After the polls closed Monday evening, SooToday reached out to the Green Party and Christian Heritage Party candidates in the Sault Ste. Marie-Algoma riding for comments on their federal election campaign experience.
“I really enjoyed connecting with people,” said Green Party candidate Robyn Kiki Eshkibok.
She said her concerns for the environment and advocacy for Indigenous issues will go on.
“I'm concerned that nobody's paying attention to science anymore and the effect Algoma Steel has had on our community,” Eshkibok said.
Despite Algoma Steel’s in-progress construction of a more environmentally-friendly electric arc furnace, Eshkibok said cancer rates in the Sault and Algoma district are still far too high.
“Cancer has just become accepted for our community but it’s not normal. We can do better.”
Eshkibok said Canada needs to address the need for clean water for First Nations territories as many of those communities have been living with boil water advisories for several years.
“We have to help those First Nations who don't have access to clean drinking water. How can we keep digging and mining when we're not even taking care of the people that lived on that land first? Everybody should have clean water.”
While Eshkibok said she enjoyed her participation in candidate debates, Christian Heritage Party candidate James Collins expressed disappointment over being excluded from some of them.
“My party is not well known in this area but it was discouraging to not get invited to all of the debates. They said only the four main parties were invited. Well, Hugh didn't show up to anything,” Collins said, referring to Conservative candidate Hugh Stevenson’s absence from all debates despite being invited.
“There was no reason to not invite me, especially since there was no other conservative voice out there that was going to these things. So, that was discouraging, but I feel like I was able to get my message across with what I had.”
As the Liberals prepare to form another government under Mark Carney after winning Monday’s federal election, Collins outlined his concerns for the Sault Ste. Marie-Algoma riding.
“My biggest concern is a lack of gainful employment in the near future for Sault Ste. Marie. We had the federal government really push this green energy agenda with the steel plant and the electric arc furnace,” Collins said, stating the new facility will result in hundreds of lost jobs at Algoma Steel.
“That's just the primary jobs that are associated directly inside the steel plant. You're going to have hundreds of secondary jobs and industries and companies basically all just disappear in the blink of an eye. So we really need to diversify our economy here.”
Collins - who owns a contracting business and operates a small farm - said he would like to see a revitalization of farmland and the development of a port for Sault Ste. Marie regarding economic development for this riding.
He also said he would like to see a crackdown on crime and more help for those battling addictions.
Collins, who also serves as an army reservist, said Canada should spend less on foreign aid, more on defence and more on border security.
As of midnight, Green Party candidate Eshkibok and Christian Heritage Party candidate Collins each had less than one per cent of the votes in the Sault Ste. Marie-Algoma riding.
The campaign also marked the first time running for political office for both candidates.
Would either of them run again?
“I definitely would. I really enjoyed connecting with people. There's a lot of fear out there and I don't want our people to have that fear and I want to help them. That definitely keeps the fire going for me on my end,” Eshkibok said.
“One hundred per cent I'm going to run again,” Collins said.
“It was easy enough to run when I heard of the Christian Heritage Party. I don't have to go up on stage with the notes and policy binder because everything I say just comes from my heart and it's wonderful when what's coming out of your heart directly aligns with your party's policies.
"It's just who I am."