Here we go! Three candidates in the running for Banff-Airdrie so far

One candidate has dropped out, but at least three candidates will be seeking the Banff-Airdrie seat in the federal election announced today.

Following an extensive unofficial campaign, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has set the election date for Oct. 21.

Incumbent Conservative MP Blake Richards and Nadine Wellwood, of the People's Party of Canada (PPC), have both been actively campaigning the Cochrane area for several months and the Green Party's Austin Mullins has largely been hitting the doors in the Canmore-Banff area so far.

Green Party candidate Austin Mullins. Supplied

Mullins intends to be in Cochrane next week and is also preparing to participate in local forums.

A two-year resident of Canmore, Mullins says it was the party's belief in sustainability and real change--from greenhouse gas emissions to parliamentary reform--that lead him to become active with them since university. That includes the need to be fiscally responsible.

"With the major parties, it's hard to find that balance. It's spent, spend, spend or cut services. That is kind of what you get with the other major parties. The Green Party offers a balance." 

"What I hear at the doors is voters want people who are fiscally responsible and not spending money beyond our means."

He wants to add a local perspective to the climate change issue that in the early goings is one of the larger national issues in this election.

"Putting that into a local perspective, it's how we go about pipelines and how we go about transforming Alberta's economy into a clean energy economy. That's a big one I'll be hitting a lot, especially in the east of the riding."

He also believes affordable housing and infrastructure funding are important issues in the constituency.

The PPC's Wellwood says their campaign is in full gear. For months, Wellwood has been mounting an aggressive campaign to draw attention to the new right-leaning party. That included bringing PCC president Maxime Bernier to Cochrane on July 13.

PPC candidate Nadine Wellwood with national leader Maxime Bernier. (Cochrane Now file photo)

"We've got signs that will start to go up here early next week," says Wellwood."We have a good solid team in place. The reception we have been receiving is pretty specular. There' s a lot of work to do and a lot to accomplish in very little time but I think people will be pleasantly surprised with where we end at the end of this."

Today. she is in Airdrie and has been campaigning in Canmore, Banff, Exshaw, Crossfield and, of course, Cochrane, where she resides.

Freedom of speech is top of mind for her right now. The party is fighting to be included in the national leadership debates.

"The fact is we have somebody who has fielded 318 candidates out of 338 district, which represents more than anybody in the Greens, the NDP and the Liberals at this time. It's appalling we are being silenced and ignored. I think that has to come to the attention of every single Canadian. If they can silence and censor at that level, who's next?"

"Canadians are being constrained because we're not allowed to be informed and they're using the media as a platform to do that which I think this is nothing short of disgusting."

Last week, Wellwood announced Bryce Talsma had resigned from the Banff-Airdrie Conservative riding association to join her team. So far, he has been assisting with the strategy behind the scenes for her campaign. 

Incumbent Blake Richards is well into his campaign and his election signs have started to dot the horizon. Late this afternoon, two members of his volunteer sign crew set up the first one here in Cochrane along Hwy. 1A.

Blake Richards re-election campaign volunteers Bill Martin, left, and Gilles Gagne put up the first of many election placards on Hwy. 1A around 4 p.m. this afternoon.

Richards says Talsma has the right to disagree with the Conservatives but notes hundreds of volunteers and thousands of supporters think otherwise.

"The direction that we want to take is lower taxes, we want to see more fiscal responsibility from government, we want to see more ethics and accountability in government and we want to get tough on crime. These are all very different directions than what we're seeing now and they're all very important directions to take. I think people know that if they want to see change the only change that is available and ready to take the job is the Conservative Party of Canada."

Richard's re-election campaign has been firing on all cylinders and in full election mode even before today's announcement.

"We've been out doorknocking every day since the end of June and  I think we've knocked on somewhere in the neighbourhood of 15,000 doors already."

Nick Flaumitsch, who had early announced his intention to run as an independent, has stepped back due to health issues. No NDP or Liberal candidates have stepped forward as of yet.

 A public forum is tentatively scheduled to be held in Cochrane on Sept. 25 but is subject to change.

This weekend, the only planned event by any of the three candidates is an open house for Blake Richards on Saturday, Sept. 14 at 116 Centre St.