With a federal election less than two weeks away, the candidates in Okanagan-Coquihalla are spending the weekend campaigning.

At Thursday’s All-Candidates debate in Penticton, the Green Party’s Dan Bouchard says he’s running a bit behind after entering the race last minute.

“A week before I got on the ballot, I called the office wondering who to vote for and the answer was nobody, are you interested? I expressed some interest and a couple of days later the head of the BC Green Party was calling me. A week later I was on the ballot. I just scraped in under the deadline,” says Bouchard.

The NDP’s Ralph Pointing was also not planning to be the race initially.

“The riding association asked me if I’d like to run, I was looking forward to retirement actually. Then I started thinking about my family, I have four children and nine grandchildren and I think about the kind of world I want to leave them. I want to leave them a united Canada, a just society and a clean and healthy planet,” says Pointing.

Liberal candidate Valerie Hallford says she’s been knocking on doors for more than a year.

“I’d been doing a lot of mainstreaming, going to a lot of gatherings, its very positive, I’ve been doing this for 15 months, going to at least two dozen events and meetings a week,” says Hallford.

Also going door to door is current MP Stockwell Day.

“I feel pleased the things I’ve heard over the last few years are the things that make up our program. Good fiscal control, keeping finances and government spending under control, legislation dealing with the environment, criminal justice reform. These are the things we are hearing a lot about,” says Day.

A second all candidates meeting is planned for Tuesday at the Penticton Golf and Country Club starting at 5 p.m.

Provided by

- Today's Best Country