James Lunney says the Conservative party feels the same way about a federal election that most Canadians do: they don’t want one.
However, said the Nanaimo-Alberni MP, if the opposition brings down the government this spring, he’ll be ready.
“Minority parliaments average about 18 months in Canada, so we are over the average already,” he said. “The opposition parties are testing the waters and my take is there’s a game of chicken going on. They are testing the waters and trying to generate some issues.”
Lunney said while he doesn’t see any public interest in a federal election, he won’t be caught napping, should one be called.
“We are ready in this riding to face an election in the spring if we have to do so,” he said. “However, we don’t want to spend too much time on election readiness when there are real issues that need our attention.”
Lunney’s main rival, the NDP’s Zeni Maartman, was on vacation, but Ken Pearce, NDP riding association president, said he’s confident his team would also be up to the challenge of a spring election, should one be called.
“Yes, we’ll be ready,” he said. “We have our team ready to go and we are just waiting for the writ to drop.”
Pearce anticipates voters going to the polls before summer.