After a non-confidence vote in parliament on Friday afternoon, the airspace across the country was filled with politicians travelling from Ottawa back to their home ridings, including Westlock-St. Paul MP Brian Storseth. Canadians will be heading to the poles on May 2 to vote in a federal election for the fourth time in seven years.
“I am looking forward to spending the next 38 days back home in the riding, talking to Albertans about their concerns,” said Storseth. “We didn’t want an election, we thought we had a very good budget that we should be up here passing. We had no choice because the opposition decided to vote us down, but we are ready.”
The federal Conservatives continue to accuse the Liberals, NDP and Bloc Québécois of forming a coalition with the intent to bring down the government.
“It’s very clear that these guys had their minds made up before this budget was ever tabled,” Storseth said.
The Harper government was defeated in the House of Commons following a non-confidence motion declaring the government in contempt of Parliament put forward by the Liberals. The motion passed by a vote of 156 to 145.
The other political parties lost confidence in the Conservatives ability to lead, said Rob Fox, Liberal candidate for Westlock-St. Paul. He accused the Harper government of refusing to disclose an accurate price of the F-35 fighter planes and the full cost of crime bills.
“How can you vote on money matters if they won’t produce realistic costs?” questioned Fox.
Fox began his campaign in Cold Lake on the weekend, saying that if elected, the Liberals will bring more transparency and openness to the operations of the federal government.
“Over the last five years, this government has gotten more and more secretive,” said Fox, adding that the Liberals will reveal more details of their platform over the next few weeks.
Storseth said that he plans on campaigning on the Conservative record of responsible fiscal planning.
“We have a story of tax reduction over the last five years, a story of job growth over the last couple of years. It has been a strong economic story as well as an overall good conservative message that our prime minister has been moving forward with,” said Storseth.
The only thing both parties agree upon is the wish for residents to turn out in large numbers to vote on May 2.
