Knock knock: Local candidates take their message to people's doorsteps

Héline Chow stands in the foyer of an uptown Waterloo, Ont., apartment building as the sound of her making a call comes through the speaker on the wall.

"Hi, I'm just trying to get access to the building to canvass on behalf of the election," Chow says when someone answers. "Would you be able to open the front door for us?"

The person on the other end of the call says yes and a moment later, a clicking sound indicates the door is unlocked.

"Voila! And we make it in," Chow says with a laugh.

The NDP candidate for Waterloo says apartment and condo buildings can be tricky when going door-to-door to canvass. If the door is locked, she has to call the landlord or a phone number so remote access to the building can be granted.

Chow says as part of the Elections Canada Act, candidates are allowed to enter apartment buildings with more than six residents to canvass between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. It's important to her to connect with people in apartment buildings.

"I'm a renter so I can understand their struggle trying to find affordable housing in Waterloo and making sure that there's someone out there fighting for them," she said.

With two universities, Waterloo has many students who can vote, but also a large international student population who can't. Still, she says it's important to talk to everyone.

"I feel it's important that we still represent those people and their needs, whether or not they can vote. They can also make great volunteers if they care about your cause," Chow said.

CBC K-W went along with three candidates as they went door-knocking during this federal election campaign. Candidates for the NDP, Liberals and Greens agreed to have a reporter tag along.

None of the Conservative candidates agreed to allow a reporter to join them, but Kitchener South-Hespeler candidate Matt Strauss said during a candidate panel on CBC K-W's The Morning Edition that he has spent much of the campaign connecting with voters on their door steps.

"I've knocked on 40,000 doors, just about every door in the riding," he said, adding in some cases, voters have reacted emotionally. "Some people have cried when they've described their frustrations with these problems to me."

Kitchener Centre's Green candidate Mike Morrice is the incumbent after winning the seat in 2021 and he says going to people where they live to hear from them is critical, even outside of an election campaign.

"I just think accountability is important and folks deserve to know who their MP is," Morrice said.