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No matter when a Federal election is called, Portage-Lisgar M.P. Branden Leslie is ready to hit the campaign trail.
"For me, it's an opportunity to go door to door, and talk to as many people around the riding as I possibly can," he said. "We have offices in Winkler and Portage that are in the midst of being set up, and are going to be ready on day one whenever the writ is dropped."
M.P.s are slated to return to Parliament March 24th, but Leslie expects an election will be called before then.
"Once the writ drops, my job will be to get my team together and visit communities across the riding like I have been over the last couple of months, but with my Conservative party shirt on instead, and of course, seeking the votes from people on election day."
Leslie hopes the election doesn't land on Easter weekend, suggesting his best guess at this point is sometime in late April, but stresses the timing is completely out of his hands. According to Elections Canada, the campaign period must be at least 37 days, and no more than 51 days, and election day must fall on a Monday, with certain limited exceptions.
"I know we're going to be focused on putting Canada first," he stressed. "We can't control what the United States government and, Donald Trump are going to do. We can control what Canada is going to do, That's going to mean axing the tax, not just pausing a tax, and then putting it up after an election, axing it once and for all. Making sure we can have more affordable housing and more housing available right across this country, fixing the budget, stopping the egregious and wasteful spending. The bureaucracy growth in the fat accumulation of the federal government in Ottawa has been frustrating to watch. We've doubled the debt. We've increased the size of the public service by 45%."
Leslie believes Canadians are sick and tired of seeing their tax dollars wasted, so the Conservatives are going to need to fix that and focus on growth in this country. He added crime will also be a key component in the Conservatives campaign.
"We have seen too many families devastated from repeat offenders being released on bail, being released with weak sentences, and this revolving door, soft on crime justice system the Trudeau government has unleashed upon Canada," he said. "We need to get serious about that, and then focus on growth, so we can ensure we have strong economies, creating strong families and strong communities."
- With files from Candace Derksen -