In the coming weeks Canadian residents will be inundated with political messages. Just as there will be leadership debates aired on television there will also be ‘informal’ debates around kitchen tables, local coffee shops or any other place where people will gather.
Such informal debates promise to be quite interesting for people in the Haldimand-Norfolk riding as the Tories and Liberals both offer two strong, dare we say “star”, candidates.
At this point, the NDP and Green Party still must nominate candidates. The Green Party candidate, Frank Nightingale, dropped out of the race on Monday. The Christian Heritage party is also fielding a candidate Steven Elgersma of Dunnville. A new candidate will be the addition of high-profile independent candidate, Gary McHale. McHale is well known for leading community rallies in Caledonia, opposing the native occupation and the government/police handling of the issue. While McHale is sure to shake things up a bit, all eyes, however, will be on Conservative incumbent Diane Finley and Liberal Dr. Eric Hoskins.
This time around, Finley will be on the hot seat as she defends her personal record as the riding’s representative as well as that of her party.
And certainly voters will be asking themselves if the Conservatives have done enough for Haldimand, which has been mired in a native land claim dispute, and for Norfolk, which is still recovering from the downturn in the tobacco industry.
However, Delhi residents, like people elsewhere across Canada, are also concerned about health care, the environment, high taxes, gasoline prices — to name just a few.
And in the coming weeks we will hear how politicians will address all of those issues and more.
That’s to be expected.
The easy part for voters will be to listen to the messages, the hard part will be deciding who will really be able to deliver.