Carbonear district PC candidate uses delayed election start to hit the campaign trail

By Olivia Bradbury

In February, Riley Balsom of Heart’s Content was nominated as the PC candidate for the district of Carbonear-Trinity-Bay de Verde. 

At the time, the provincial general election, which has to be held this year by October 14 according to legislation, looked imminent. Then came several weeks of speculation as to when it would be called, followed by the surprise retirement of Premier Andrew Furey, which necessitated a leadership race and the postponement of the election until a new leader was chosen.

That new leader is Premier John Hogan, who like Furey, has kept people guessing as to when he will drop the writ.

That’s left the youngest Heart’s Content town councillor in the community’s history with plenty of time to campaign. His opponent will be Liberal incumbent and cabinet minister Steve Crocker.

“It’s an honour and it’s a privilege and it’s something I don’t take lightly,” Balsom said of his candidacy. “To have almost a thousand people get out to vote in a nomination meeting in February, to me it shows that people are ready for change. And to be part of a team that wants to present that change, and to show positive impact on the people of Carbonear-Trinity-Bay de Verde and the province as a whole really is an honour.”

Balsom, who at the time of his nomination resigned his day job so that he could campaign full time, said it’s been a busy few months.

“We spent a lot of time during the federal campaign doing some data updates on our internal system. And, other than that, we’ve been out door-knocking,” he said. “It’s great to always listen to people’s concerns and their issues that they’re facing, and being able to present them with some positive ideas on how we, should we be successful in forming a government, be able to implement some of these ideas.”

Balsom said most of the issues he is campaigning on are also ones raised by residents on the doorstep, namely health care, the cost of living, and crime.

“And when we talk about safer communities, I mean it’s going beyond the rising crime rates here in the province and here in this area in particular,” Balsom said. “Trinity-Conception is ranked second highest in crimes per capita in the province.”

But community safety also involves other factors, said Balsom, such as road infrastructure and cell phone service.

“I’m looking forward to the upcoming election,” Balsom said. “I’m looking forward to meeting as many residents as we can. Our intention is to knock every door in every polling district. So, between now and whenever the election day is, we’re going to get that accomplished.”