It’s been almost two months of knocking on doors and talking to residents, but candidates in the federal riding of Notre-Dame-de-Grace -Westmount will know their fate on Monday.
Voters have several choices, since Liberal cabinet minister Marc Garneau stepped down after 15 years in politics. Candidates are hoping to capitalize on what they call ‘Liberal fatigue’.
“The Liberals have been in power forever and that’s when I put two plus two together and thought ‘Pk, I’m going to try.’,” said NDP candidate Jean-Francois Fillion. Fillion is a high school English teacher and is hoping to make NDG more affordable.
“We need more affordable housing. The market right now is unreachable,” he said.
Anna Gainey, former Liberal Party of Canada president leads the polls. She is hoping voters stick with Liberal values and said affordable housing and climate change are major concerns.
“I will joining government and be a strong voice for this community in government and continue to work on those priorities as a part of that team,” said Gainey alongside Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a press conference on Friday.
An accountant by trade, Conservative candidate Mathew Kaminski said he is a fiscal conservative but not a social conservative and said his party shares many of the same end-goals as the other parties.
“We just have a different way of getting there, it’s fiscally responsible one, a common sense approach,” said Kaminski.
The Green Party is betting on their deputy leader Jonathan Pedneault. He says the Liberal track record on protecting the environment is very poor.
“They made important promises that they didn’t follow through with,” said Pedneault.
He, along with the NDP and Conservative candidates is also promising to stick up for anglophone rights in regards to Bill C-13, the Liberal’s overhaul of the Official Languages Act.
“I think we have to have serious constitutional discussions in this country right now,” said Pedneault.
Voters in the area have consistently elected Liberal candidates since the 1990’s -but that could change on Monday.
The polls will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.