The Path to Ottawa passes through Terrace tonight as it leads to a ballot box on Monday

Home mailers and in some cases home visits have helped to deliver
the message for some of the candidates in Skeena-Bulkley Valley

After week after week of campaigning across the vast expanse of Skeena-Bulkley Valley, the eight candidates in the 2019 Federal election head for the homestretch tonight.

With one final electoral forum ahead for some, and  one final opportunity to deliver their key points and try to sway the undecided to their camp for Monday's vote.

As they head towards the frantic final few days of the weekend push ahead, the path to Ottawa would seem somewhat steep for the middle of the pack candidates, with the Liberals Dave Birdi and Green's Mike Sawyer consistently noted by 338Canada as being in the mid to low teens in percentage when it comes to projected vote totals come Monday.

In the most recent results release of this week, NDP candidate Taylor Bachrach found a bit of momentum, putting a bit more distance between himself and challenger Claire Rattée of the Conservatives, which makes tonight's final forum a key moment for both.

For the NDP the mission over the next few days will be to hold that momentum and look to secure some votes from the Liberal or Green camp.

Though for Taylor Bachrach the Green supporters may not be ones for the claiming, considering how Mr. Sawyer's campaign has frequently noted how the NDP does not go far enough when it comes to the climate concerns that the two parties have taken on as their foundation for the campaign.

For Conservatives, any votes for the taking will likely be found among those on the centre of the political spectrum among the Liberal supporters in the riding.

With Ms. Rattée looking to appeal to those who may be disappointed in some of the political events of the last year for their party, and perhaps while not ones who normally vote Conservative, there may more than a few dis-satisfied Liberals looking to park their vote this year with an eye towards the future.

Whether there is enough of a Liberal vote collapse to tap into however, won't be revealed until the votes are counted on Monday evening.

For Jody Craven and the People's Party, the 2019 campaign has been more than anything else an introduction to their policies and a populist vision for the country; though the results from polling would seem to suggest that they have a significant amount of work ahead if they plan to change many minds towards their themes over the long term.

On local issues, much of the media focus to date has been  directed towards areas where the federal government doesn't really have much influence; with housing and health care more of a provincial domain, the Feds for the most part merely a funding source through transfers for assorted programs.

On other political themes such as the environment, resources and reproductive rights the candidates for the most part have held true to the established party policies with few surprises to be noted along the way of the five weeks of campaigning so far.

For the most part the campaign of the Independents has been one of an Internet focus.

With seemingly no invites to the forums, few public appearances through the campaign and  little in the way of home mailings towards their themes, they have for the most part been limited to the varying  currents of Social media.

The one last chance to measure the candidates arrives this evening at 7 PM at the REM Lee Theatre in Terrace, where once again and for the final time, those candidates in attendance will look to reinforce their message and seek to convince those on the fence that they would make the best choice to represent Skeena-Bulkley Valley.

You can view tonight's forum live through CityWest Community TV on Channels 10 or 310HD, as well as through the streaming service of the CityWest Community TV facebook page.

Those who missed the previous forums in Kitimat and Prince Rupert can also catch up on the themes from those events as well, with rebroadcasts of the events on the Facebook portal.

Our notes on the Prince Rupert event of last week can be explored here.

For a look at some of the talking points along the campaign trail see our archive page here.

A wider overview of the national campaign can be found from our political blog D'Arcy McGee.


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