Macleod candidates continue to push ahead of byelection

The Federal Government has five vacant seats; Four of those chairs will be filled Monday night.

Wildrose Country and The Heartland Province are where the races are; Ontario has Scarborough-Agincourt and Trinity-Spadina while Alberta features Fort McMurray-Athabasca and Macleod.

The Macleod riding will be abolished before the 2015 vote because of the Federal Electoral Boundaries Redistribution back in 2012.

Just hours left to get the message out to voters, who may be thinking more about the long weekend than heading to the polls.

Conservative John Barlow has been at this for a while; he edged out Melissa Mathieson, Phil Rowland and Scott Wagner for the PC nomination back in early March.

“We started this in November when Menzies retired we started campaigning so it’s been a seven month campaign. Other candidates didn’t have to go through a nomination, we had to go through that process so this has been a long haul. I think people in Macleod have seen how hard we’ve worked, I think we’ve earned their votes and I think that was very important,” says Barlow.

Barlow likes the way his campaign has been going, and notes flood recovery seems to be the common theme throughout.

“That’s the one issue that did impact most of the communities in my riding from Bragg Creek down to Crowsnest Pass, High River, Black Diamond, Turner Valley… Claresholm and Nanton went through some flooding this past week,” adds Barlow.

Barlow adds the rest of Canada may think everything is fine after the June flooding but those in the riding know the work is far from over when it comes to rehabilitation.

The Liberals are hopeful they can snag this seat away from the Conservatives for the first time since Pierre Trudeau led the Grits to a majority victory in the 1968 election.

Dustin Fuller tells 660News he’s knocked on over 25-thousand doors and feels energized talking to voters.

“A lot of people are not happy with the way that government is being run, both at the provincial and federal level. Every community I go in and every conversation I have, people agree that we need people in government who care less about reading out talking points and running negative ads and care a whole lot more about doing good back in the communities that they’re supposed to represent,” says Fuller.

Aileen Burke carries the NDP flag and has been door-knocking along with doing her regular job.

Burke tells 660News the flood and change have been the consistent talking points with voters she’s spoken to.

“We obviously have to recognize that a lot of this falls under provincial jurisdiction; The NDP has a plan to allow for more municipal funding as well as focus more on flood prevention rather than flood recovery,” says Burke.

Opposition NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair and Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau have been through the riding of Macleod ahead of the byelection while Prime Minister Stephen Harper hasn’t made an appearance.

Larry Ashmore is running for the Green Party and David J. Reimer represents the Christian Heritage Party.

660News will have coverage of the vote Monday.