Conservatives holding strong locally, looking for debate boost nationally as election nears

KAMLOOPS — The federal Conservatives are looking to this week’s two leaders’ debates, as they need to see a bump in the polls, trailing the Liberals and Mark Carney nationally. Even while some polls have begun to shift toward the Tories in terms of the popular vote, the seat share tends to lean to the Liberals forming government.

The incumbent boost, paired with the downfall of NDP polling numbers across Canada, have the two Conservative candidate in Kamloops projected to return to the House of Commons.

“We saw in 2015 how the NDP vote dropped off, as well. This time around the NDP are struggling, it may be more of a two-party race right across the country. But we are working it like I always do, always work like I’m in second place and wanting that one more vote,” said Mel Arnold, Kamloops-Shuswap-Central Rockies Conservative incumbent.

A veteran MP, Arnold has been forced to reintroduce himself to the Kamloops population with his riding stretching from Sixth Avenue to the Alberta border, working alongside Frank Caputo in Kamloops-Thompson-Nicola to earn votes.

“Once people see that affiliation and cooperativeness, and then understand I’m with the Conservative Party of Canada, and the policies and values that we have been talking about for the last number of years that are on the forefront of peoples minds,” said Arnold.

While the name recognition is easier for Caputo in Kamloops, he, too, has new communities to convince to vote blue.

“Can’t quite claim the rookie card like I once did. But I think people want now to know, ‘What have you done? What issues are you running on? What have you done in the past.’ It’s a little bit different in that way, rather than saying, ‘This is who I am,’ it’s ‘This is what I’ve done and this is who I am,’” said Caputo.

Much like all the candidates in the riding, the same issues are being espoused on the door step to the incumbents.

“A lot of it depends on demographics, too, because different people at different points of their lives are going to have different concerns,” said Caputo. “Affordability is a really, really big one. Sometimes people are talking to me about tariffs. Health care does come up — it is largely a provincial issue but those things do come up. And also, just the things that I’m going to work on myself.”

“They want a change from the current government,” added Arnold. “It’s been nine-and-a-half years, their lives haven’t gotten better. In fact, they have gotten worse. They have gotten more expensive. We’ve seen crime on the streets. They want a change from that, and that is what our Conservative party is pledging to do.”

Election day is April 28.