How a 1.5-km stretch of industrial park captures key campaign issues

Sometimes gritty, sometimes glossy — the Canotek industrial park in Ottawa's east end is home to dozens of sprawling commercial buildings housing hundreds of tenants, from sole proprietors to businesses with hundreds of employees.

Along this 1.5-km stretch, a wide variety of industries are represented, including automotive garages, construction companies, HVAC and plumbing outfits, metal fabricators and a popular brewery.

CBC dropped by to ask what folks on Canotek Road have to say about Monday's election.

Furniture refinisher Eric Schiemann voted for change, marking his ballot at an advance poll.

"I don't like the way things have been going," Schiemann said. "We're getting too far into debt as a country. And the prices of everything are just skyrocketing because of it."

Schiemann is painstakingly restoring a small table that has been handed down from a client's great-great-great-grandmother. He describes furniture refinishing as a dying field, in part because people are unwilling to pay for his labour when relatively cheap replacements are so plentiful.

"When we started this business back in the 90s, there was 12 refinishers down here on Canotek. I think there may be three of us left. Maybe two."

Samantha Csontos Robertson is looking forward to casting a ballot. Like Schiemann, she's looking for change. The manager of M&R School Transportation, which provides rides for children with disabilities, is struggling with the cost of living.

We're living on peanut butter sandwiches and ground beef.- Samantha Csontos Robertson

"We're living on peanut butter sandwiches and ground beef," Csontos Robertson said.

"We have to go Conservative. It's the only way this country is going to get any better."

Joyce Aboud volunteers at her daughter's soap business, Zoe's Corner, which sells skin care and bath products. Some of the small business's raw materials are imported, and Aboud worries about rising costs. Patchouli oil, for example, has tripled in price.

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But when Aboud voted at an advance poll, she was thinking about leadership.

"I just wanted someone who is eloquent. Someone that is not a bully," Aboud said. "Someone who would protect Canada."

Josh McJannett is co-founder of Dominion City Brewing Co. The company is already affected by the aluminum and steel tariffs and is worried about a big purchase of Idaho hops this fall.

"A lot of the things we thought we could count on, we no longer can — principle among them is a steady trading partner south of the border, an America that we recognize," McJannett said.

"We're pinched. And I think it's going to be a challenge for a lot of small businesses."

Like Aboud, McJannett has already voted. So has cabinetmaker Andrew de la Ronde, of DH Designs. He's among the record number of 7.3 million people who cast a ballot during advance polls.

De la Ronde wanted to vote early so his 12-year-old son could accompany him and learn about the voting process, but his ballot box issue was about health-care. The family is without a family doctor.

"We thought we had a nurse practitioner and then just after Christmas we found out that she was leaving. So now we're back to square one," de la Ronde said. "I'm … of an age where things are starting to hurt more and you question why they're hurting."

Housing affordability is top of mind for voter Marina Schneider, an office manager at Alco Janitorial. Her 31-year-old daughter is a teacher who has moved back in with her mom to save up for a down payment on a home.

"I love her being at home, and at the same time I'm sad for her," Schneider said.

"She was paying $2,500. They increased the rent, so she said 'mom, I can't afford it.'"

Schneider, who emigrated from Honduras "40 winters ago," also wants the government to tackle homelessness.

"Coming from a third-world country and for me to see this in Ottawa? It is a big thing," said Schneider, who volunteers weekly with SOS Street Outreach Society, helping hand out donated food.

Mechanic Phong Tran is a first-time voter and is looking forward to casting a ballot on April 28. He and his family immigrated from Vietnam in 1999 and operate Tran's Auto Repair. He's under pressure from family members to vote for the Green Party.

"All my brothers and my family are texting me," he said.

The extended clan will mark 11 ballots on Monday.