Liberals seek to keep Kanata-Carleton after narrow victory in recent byelection

Voters in the provincial riding of Kanata-Carleton might be forgiven for thinking, didn't we just go through this? 

After all, Karen McCrimmon of the Ontario Liberal Party took the northwest Ottawa seat by only 651 votes, upending decades of Progressive Conservative wins, in a summer byelection that took place only 19 months ago. 

Now, in the dead of winter and with a tight election campaign window to boot, McCrimmon is seeking a second (and full) term.

But the incumbent is facing a new crop of contenders this time around, including another former member of the Canadian Armed Forces (McCrimmon's own campaign bio states she was the first female to command an air force squadron) and two candidates with ties to education. 

Kanata-Carleton MPP hopefuls also face the issue of voter engagement in a riding where turnout in the 2023 byelection was even lower than the historically dismal participation level seen in the 2022 general election.

"There's still people not fully clued [in]," McCrimmon said of the current snap election when CBC News visited her campaign office during a lunch hour pause in door-knocking last Thursday. 

Outside, volunteers used a drill to help replant a large Liberal sign knocked off-kilter by the wind. 

Issues-wise, health care is "definitely" the number 1 topic McCrimmon is hearing about from voters.

"In this riding ... alone over 11,000 people don't have a family doctor, and that has domino effects," she said.

"When you don't have a family doctor, where do you go? You go to our emergency rooms. Queensway Carleton is our closest hospital and their emergency rooms are overwhelmed on a regular basis." 

Food and affordability

Sporting six layers of clothing including what he called a "farmer's onesie," Ontario New Democratic Party candidate Dave Belcher was also out on people's porches last week as the snow fell.

The cold has made it tougher to get volunteers, campaign for long stretches and have conversations. 

"But, no excuses," Belcher said. "It is what it is and we're out here to do our best."

Besides health care, people have been bringing up the A-word to Belcher.

"Affordability. That's always been a big concern, [plus] housing [and] education," the high school teacher added. "These are really the issues that matter to folks across the province and affect our day-to-day lives in a significant way."

Jennifer Purdy, a family physician, veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces and mother of two-and-a-half-year-old triplets, is running for the Green Party of Ontario.

She ran federally in 2021 and plans to do so again when this year's federal election is finally called. 

Purdy said she belongs to several Facebook free stuff groups where the need for basic supplies like food is evident. 

"Yes, we have food banks, but ... the Ottawa Food Bank has said they don't have the resources to continue to support other smaller food banks in the area," she said. 

"There are a lot of wealthier houses and families here, I would think. But at the same time, there's so many people in Kanata-Carleton who are hurting."

Job worries

Under the looming shadow of U.S. tariffs, people are worried about jobs, including those who work in the riding's tech sector, according to the Progressive Conservative candidate looking to reclaim the seat the party lost to the Liberals in the 2023 byelection. 

"We've knocked on several doors in that area," Scott Phelan said of the tech sector, in which he has spent most of his career. He's also a trustee on the Ottawa Catholic School Board. 

"People are concerned with respect to, hey, what happens if things just become too expensive for our employer to give us the right services or be able to handle the needs and requirements of these tariffs?" Phelan continued. "What does that mean for them? So, they could be out of a job."

When CBC caught up with him during a door-knocking tour last Thursday, Phelan was trying out a heated vest for the first time. 

"We're Canadian," he said of the weather. "We have to be out here."

The Metrolinx matter

When it eventually gets built, the Stage 2 extension of Ottawa's LRT system will terminate in the west end at Moodie station. That's technically not located in the Kanata-Carleton riding — it's actually in neighbouring Ottawa West-Nepean — but hey, close enough. 

PC Leader Doug Ford has pledged to bring the city's LRT service under the domain of the provincially owned transportation agency Metrolinx — a move Ottawa's mayor has said could help expedite Stage 3.

McCrimmon, whose Liberal party has similarly promised to "upload" the LRT, but not to Metrolinx as it currently operates, said she's "skeptical" of Ford's plan. 

"Metrolinx doesn't have a very good reputation, right? They don't. I mean, the Eglinton Crosstown is still not open and it's [been] 10 years," she said of Torontonians' wait for that LRT line. 

Belcher of the NDP said the province needs to help support Ottawa's transit system, but that it needs to remain locally controlled. 

Purdy with the Greens agreed. "I'm not too sure why it needs to go under the fold of a provincial organization," she said.

The PCs' Phelan said uploading would take some of the financial burden off Ottawa. 

"I'm born and raised [here]. It's very expensive to run a city," he said.