Knocking on doors, posting signs: federal election campaign hits the ground running in Winnipeg

With a federal election now looming just shy of over a month, candidates from Canada's major parties hit the ground running in Winnipeg on Sunday.

Canadians will go to the polls on April 28 after a 36-day campaign, the shortest allowed under the law, that officially started after Prime Minister Mark Carney visited Gov. Gen. Mary Simon to dissolve Parliament.

But for some candidates in Winnipeg, election campaign mode has been shaping up for days now. 

"I've been on the doors for the last three weeks," Conservative MP Marty Morantz, incumbent for Winnipeg West, formerly known as the Charleswood–St. James–Assiniboia–Headingley riding, told CBC on Sunday. 

He said the Liberal government has brought the country into a weakened economy with increases to the cost of living and tax policies, adding there needs to be a change in order to unleash the potential of Canada's resources and get the economy back on track.

"When I go door-to-door, the story I'm hearing is not the story that's reflected in the polls … the story I'm hearing are people that are fed up with after 10 years of Liberal rule who are looking for a government that's going to look out for the average Canadian again." 

Liberal incumbent Terry Duguid was out on Sunday in the Winnipeg South riding, setting up signs, after weeks of knocking on doors. 

"Our new prime minister's message is really resonating … standing up for Canada to protect the country, to protect our sovereignty, to protect our workers," Duguid told CBC on Sunday. 

The federal cabinet minister said his party is bringing a more positive view on Canada's economic growth and future, contrasting with the "negativity" front the Conservative party is promoting with a message that Canada is broken. 

"I'm feeling very good, but we have to work hard for 36 days," Duguid said. "I've been in politics for a few decades and what I trust is the response at the door, and the response is very good."

NDP MP Leah Gazan, who is running once again to represent Winnipeg Centre in Parliament, told CBC she has forged close relations with constituents and her campaign is focused on keeping up the hard work ahead and after April 28, rather than at polling numbers.

"Right now people across Canada don't want to see us trashing each other. They want to see us working together to protect the interests of all people that are residing in Canada," she said. 

In the riding, concerns are split between the affordability crisis and the relation with the U.S., Gazan said.

"I'm willing to work in a united way to make sure that people's needs are met."