In an impassioned speech to a packed room of NDP supporters, Bill Sundhu positioned himself as the best local candidate to unseat incumbent Cathy McLeod in the Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo, and frame the NDP as ultimately the best political party to end the close to 10-year reign of Stephen Harper's Conservative government.
Sundhu was in 100 Mile House for the opening of a campaign office on Fourth Street on Sept. 9, where he called the upcoming Oct. 19 federal election a “battle for the soul of the country.”
While national polls consistently show a tight three-way race between the Liberals, Conservatives and New Democrats, the Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo riding has historically been more of a two-way battle between the New Democrat and Conservative parties.
The importance of winning the vote here was perhaps underscored by large party rallies held recently in Kamloops, where the vast majority of votes in the riding are held, which saw appearances by NDP Leader Tom Mulcair on Sept. 1 and Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Sept. 14.
However, the importance of winning support in the riding's smaller and more rural centres, such as 100 Mile House, is not lost on Sundhu.
“It's an exciting day for us,” he says outside his office at the corner of Birch Avenue, a line of supporters standing on the street nearby holding orange placards with the words “ready for change” on them.
“We know this is an important part of the riding. I'm from the Cariboo originally; this has been a priority for me since I was nominated 13 months ago.”
In laying out part of his platform, Sundhu used a number of familiar talking points – the middle class “working harder and falling further behind” and “a fair economy and good jobs,” restoring health-care funding, and being fed up with a government that's “plagued by scandal.”
But a newer issue Sundhu talked about was gun control and Bill C-51, the Conservatives' heavily scrutinized “anti-terror” legislation introduced this year.
“Many people are worried about civil rights and privacy and I've even been talking to gun owners,” says Sundhu.
“I know Stephen Harper has been disingenuous saying the NDP has this policy [on reimplementing the long-gun registry]. It's completely wrong because we have no intention of bringing back the flawed boondoggle of the Liberals' long-gun registry. That was their policy. It's not coming back.
“I grew up in the Cariboo. I know hunting is a way of life. What gun owners have to worry about is Bill C-51.”
Sundhu, a lawyer and former judge, says when it comes to fundamental freedoms, civil liberties and privacy, and being able to intrude on people and taking their guns, “Stephen Harper's Bill C-51 is a bigger threat to gun owners and hunters.”
In the last federal election in 2011, Cathy McLeod won the Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo seat comfortably with 52 per cent of the vote, while former NDP candidate Michael Crawford took nearly 37 per cent. The Liberal Party and Green Party took just over five per cent each.