In this week’s Westlock News, we had hoped to run profiles on both the Liberal and New Democrat candidates in Westlock-St. Paul, having run profiles of the Conservative and Green candidates last week.
While Liberal candidate Rob Fox returned our calls and we were able to put together the profile on Page 3, we were unable to get in contact with NDP candidate Lyndsey Henderson.
And it certainly wasn’t for lack of trying.
While we were able to briefly make contact with her the day Parliament lost confidence in the government and an election call seemed imminent, she has since then been incommunicado.
We have been in contact with representatives of her campaign, and have had an offer to submit questions via e-mail that will then be responded to via e-mail, but it is an offer that’s sadly lacking.
Put aside any subjective political views you have for a moment, and just consider what it means for a candidate to put their name forward.
There’s no doubt it requires a tremendous commitment to the party, the campaign, and to the residents of the riding you hope to represent. In the history of successful election campaigns, it might be fair to say that candidates put in 12 or more hours each day getting their name and ideas out to their potential constituents.
Those 12 hours should include interviews with local media, even if that media outlet, like the Westlock News, only serves roughly 10 per cent of the riding’s population.
If the candidate isn’t willing to do that, what’s the point of even running?
Essentially, it seems like putting a name on the ballot is just a token gesture aimed at getting the $2 per vote and giving the party the ability to say they’ve run somebody in every riding.
Certainly we wouldn’t argue that NDP voters don’t deserve the opportunity to vote for a candidate in their riding, but they deserve option to vote for someone who will demonstrate a sincere commitment to the riding. Their candidate seems to be doing them a great disservice by avoiding their local media.
Ms. Henderson, the only candidate in for Westlock-St. Paul who doesn’t even live in this riding, seems to be coming up short.
