In my local riding I’ve talked alot about how the local Conservative candidate, Mark Strahl (who I’ve dubbed The Anointed One) has been Missing In Action for most of the campaign.  I’m sure he’s been somewhere, it’s just that he hasn’t ever been where he ought to be for All Candidates Meetings at the various towns throughout the Chilliwack–Fraser Canyon riding.

I’ve also written at length about my disgust for the actions of Mark Strahl and his father, former MP Chuck Strahl, in gaming the system so that nobody but his son Mark could gain the Conservative Party nomination in this riding.

If nothing else, the way Strahl senior and junior played the system in Mark’s favour shows a shocking lack of integrity from both a man and a party that claims to run on that platform.

With the NDP surging in all the polls, if the endless news reports hailing the second coming of Jack Layton are to be believed, I called my local NDP riding to see if they had any polling information for this riding.

Getting the number for the local campaign office was easy.  It was printed right on the political flyer they delivered to my mailbox.  So I called the number and had a very pleasant chat with a man named “Al”, who informed me that he’d been getting the question alot, and not just from his own party’s people, but from people identifying themselves as Conservative supporters who were disgusted with the Strahl family’s claim on this riding as their own personal fiefdom.

I laughed and told him to add me to that list.  He then told me that unfortunately he didn’t have any polling information for the riding, but that he’d make sure to bring it up for the next election, given all the questions he’d been getting.

Next was the Liberal candidate.  Calling her campaign was easy too, since her local number was also printed right on her candidate sheet.

Lastly, of course, was the Conservative “anointed one”, Mark Strahl.

Turns out I could not call his local campaign office, at least not according to the campaign flyer that landed in my mailbox along with the NDP’s.

The only contact information on Strahl’s campaign flyer is an 800 number for the federal Conservative campaign office.

His local campaign office, like Mark Strahl himself, appears to be Missing In Action.

It’s a heck of a way to run a campaign, but Strahl junior obviously knows alot more about politics than I do.   I’m just a redneck who believes people running for public office ought to show up and be questioned by those whose votes he wants this coming Monday.

Silly me.

On visiting his website I almost pee’d my pants laughing.  Why?  The very first item on his website says the following:

Mark Strahl wants to hear the real questions and concerns of the people of Chilliwack-Fraser Canyon, so he’s excited to be utilizing cutting edge technology…

Mark Strahl, I’ve got some news for you.  You want to “hear the real questions and concerns of the people of Chilliwack-Fraser Canyon“?  I’ve got a simple solution for you.

Show up at an All Candidates Meeting.

The only technology you need for that is a car.  Don’t have one?  Call a cab.

I’ll even pay the cab fare.  It would be worth it to see you squirm under some hard questions about your own personal integrity or, more importantly, the apparent lack of it.