Liberals, NDP, PC, Green and Libertarians run candidates in all northeast ridings

The ballots are now off to the printer for the June 7th Ontario election.

Five parties are fielding a candidate in all nine ridings. The Liberals, New Democrats, Progressive Conservatives and Greens have done that for years, but this is the first time the Libertarian Party has a would-be MPP in every riding in the region.

"First you have to make the people aware that you're there," says Jozef Bauer, who lives in Iroquois Falls but is running for the Libertarians in Timmins.

"You have to show them a sensible plan and you have to be passionate about it. Right now, there's a huge disconnect between big government and the people of Ontario."

Sudbury Libertarian candidate James Wendler says running a full slate of candidates and being organized is the best way for the party to shake it's "fringe" label.

"Almost every person that I end up explaining Libertarianism to ends up being a Libertarian. That's why we're no longer considered fringe," he says.

The Northern Ontario Party had aimed to run a candidate in all 13 ridings, but ended up with 10, with no one on the ballot in Kenora-Rainy River, Sudbury and Parry Sound-Muskoka.

Still, party leader and Nipissing candidate Trevor Holliday is thrilled to have more candidates that the previous Northern Ontario Heritage Party ever had.

He says since they launched, they've noticed the three main parties paying more attention to the north.

"Of course we want to take credit for it. When I first started, there was nothing coming to northern Ontario, but then when we started and were gearing up, that's when we started to see more visits from Queen's Park more interest," Holliday says.

Other lesser known parties with candidates in the northeast include the None of the Above Direct Democracy Party, the Ontario Provincial Confederation of Regions Party and newly formed Consensus Ontario.

Kevin Brault, the Consenus Ontario candidate in Nickel Belt, says the party sets its platform based on surveys of the public, so he's more focused on meeting voters during the campaign than how many votes he might get. 

"You get to meet a lot of people, you get to hear their viewpoints and you can change the conversation and I will worry about the polls at 9 p.m. on June 7th," he says.