Federal Liberals looking for first win in Kamloops in 45 years

Terry Lake has had some big wins in his career — he's been elected mayor of Kamloops, city councillor and an MLA who went on to serve as a prominent cabinet minister — but he's never pulled off anything quite like this.

The federal Liberals haven't won in Kamloops since Leonard Marchand was elected in 1974, but Lake thinks he can break the party's losing streak.

"It's been 40 years since we had a Liberal MP," he said.

"It's time we did."

Lake has tough competition in Conservative incumbent Cathy McLeod, who has held the Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo seat for more than a decade.

McLeod says the community likes Lake, but that doesn't mean they like his party.

"He's hitched himself to the wrong wagon," she said. "People are terribly disappointed with the Liberal government."

What about the NDP?

The biggest challenger to the Conservatives in the riding is usually the NDP, but the party stumbled out of the gate when candidate Gina Myhill-Jones backed out of the race for personal reasons.

Things got worse when Myill-Jones' replacement, Dock Currie, resigned over 'aggressive' comments he made on Facebook toward two pro-pipeline advocates.

Family justice counsellor Cynthia Egli, who stepped in at the last minute, says learning the NDP's platform has been like cramming for an exam.

"It's a steep learning curve, but I'm not afraid to try," she said. "I'm not a politician but I'm a hard worker."

Pipelines, climate and jobs

Several communities have been hit hard by mill closures, leaving voters wondering how the candidates plan to help the ailing forest industry.

Climate change and the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project are also major issues.

Shelagh Howell owns a small business in Vavenby, which is where the Canfor mill closed over the summer, leaving more than 170 people without jobs.

She says she'd like to see the federal government provide incentives to companies that create jobs by adopting green technologies.

"The mill closure really affected us personally, but we really need to talk about how we think the country could move in a different direction," she said.

"Instead of focusing on resources that aren't renewable, we should start thinking about resources that are."

Cody Langton, who works in the trades in Clearwater, wants more government support for tourism and mining jobs in the area.

"We are not capitalizing on all of our potential in this province," he said. "We've gotta start looking at other industries."

Where the parties stand

Conservative candidate McLeod says it's inexcusable that the Liberal minister responsible for Western Economic Diversification Canada is based in Ontario.

"Right now, the minister is sitting in an office in Toronto," she said, referring to Mississauga-Malton MP Navdeep Bains.

"Before the election, he doled out $40 million for Vancouver and Victoria but not a penny for the Interior."

She also believes construction on the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project will create jobs. 

Lake also supports the pipeline and says the government can put people to work in other ways too.

"I've argued for putting those forest dependent communities at the front of the line for federal infrastructure projects," he said. "We need to diversify our markets overseas so that we're not just dependent on the United States."

Egli says the potential environmental risks of the pipeline outweigh the economic benefits.

"Justin Trudeau says he will take care of the environment," she said. "Then he's suddenly spending $4.5 billion on a pipeline."

People's Party of Canada candidate Ken Finlayson, a cattle rancher who lives in Lac La Hache, says there needs to be an urgent resolution to the softwood lumber dispute with the United States.

Iain Currie, a lawyer and father of three is running for the Green Party, which wants to scrap the pipeline and supports reducing carbon emissions by 60 percent by 2030.