LIBERAL CANDIDATE Rebecca Finch and Liberal MP Geoff Reagan. The announcement by Prime Minister Stephen Harper that he will drop the writ and send Canadians to the polls has Dufferin-Caledon candidates preparing for the campaign ahead.

Incumbent Conservative MP David Tilson has three declared opponents in Liberal Rebecca Finch, Green Party candidate Ard Van Leeuwen, and Dean Woods of the Canadian Action Party (CAP).

The NDP does not, as of yet, have a candidate. Chris Marquis, who ran for the party in the last federal election, has chosen not to run this time.

Mr. Tilson says the minority Conservative government has experienced "difficulty operating as a parliament.

"There has been nothing but obstruction from the opposition," says Mr. Tilson, who sits on the house ethics committee. He says the opposition's actions "have been for partisan purposes, not parliamentary purposes."

The Liberals' Ms. Finch suggests Mr. Harper's decision may be more motivated by fortuitous timing, rather than a concern for the functioning of parliament.

"I think the reason Mr. Harper is so eager for an election is that it would stop committee investigations into the growing scandal list. If an election is on, all that work stops.

"If he had waited another six months, we would see all the harm he has done to Canada."

Lynn McDougall, past president of the Dufferin Caledon NDP Riding Association and NDP candidate in the last provincial election, fails to see the point in holding an election at this time.

"I'm disappointed at the way things have panned out," says Ms. McDougall. "We have a minority government that's not interested in working with the other parties.

"Having an election now is no way to address concerns. There isn't a party that has anything to gain. It is just a distraction from what we should be focusing our energies on."

Mr. Woods of CAP also questions the motives behind the election call. He said Mr. Harper "knows we're heading for an economic downturn, and he wants to get his votes in before he shows that he doesn't know what to do about it."

He maintains many of the local concerns can be addressed by reforms of the monetary system at the national level. Pointing to the current $600 billion national debt, he says the bulk of it is owed to foreign interests.

"We can legally borrow 50 per cent of the debt from the Bank of Canada at very low, or perhaps zero, interest," he said, adding that such a move could cut billions from the annual compounded interest currently being paid.

The savings could be passed on to finance infrastructure and social programs.

Ms. Finch, meanwhile, has already fulfilled one of her campaign promises by making a permanent move from Etobicoke to the riding.

She and her husband plan to relocate their Toronto-based post/design company, Squint Studios, to Shelburne.

The candidate is encouraged by the reception she has received. There has been no hostility, says Ms. Finch, adding she has had helpful dialogues. These include conversations with the agriculture sector, which is often considered a power base for the Conservatives.

"I don't go into conversations with the farmers pretending I'm something that I'm not," says Ms. Finch, who has spent her life in urban centres. "Farmers are very insightful. They have the best bullshit-detecting radar out there.

"I don't think there is a pure love for the Tories among the farmers. I believe they have a respect for someone who's willing to work hard."

This week, Liberal leader Stéphane Dion announced revisions to the party's Green Shift plan that include breaks for farmers, truckers and fishermen in the form of subsidies to help buy equipment to reduce use of diesel fuel.

Mr. Tilson says the green initiatives of the Liberals and Green Party will have a negative impact on the residents in the Dufferin-Caledon riding. "The farmers are concerned that the carbon tax will affect their way of life," he says.

He points out that that a large percentage of people in the riding commute to work and are worried about fuel prices and their ability to afford them. "We're all concerned about the environment. We're all concerned about climate change. But we're also concerned about putting food on the table."

As it stands, the Green Shift plan says there will be no increase to the current 10 cents per litre federal excise tax on gasoline.

What could work on Mr. Tilson's favour is a growing fragmentation of the centre-to-left vote, while the right has been unified by the merger of the Progressive Conservative and Canadian Alliance parties.

Various pundits have suggested that the Liberals and Green Party see eye to eye on many issues.

Mr. Dion has decided not to run a Liberal candidate in the Nova Scotia riding Green leader Elizabeth May is contesting, but the possibility of a strategic alliance between the two parties is scoffed at by Mr. Van Leeuwen and the local Green Party.

"I don't think there will be unification between Liberals and Greens in the future," says Mr. Van Leeuwen. "We are completely different. The Green Party has muchmore fiscally conservative approach to the economy and pro-market force, free enterprise stance.

"On the other hand, we have things we have things in common with the NDP that are in contrast with the Liberals."

Mr. Van Leeuwen claims the Green Party, while fiscally conservative, is also committed to affordable housing, day care and education. "We are quite big on addressing the poverty issue in Canada," he says, "particularly child poverty."

As part of its environmental platform, the Green Party is advocating a 12 cents per litre increase on gasoline along with a $300 tax rebate which would offset the additional costs to drivers, providing they drive 25,000 kilometres per year, or less.