A local church is giving New West residents a chance to chat with local candidates just days before the Oct. 19 federal election.
Community members are invited to a meet-and-greet and platform night with New Westminster-Burnaby candidates on Thursday Oct. 15 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Five Stones Church, 612 Columbia St.
Izzy Lourenco, who is one of the event’s coordinators, said organizers have had a very good response from candidates. She said Chloe Ellis (Conservative), Sasha Ramnarine (Liberal), Kyle Routledge (Green) and Joseph Theriault (Marxist-Leninist) have all confirmed they’re attending and she’s awaiting word on whether Peter Julian (NDP) can make it.
“It’s meet-and-greet night. It sounds like we are going to have each candidate give a little intro about who they are and what their party platform is,” she said. “I suspect we’ll throw them out a question or two, not from the public but just to let people hear their responses. Then it’s a meet-and-greet time. It’s a lot more face to face, a lot more personal.”
Everybody is welcome to attend.
Brisk business at advance polls
Many New Westminster resident got a jump on the Oct. 19 election by voting at advance polls last weekend.
While the number of votes cast in New Westminster-Burnaby weren’t known at press time, some local residents reported good crowds. Advance polls were open Oct. 9 to 12.
“We estimate that 1.2 million electors voted at advance polls on Monday,” Dorothy Sitek, Elections Canada’s media contact in B.C., stated in an email to the Record. “This brings the total number of voters for all four days of advance polls at this election to more than 3.6 million. This represents an increase of 71 per cent over the number of electors who voted at advance polls in 2011.”
Voting with their taste buds
While each of the three main parties has held top spot in federal election polls during the 11-week campaign, the NDP burger has held on to top spot since Day 1 at Burger Heaven.
The local eatery is following a longstanding tradition of offering a b(un)-official burger poll for the 2015 federal election. As of Tuesday, Oct. 13, the NDP burger had 813 votes, followed by the Liberal burger at 769, the Conservative burger at 451 and the Green burger at 347. Trailing behind were the Undecided burger at 198 and the Bloc burger at 89.
Voting day
Don’t forget: Monday, Oct. 19 is election day. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in B.C. Voters can check their voter information card or www.elections.ca for where to vote.
