greens and the NDP scrambled to find candidates.
Well-known farmer Frank Nightingale announced yesterday he is pulling out of the race, forcing the Greens to hold a nomination meeting Friday night in Waterford to replace him.
Organizers expect three people to put their names forward.
Nightingale, a close runner-up as mayor in the 2006 municipal campaign, said he is withdrawing because of "bad timing." He cited "family stuff" and the start up of a new business.
The NDP expect to have a candidate, probably by acclamation, by the end of the week.
"One fellow appears ready to step forward," said riding association president Charlie Mitchell, who acknowledged his party has been searching for someone to run for a while.
Conservatives and Liberals meanwhile spent the past couple of days setting up their headquarters -- in a warehouse and ginseng barn, respectively -- and finalizing campaign plans.
Peter Hellyer, campaign manager for Liberal candidate Eric Hoskins, said one issue in the Oct. 14 election will be the "credibility" of incumbent MP Diane Finley, who is also Canada's minister for citizenship and immigration.
He accused her party of conducting "electoral blackmail" by announcing a buyout package for tobacco farmers just before going to the polls but not enacting it.
"You don't vote for me, you don't get your money," Hellyer said in mocking the Conservatives' position.
He criticized Finley for promising to resolve the situation for growers four years ago and then delaying.
"Do we believe you or not? You can't believe what they (Conservatives) say, what they write," Hellyer said.
Finley's campaign manager, Jim Miller, accused the Liberals of "targetting" this riding by bringing in "a candidate who'd be better off running in Toronto."
Hoskins is a world-renowned humanitarian doctor who grew up in Simcoe, but has lived in Toronto for years where he runs the charity War Child Canada.
Liberal leader Stephane Dion's proposed carbon tax meanwhile won't play well in Haldimand-Norfolk, said Miller.
Local trucking companies as well as the big three industries in Nanticoke -- the steel plant, oil refinery, and coal-fired electricity plant -- would all be "hit hard" by the tax, he warned.
The race in Haldimand-Norfolk is expected to be hotly contested as two high-profile, national figures fight it out in what could be a photo finish.
The outcome has been further complicated by the candidacy of Gary McHale, a law-and-order activist who led protests against aboriginals in land-claim disputes in Caledonia and became nationally known because of it.
Nightingale was expected to do well under the Green banner, raising questions of where his votes will now go.
In a tight race, the support the smaller parties -- which also include Christian Heritage Party candidate Steven Elgersma of Dunnville -- draw could make the difference between winning or losing for either Finley or Hoskins.
McHale said yesterday, however, he shouldn't be counted out from the winners' circle.
"I stand a good chance of winning. I honestly believe it," said McHale, who is running as an independent.
McHale plans to campaign in malls and at Tim Hortons restaurants across the riding where he can meet people face to face.
Voters, he said, will be impressed with him once they "listen to what I have to say and not what the media has said about me."