Blake Ellis/The Independent

This is the second time in two months Mark Lamore is on the campaign trail.

He ran for the Ontario Party in the Feb.28 provincial election and now is running for the Christian Heritage Party in Sarnia-Lambton-Bkejwanong in the current federal election campaign. The vote will be exactly 60 days later; April 28.

Lamore actually had no intention to run in the federal election, but the Christian Heritage Party reached out to him, looking to run a candidate in the riding.

Lamore said the Christian Heritage Party and the Ontario Party are “extremely parallel” when it comes to their platform and beliefs.

“If I am going to run again in 2029 for the Ontario Party, this is an excellent opportunity to get more experience,” said Lamore.

He is finding the demands of a federal election much more intense than it was putting your name forward in the provincial election.

Not only is the riding larger, there are more public debates to participate in, not to mention the short election campaign, which makes everything more condensed. “There may be people out there that don’t even know the Christian Party exists,” said

Lamore, which is one of the challenges when you are a candidate for an underdog party.

Lamore grew up in Sarnia and graduated from St. Clair Secondary School. He has worked in retail for 30 years, previously running Sacwal Flooring.

Currently, he’s in training to be a truck driver, something he’s balancing as he’s campaigning and answering questions about the Christian Heritage Party’s platform.

While the national campaign has focused on the newly imposed tariffs from the US and the threat it is to the Canadian economy,there are other issues Lamore wants to
discuss.

He points to “a bureaucratic machine that runs Ottawa.” This machine, he says, does everything in its power to keep the three legacy parties in place. The three legacy parties, Lamore contends, want to keep everything quiet, something he won’t do if he is elected.

Lamore is also concerned about the bilateral parliamentary committee which could remove the charitable statuses of churches. Abortion and medical assistance in dying issues are also top of mind.

“Sadly we live in a world today, that doesn’t value life at any stage, whether it be in the womb or the elderly,” said Lamore.

As for mixing his Christian beliefs with his campaigning, Lamore knows “it has to be very fine mix,” recognizing not everyone is a Christian and there are other issues which may not be faith related that affect voters.”