Candidate profiles

Jeff Green | Oct 17, 2019

On page 6 and 7 of this edition the five candidates seeking election in the Lanark Frontenac Kingston Riding are profiled. The profiles were written by me after interviewing each of the candidates over the phone They were each sent a copy of their own profile before publication, for comment and suggestions. This is not a normal practice for us, and we do it during elections, for two related reasons. One is to provide the candidates with the opportunity to ensure their words have been taken in context, and the second is to assure the readers that they are hearing what the candidate wants to tell them, not what I think the candidate meant to say.

The ultimate goal of the exercise, after all, is to help people decide who to vote for.

Over the years, including this time around, we’ve never had a candidate try to back off from a position they had spoken about when it was presented to them in print.

As I said in an editorial at the beginning of the campaign, I still find it regrettable that our democracy does not ensure that every vote cast has some direct impact on the shape of the government that will emerge, from what is looking at this point like a very tight election. There are countries around the world where that is the case and it has not led to chaos in the streets.

I do note as well, that according the 338Canada website, Lanark Frontenac Kingston is only considered a likely Conservative seat, not a safe Conservative seat, but when I looked further down on the page it says there is more than a 99% chance that the riding will go Conservative, which does seem pretty safe. I strongly suspect that the analysis on that web page is based on the application of national, provincial and regional polling to this riding, filtered by the local results in previous elections. As far as I know, no dedicated poll has been undertaken in this riding, so in a sense anything can happen.

Two weeks ago, I wrote another editorial, after moderating an all candidates meeting in Sharbot Lake. In it, I talked in positive terms about the commitment, intelligence and decorum that the LFK candidates were bringing to their personal campaigns. When conducting the interviews for these profiles, the candidates very much lived up to those high standards. Whatever concerns I may have about the process, the candidates expressed neither cynicism nor doubt; they continue to campaign on the basis of their vision for the future of the country.

Not only do the candidates deserve our respect for that, they also bring a measure of respectability to a political process that is sorely in need of it. Thankfully when we all go to vote, we put an x beside the name of an individual who we trust to represent our interests. In that moment of voting, the candidate takes precedence of the party.

To the many readers who have already voted in advanced polls, I apologise that these profiles are too late to be of any use to you. I will have to be quicker off the mark the next time around.