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Five candidates confirmed so far in H-N riding

Writ drops for Oct. 21 federal election

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If next month’s federal election is anything like its 2015 counterpart, Conservative incumbent Diane Finley and Liberal candidate Kim Huffman will be intensely focussed on each other for the next six weeks.

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The election four years ago was a two-party race in Haldimand-Norfolk.

Finley won a fifth term in the House of Commons with 24,714 votes. Liberal candidate Joan Mouland collected 20,487. The local NDP candidate was a distant third with 7,625 votes.

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“Why would you vote for Conservatives in Haldimand-Norfolk?” Huffman asked after the writ dropped Wednesday morning.

“In recent years, our counties have nothing to show for voting for Conservative candidates. We essentially don’t have a voice on Parliament Hill from Haldimand-Norfolk. It’s definitely time for a change; time for fresh thinking and a fresh voice.”

Huffman was elected to represent Waterford-area Ward 7 on Norfolk council last October. The local Liberal riding association approached her earlier this year to be their candidate and Huffman accepted.

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Wednesday, Huffman said she talked her candidacy over with Norfolk County integrity commissioner John Mascarin of Toronto.

Huffman says Mascarin believes her candidacy does not pose a conflict-of-interest or raise ethical questions about her continued participation in municipal decision-making. As such, Huffman will continue to discharge her municipal responsibilities while she seeks to secure the local riding for the federal Liberals.

For her part, Finley is warning voters about a second term for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and what that might mean for their bottom line.

“This election is about choosing a prime minister and a party that will put more money in their pocket so they can get ahead,” Finley said Wednesday.

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“This is an election about affordability. I’m hearing at the door that people don’t have enough money left at the end of the month. The carbon tax is increasing the cost of everything. The first thing a Conservative government would do is cancel the carbon tax.”

The Trudeau government’s carbon tax has been set at $20 a tonne and is scheduled to rise to $50 per tonne by 2022. Finley cited independent research suggesting the tax will have to quintuple before it has a noticeable effect on the production of greenhouse gases in Canada.

A third candidate confirmed in Haldimand-Norfolk is Green Party rep Brooke Martin.

A Facebook posting says Martin is a registered nurse who was born and raised in Norfolk County. The same post says she is an avid gardener and a long-time member of the Charlotteville Agricultural Society.

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“Brooke is proud of the entrepreneurial spirit of Haldimand-Norfolk and thinks it could be an example to other communities across Canada,” the Facebook post says. “This area was once largely tobacco based and — when tobacco use declined – it was stressful for many at first.

“However, it resulted in agricultural diversification and a focus on eco-tourism which has made the community more unique and resilient. Brooke thinks areas currently relying on the oil industry could use places like Haldimand-Norfolk as a model of what is possible if the future is looked upon with creativity and an open mind.”

The Green Party has elected two MPs to the House of Commons, one of them party leader Elizabeth May.

However, the Greens have yet to gain traction in Haldimand-Norfolk. In 2015, candidate Wayne Ettinger collected 1,857 votes to finish a distant fourth.

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The Christian Heritage Party will also be represented on next month’s ballot. The CHP website says their candidate in Haldimand-Norfolk is Lilly Eggink. The Banner – the monthly magazine of the Christian Reformed Church in North America – says Eggink is a member of Jarvis Ebenezer Christian Reformed Church.

The CHP website says Eggink is a life-long resident of the local area, is active in her church, “and did a term on the board of Simcoe and District Voice for Life.”

“She presents sign language to worship music with Guided Hands and participates in various international mission trips.”

David Bylsma – the CHP candidate in Haldimand-Norfolk in 2015 – collected 884 votes.

Maxime Bernier’s newly-minted, populist People’s Party of Canada is also fielding a candidate in Haldimand-Norfolk. Bob Forbes of Caledonia – a recently-retired pharmaceutical executive – will fly the PPC banner in the coming campaign.

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“I’ve talked to people from Lowbanks to Long Point to Langton,” Forbes said in a recent interview. “They’re tired. They’re disillusioned. They’re fed up with traditional politics and that’s wrong. These people are looking at the PPC platform and are saying `That makes sense to me.’”

Prominent in that platform is a pledge to re-think Canada’s policies on immigration and integration.

The approaching election has caught the New Democratic Party flat-footed. The NDP has yet to fill a number of candidate vacancies across the country. Haldimand-Norfolk is one of these ridings but the local executive says that could soon change.

“We have a promising candidate at present that we’re reviewing with the co-operation of the federal party executive,” Jordan Louis, president of the Haldimand-Norfolk NDP Riding Association, said Wednesday in an email. “I will be happy to provide you (with an update) as soon as they are confirmed.”

It is too early to predict the size of the field in Haldimand-Norfolk for the Oct. 21 vote. A total of seven candidates ran locally last time around. Would-be candidates have till 2 p.m. Sept. 30 to file their paperwork with Elections Canada.

MSonnenberg@postmedia.com

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