Prince George Liberal candidates confirmed and campaigning

The Liberal Party of Canada have officially confirmed it’s candidates in the two Prince George ridings.

As expected, Matt Shaw will be running in the PG – Peace River with Tracy Calogheros will be under a red banner in Prince George – Cariboo riding.

Calogheros says she is hoping to bring some real representation to region

“We haven’t had a voice in Ottawa that was also present in the riding on a regular basis. I think that what we need to do is get together as a riding, in all these different groups in different communities and really insure our voice is being heard in Ottawa.”

Matt Shaw, Prince George resident of 26 years, is on the same page.

“Dick Harris hasn’t been around that much, and in my riding we’ve had Bob Zimmer up north. But Prince George has not been represented for a long time.”

Shaw is faced with what many have described as a Conservative “fortress” in BC. The PG – Peace River riding has gone to the right since 1972. Zimmer won his first election in 2011 by a margin of 36%

“I think we can look at the past and think that we can predict the future.” Shaw said “The fact is, it’s a lot harder to predict this sort of fundamental shift in voter perception, kind of like what happened in Alberta.”

“There comes a point where everyone sense instinctively that the present government has been in too long and they are disconnected from voters. So basically what I’m doing is offering an alternative.” Shaw continued

Tracy Calogheros says she will be taking some time to meet with the public and educate herself on some of the issues facing her riding.

“My next plan will be to go around and meet with groups, get my volunteers organized, do some door knocking and attend some coffee clutches and see what people are thinking and what is really concerning them.”

When questioned about having to make up ground against Conservative candidate Todd Doherty, who has been campaigning for months, Calogheros says she doesn’t think the riding will be decided by who got their election signs out first.

“I think that people want to get to know who their candidates are. And as far as playing catch-up, I’ve been around for a couple of decades myself and have a lot of strong connections in the community.”