Visit to the Liberal Headquarters in Campbell River & Poll #3

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - I volunteered for the NDP Party during the 1968 election. Aside from that, the only campaign headquarters I’ve stepped inside was Elizabeth May’s Salt Spring Island office in 2019. So when in the midst of doing errands in Campbell River, I found myself with more than an hour to spare, it seemed like a fun idea to visit a campaign headquarters. Somebody told me the ‘red guys’ are behind Save On Foods, which is how I ended up at Jennifer Lash’s headquarters.

After returning home, I learned that yet another poll has been conducted in our riding. The first two were not connected to any political party, but the LIberals comissioned #3. Like poll #2 which was not their’s, it shows the Liberals having taken over the second place slot. After contacting 318 voters in North Island Powell River between April 20 and 21, Spadina Strategies reported that 37% intended to vote for the Conservatives, 30% for the Liberals, 25% for the NDP, 5% Green and 2% were undecided.

The projection website Poliwave is also reporting a shift in voter intention. On April 18, they stated the #2 party in our riding was the NDP. Their latest projection, published on Wednesday April 23, showed the Conservatives at 45%, the Liberals trailing at 29%, the NDP at 20% and the Green’s at 5%.

This is not what I intended to report, when I dropped in at the Liberal Party’s Campbell River office on Friday. Jennifer Lash was away, knocking on doors, but there were five people gathered in the entrance when I arrived. A young woman immediately detached herself from their conversation. She was one of the four staffers from Ottawa who are working on the Liberal campaign. Sarah Manney gave me permission  to walk around the office taking pictures and interviewing people. I started with her.

 Sarah Manney: “Well, I'm Sarah, I'm the campaign manager. I was working in Ottawa, but grew up in Comox. My family's in Nanaimo. When I found out that Jen was running, I knew her in Ottawa and I said, ‘this is the candidate I've always dreamed of for my hometown.’ What better person could I ask for to represent the people I grew up with.’ So it was just a dream to be able to come work for her and try to make that a reality here in North Island Powell River.”

“My whole family's been knocking on doors. We have Jen's family. We have at least five times the number of volunteers that we've ever had in this riding. It's amazing just to see the energy. The other day someone remarked, ‘I've never seen so many Liberals in one place.’ It was just this magical feeling like we've all waited for this moment to have someone like Jen to rally around.”

The next person I interviewed looked a lot like Jennifer Lash, for good reason.

“My name is Wendy Lash. I am Jennifer's sister.” 

Cortes Currents: How did you end up working for her in a campaign office? 

Wendy had not been expecting that question, but after a few hesitant seconds she suddenly sounded like an old pro.

“Well, how can you not support somebody when they're living their purpose? Jen has had a fabulous career of doing good for many people and many things in Canada, but right now -  this is an important time for us! She's bravely taken this on and she's doing a fabulous job. When we heard that she was going to be doing this,  as a family, we knew we needed to support her. So we booked our tickets and we've come from Ontario. We are thrilled to be here and in action.”

Cortes Currents: Whereabouts in Ontario are you from? 

Wendy Lash: “My husband and I are from Barrie.  Our sister Catherine is coming from Toronto. Jen's kids  are coming back from Ontario and they're also here with us.”