Canada’s 44th federal election is underway and election signs are beginning to dot the local landscape.
As political campaigning ramps up, there are no shortage of issues that Southeastern Ontario voters want to see addressed, many of which are tied to the COVID-19 pandemic. Global News took to the streets of Kingston for reaction.
Scott Bradshaw says he worries about the federal debt.
“Particularly right now because of COVID and all of the handouts and subsidies to keep things going, I’m a little worried the economy’s going to suffer, the dollar’s going to suffer,” Bradshaw said.
Cono Rubino is also talking about COVID-19.
“First and foremost, passports, so if people are vaccinated, yeah we have proof that we’ve been vaccinated,” Rubino said.
Comments like that are no surprise to Tim Abray, a PHD student at Queen’s University who studies voter behaviour.
“People’s lives are at stake. There are two things you don’t mess with in politics — you don’t mess with people’s jobs and you don’t mess with people’s kids,” Abray said.
And arguably the pandemic has done both of those. Abray expects a safe return to school from primary to post secondary will also play a role in the election. Mandatory vaccinations also weigh in on voters’ minds as well — or at least Rubino thinks so.
“I would like to see people that are working for federal or provincial government, if you want these kinds of jobs, be mandated to be vaccinated,” Rubino said.
As for Abray, he says with this election in particular, voters are looking to candidates for answers.
“I’m not sure that they’re going to put up with quite so much waffling from politicians and political candidates as they might have in the past. They’re going to be looking for some very direct answers about some very real and present concerns that they have.”
Canadians go to the polls on Sept. 20.