Election preparation: Local candidates get ready for expected writ drop

Conservative Candidates (L-R) Arpan Khanna Andrew Lawton, Lianne Rood and Stephen Gallant pose for a photo at Lawton’s campaign headquarters in St. Thomas, Ont. on March 22, 2025. (Brent Lale/CTV News London)

As David Goodwin opened his campaign office, his face lit up as he saw the crowd of volunteers and supporters.

The first-time Liberal candidate in Elgin-St. Thomas-London South is ready to start door knocking.

“Tomorrow (Sunday) is probably the worst kept secret in Canada that we’re going to call the election, but we’re ready to go,” said Goodwin, who has just entered the race. “The thing that excites me is our leader, Mark Carney. He’s rejuvenated the Liberal Party. I think people are connecting to that message, and it gets to the fundamentals about our security concerns. Security as a nation, security about our resources, about our farmers, our jobs and about the middle class. I’m passionate about that, and I’m excited with our leader.”

Goodwin will be up against first-time Conservative candidate Andrew Lawton. He opened his campaign office Saturday with Conservative incumbent’s Lianne Rood (Lambton-Kent-Middlesex) and Arpan Khanna (Oxford) as well as London Centre candidate Stephen Gallant in attendance.

“We’re all excited to finally have a choice to make a move to lead our country in these troubling times,” said Khanna. “We have a great team of strong candidates. I’m here today at Andrew Lawton’s campaign office, where it’s a lot of great energy. We’re going to hit the ground hard, and we’re hearing it at the doors right now. It’s a lot of positive support for Pierre Poilievre’s Canada first plan.”

In London West, first-time NDP candidate Shinade Allder is preparing to open her campaign office on Oxford Street West Sunday.

“I’m nervous, excited, everything all at once,” said Allder. “I’ve been spending the last few weeks getting out and meeting the constituents because I am a new candidate. I really want to get out there and get people to know me. I do a lot of community work, so people might know me in the community, or being Unifor leadership, but now it’s in a different role as political candidate.”

Allder is described as a trailblazer and powerhouse in the labour movement. She made history as the first woman and first person of colour to be elected as Unifor’s Ontario Regional Council Chair in 2022.

“I represent 170,000 workers across Ontario,” said Allder. “I’m a single mom, raised by a single mom. I’ve worked paycheque to paycheque, so I have that relatability with a constituency of London and London West. I’m fighting for workers’ rights.”

The biggest talking point in this election U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats.

“I really fundamentally believe this is the most important election in my lifetime,” said Goodwin, who spent eight years as chair of the local Liberal riding association. “I’ve never in politics seen a president of the United States call our prime minister ‘governor.’ That’s really hurtful and concerning. I think this is an important time, and when I look at the choice of the two leaders, Pierre Poilievre and Mark Carney, and who you want to lead us through the storms that are coming? Mark Carney is clearly the right choice at this time.”

Allder is really concerned about what tariffs could do to the auto sector in Canada.

“We have the big three, and so many of our auto workers are going to be affected by this,” said Allder. “They are going to be losing their jobs. They’re not going to be having a paycheque to provide for their families. So, we really need to sit down and figure out what we are going to do. We have such a strong economy in Canada, and we need to really focus on keeping good Canadian jobs and using our Canadian resources, so things are staying here in Canada and working with the other premiers as to what we can do.”

Gallant is running for the second time in a rematch with Peter Fragiskatos and Dirka Prout in the riding of London Centre.

He said he’ll be knocking on doors from early morning to late at night to get “the word out that there are opportunities that we’ve had for the last nine and a half years.” He believes his leader is the one to take on Trump and the tariff threats.

“It sort of caught everybody off guard after Donald Trump got in,” said Gallant. “We need a strong leader to actually deal with the reality and get a good deal for Canada. We want to diversify our trade, build pipelines so that we can have expand our trading partners around the world.”

Gallant continued, “Pierre actually has a plan. The other Liberal candidate is pilfering a lot of the plans that Pierre has already put forward. Pierre actually has a concrete plan that anybody can look up and more about the actual campaign plan will come out here very shortly.”

CTV News has been told by sources that PM Mark Carney intends to call an election Sunday to be held on Monday, April 28.