Second all-candidates forum in Edmonton-Leduc

Tuesday April 19th at 7:30 pm: All-candidates forum at Southminster-Steinhauer United Church in Edmonton. See you there!

Edmonton-Leduc NDP campaign diary, Days 18, 19, 20, and 21

Edmonton-Leduc NDP campaign diary, Days 14, 15, 16 and 17

As you can see from the gap in posts, we've been really busy here in Edmonton-Leduc.

• Canvassing efforts becoming more intense: more and more people want to engage in doorstep discussions and even debates, sometimes in groups. Great job on the part of several of our volunteers for keeping up-to-date on details of the NDP platform and Tory/Liberal performance stats. People are obviously impressed.
• Our Volunteer Appreciation Night / Leaders Debates Watching Together Night is this Tuesday. Many thanks to Somayya and his family for hospitality.
• First all-candidates forum in the riding coming up this Wednesday at 7 pm at Leduc Composite High School. See you there?
• Signs from the Tory and Liberal candidates starting to pop up. We are still the most visible campaign in the riding, due to strategic placement at most visible locations. Actually had some problems with over-zealous volunteers on that front last week, but it's all good now. Enthusiasm is commendable.
• Make sure to listen in to our radio show at 6:30 on Wednesday on LeducRadio.com . The same website/station will continue at 7 pm to broadcast audio and video live from the candidates forum. We will be recording some as well.

First Edmonton-Leduc candidates forum coming up!

Wednesday April 13th at 7 pm: All-candidates forum at the Maclab Centre for the Performing Arts (Leduc Composite High School, 4308 - 50 Street in Leduc). See you there!

Edmonton-Leduc NDP campaign diary, Days 11, 12 and 13

Too busy to write for the past few days.

• Spoke for the NDP at an all-party (the Conservatives didn't attend without giving a reason) forum at Concordia University College. It's refreshing to see young people actively engaged in the political process, genuinely alarmed about the state of our democracy. Several questions: about early child education, green economy, Libya, small businesses, the need to vote. A big thank you to the organizers and all that attended.
• We're having a sign blitz this Friday at 7 pm (meeting at Terwillegar Rec Centre front desk). Going to make our campaign much more visible!
• Our website gets over 100 new visitors every day. We'll be over 3000 in April if the interest in our campaign keeps up.

Representing the NDP at an all-party forum this Thursday!

Thursday April 7th at 11 am: Artem Medvedev participating on behalf of the NDP in an all-party forum in the Tegler area of Concordia University College in Edmonton.

I hope to see you there! 
Artem

Edmonton-Leduc NDP campaign diary, Day 10

Based on our active stage of pre-election canvassing so far, it's possible to single out the following groups among area voters:
A) Not home. Or home but not opening the door. This group further includes those with "Don't put stuff in our mailbox" signs. I would say this group is the more mysterious one, as we have no idea if/how they will vote in the May 2nd election.
B) Old supporters: People that brighten up the day of our canvassers with invitations to come in for a cup of tea, people asking us for signs and extra brochures to share with family and friends.
C) New supporters: former Tories who just can't make themselves vote Conservative this time around, former Liberals that cannot look at the "new" Red Book without smiling a little, former non-voters that see that Canadian democracy is at a turning point and voting really does matter
D) The undecided. A big group at this point, which will shrink more and more as we keep going. Many of these in our officially super-conservative riding are leaning towards the New Democrats. The phrase I hear most from this group is "Well, I'm definitely not for the Tories".
E) Liberal and Green supporters: certainly do exist, although many are complaining to us (for some reason) that they aren't seeing their local campaigns. Most of the people in this group are quite friendly, seeing the unifying goal of kicking James Rajotte out of here.
F) The biggest mystery of them all: Conservative voters. Slammed doors, "thank you, but no thank you"s, hand wavers and head shakers. I sincerely have no idea as to why anyone would want to vote Tory in this election, but we are seeing such responses too.

Don't ask me for percentage divisions into these groups. All I can say is that group A is quite large, which is a bit disappointing at times, but groups B and C are not only evident but clearly growing since the last election.

Edmonton-Leduc NDP campaign diary, Day 9

About to leave for some more canvassing.

• Sign placement is going well. If you live in the riding and would like to have a lawn sign, please let me know and we'll deliver it shortly.
• I'm apparently the first (and so far only) federal candidate in Alberta to sign the pledge for civil elections (organized by an organization called exactly that)
• I've signed the pledge to work to eliminate poverty in Canada
• The all-party forum for this coming Thursday is now confirmed. Please check campaign website www.artemmedvedev.ca for details on this and other forums.
• Still trying to find where the Edmonton Sun is putting the interview that they called for on Thursday morning.
• The preliminary spending limit for candidates in the riding is just over $100,000. No further comment.
• Both happy and unhappy that Friday April 15th is the last day of teaching for this term. More time for the campaign, yes, but I love BOTH politics and teaching, so this is not good, when you look at it.

Edmonton-Leduc NDP campaign diary, Day 8

What? He has time to blog in the middle of the day?!
Just unsure if I'll get to my computer after returning from canvassing tonight.

• Sign placement is going quite well. Of course, the hardened ground and the icy snowbanks and the dirty puddles make the work of the signs team more enjoyable than desirable, but this is why our whole campaign team applauds everyone participating in this exercise.
• I may be speaking at an all-party forum organized at Concordia University College of Alberta this coming Thursday April 7th. Don't have any details so far, but I think this would definitely be a fun and informative experience.
• Seeing a drop in emails and phone calls on Friday, I was shocked! I will have to take a few weeks vacation when the election is done =) Campaignoholic...
• Was in Linda Duncan's riding today - see of orange and green. We'll get there too!
• I'm now officially confirmed as a candidate by the Returning Officer - my Official Agent, Bohdan, will be picking up a box of materials (and apparently also a CD - any guesses? music? vintage computer games?) from their office on Monday.

Edmonton-Leduc NDP campaign diary, Days 5, 6 and 7

Was too busy to write for the past few days, and have a lot to report:

• We now have a Campaign Manager. Thanks for your help, Aaron!
• The number of volunteers and sign locations is growing almost hourly. Let's keep it rolling, people!
• The website hits a new record number of visitors every day. We went to almost 700 visitors in March overall. The number of people Googling for information on the campaign and the riding.
• Two candidate forums are being scheduled. I will post information on the website shortly.
• Was interviewed by the Edmonton Sun yesterday. Look out for something covering our riding within the next little while.
• We are running an an in the Edmonton Senior with the tagline "Pensions or Prisons?"
• This afternoon, our riding association president, Bob, and I are going to the Elections Canada RO to submit nomination signatures and finish up all the formalities.
• New pictures were posted on our Flickr page.
• If you have some time to contribute, please contact me!