An incumbent Conservative MP in sa国际传媒 may be helped in her re-election bid by the withdrawal of a right-wing rival.听
Tracy Gray will be trying to win her third term in office when voters in the riding of sa国际传媒 go to the polls on April 28.听
She easily won the riding in the 2021 federal election with 45.3 per cent of the vote, far ahead of the 26.5 per cent of the vote drawn by then-Liberal candidate Tim Krupa.听
This time around, the Liberals are represented in the riding by Stephen Fuhr, who held the riding for the Liberals between 2015 and 2019. Fuhrsa国际传媒 name recognition and track record should help the Liberal fortunes in sa国际传媒, and the party is already riding a nationwide rise in popularity since former Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau quit politics earlier this year.听
Under new Liberal Leader Mark Carney, the Liberals are now ahead of the Conservatives and are currently projected to win a majority government. Even some ridings that have long been solid Tory country are now predicted to be a toss-up between the Liberals and the Conservatives.听
The riding of sa国际传媒 is shown as being in that category on the poll aggregator website , though with perhaps a slight advantage to Gray.
Elections Canada released its final list of candidates this week, and five people are shown as running in sa国际传媒. They are Gray, Fuhr, Trevor McAleese for the NDP and Catriona Wright for the NDP.听
Curiously, there is no candidate for the Peoplesa国际传媒 Party of Canada. Stacey Ponton had been named by the party as its candidate, but Ponton has now dropped out of the race. The party says Ponton withdrew for unspecified personal and professional reasons.
鈥淚tsa国际传媒 important to remember that our candidates aren鈥檛 career politicians. They鈥檙e ordinary Canadians - small business owners, parents, workers - who step up because they care deeply about the future of this country,鈥 the party said in a statement.听
鈥淩unning for office is a major personal sacrifice, and we鈥檙e proud of our slate of candidates who鈥檝e committed to fighting for freedom, fairness, and real change across Canada,鈥 the statement said.听
The PPC have little support nationally, polling at just two percent, according to
But it has drawn more support in certain areas, including the Okanagan, in the two recent federal elections. Its candidate in sa国际传媒 won seven per cent of the vote in the 2021 federal election.听
sa国际传媒 voters who cast their ballot for the PPC four years ago might be more inclined to vote for Gray, as the right-of-centre candidate, than any other candidate on April 28. A few percentage points of support from former PPC voters might prove to be the difference in a close race between Fuhr and Gray.
In his 2015 victory over then-incumbent Conservative MP Ron Cannan, Fuhr also benefited when local Greens decided not to field a candidate and many of them actively campaigned for Fuhr. They did so largely because of Trudeausa国际传媒 pledge to introduce proportional representation for future elections.听
But Trudeau reneged on that promise, angering many Greens, and the party ran candidates in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. The Green candidate this election is Catriona Wright.听
