2 weeks Ago By Ken Warren
Share this Story : Ottawa residents witness start of 'monumental election' campaign at Rideau Hall Copy Link Email X Reddit Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Breadcrumb Trail Links Local News National Ottawa residents witness start of 'monumental election' campaign at Rideau Hall Three dozen spectators gathered outside a modest barrier at Rideau Hall to hear Liberal Leader Mark Carney's message Sunday. Get the latest from Ken Warren straight to your inbox Sign Up Author of the article: Ken Warren Published Mar 23, 2025 • 4 minute read Join the conversation You can save this article by registering for free here . Or sign-in if you have an account.
Touhami Benguedda, Faiza Belatrous, nine-year-old Kamila and five-year-old Nour came to listen to Liberal Leader Mark Carney speak and be part of the historic moment on Sunday, March 23, 2025. Photo by Ashley Fraser / Postmedia Article content Before Touhami Benguedda and his young family immigrated to Canada from Algeria 15 months ago, he says he wasn’t up to speed on the state of Canadian politics. “I knew nothing about it,” said Benguedda, a personal support worker.
“We came to Canada because it is a safe place for immigrants and there is education, and there are a lot of job opportunities.” Fast forward to Sunday, when Benguedda, his wife, Faiza Belatrous, and their two daughters — nine-year-old Kamila and five-year-old Nour — made a morning trek from their Gloucester home to the stately grounds of Rideau Hall. Advertisement 2 Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
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Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Sign In or Create an Account Email Address Continue or View more offers If you are a Home delivery print subscriber, online access is included in your subscription. Activate your Online Access Now Article content They wanted to be part of the scene, to see Liberal Leader Mark Carney and to hear what he had to say while officially announcing a federal election for April 28 and outlining his vision for nation building and countering U.S.
tariff and annexation threats. Liberal Leader Mark Carney met with the Governor General to dissolve Parliament, officially launching the 2025 federal election campaignon Sunday, March 23, 2025. Carney spoke with the media outside Rideau Hall before beginning his campaign tour.
Photo by Ashley Fraser / Postmedia They were joined by three dozen others behind the most modest of security barriers: a cable stretching across a pathway. Three police officers stood between them and Carney, who was speaking in front of the media, the length of an NHL rink away. The sun was shining, but there was a slight chill in the -4 C air.
It was very much a Canadian scene, with no shoving or battling for position. Except, maybe, for their children, who were gently pushing each other on what remained of a small snow pile. “We are here because we are interested in the news and in the government of Canada,” said Benguedda, who has enrolled his kids in a French school.
“This moment is a big thing in the history of Canada, a big day. We watch the CBC news and listen to the CBC on the radio.” “It’s a big change,” said Belatrous.
As relative newcomers to Canada, they are still ineligible to vote, but they aren’t disappointed. Evening Update The Ottawa Citizen’s best journalism, delivered directly to your inbox by 7 p.m.
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Article content “No, that’s OK,” Benguedda said. “It’s the rule. After we stay for three years, we can vote.
” Andrew Williams was among a group of people who gathered to listen as Mark Carney spoke at Rideau Hall on Sunday. Photo by Ashley Fraser / Postmedia Standing a few feet away, coffee cup in hand, stood Andrew Williams. A builder, he regularly strolls through the grounds.
“I was walking over here thinking, there is not many people that really have the opportunity to show up for this kind of thing,” said Williams, who arrived around 11 a.m., 90 minutes before Carney started talking.
“I mean, nobody is going to fly across the country to stand here for an hour in the cold, but yeah, if you’ve got the opportunity, you should take it. I’m only wearing one pair of long johns today.” Williams says being at Rideau Hall allowed him to have a “sense of civic engagement” at what he believes is a vital moment for the country.
Liberal Leader Mark Carney met with the Governor General to dissolve Parliament, officially launching the 2025 federal election campaign on Sunday, March 23, 2025. Carney spoke with the media outside Rideau Hall before beginning his campaign tour. Photo by Ashley Fraser / Postmedia “I have always thought of politics as being important in general, and the circumstances being what they are, it feels like there’s a little more of heightened importance.
Just being present for it.” Williams says he’s not a fan of Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s “attitude and politics” but he also wants more answers about what happened in the Nepean riding where Carney will run in the election. Advertisement 4 Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content “I’m also looking forward to hearing more about this Chandra Arya thing,” referring to the Nepean Liberal MP who had represented the riding since 2015, but was disqualified by the party on March 20, just a few days before the election campaign began. Another local resident, Peter Henshaw, says he needed to be here because of the concerns he has for the future of the country. He came away impressed with what Carney had to say.
“I regard him as one of the great nation builders, the sort we haven’t seen in generations,” he said. “It’s just his idea of building up Canada, his understanding of how the economy should be built. I just see it as fundamentally different from anything we have seen, in some respects, since the 1970s.
” Jonathan Villeneuve went to Rideau Hall on Sunday to hear what Mark Carney had to say while officially announcing the election. Photo by Ken Warren / Postmedia Not everyone in the crowd shared the same politics. Jonathan Villeneuve, proudly sporting a black baseball cap with a white maple leaf on the front, says he was on site to “do my own reporting,” and wasn’t impressed by Carney’s message.
“I hope his opponents challenge him accurately on his role in this because he has been intimately involved in the (Trudeau) government,” said Villeneuve. “He likes to frame himself as an outsider and the change candidate, but he was Trudeau’s financial adviser — outside of the (Prime Minister’s Office) — for five of the last 10 years, so how can you be more connected than that? That’s not a change candidate.” Advertisement 5 Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content What also struck Villeneuve was how calm the environment was, even with people sharing different views. A group of people gathered to listen as Mark Carney spoke at Rideau Hall on Sunday. Photo by Ashley Fraser / Postmedia “There is just this little (belt) here and nobody stepped around it, which is to say that Canadians are inherent rule followers.
This is a good thing, a neutral thing. In the U.S.
, you would never see this,” he said. “You would see a wall or a fence. So this is special about Canada, but we are losing it slowly.
” Villeneuve spoke a little too soon. Local resident Leonard Poole arrived on the scene so early, he simply walked by the unguarded barrier and spent the next two hours hanging out in the media area. “I wanted to bear witness to what’s going on, really,” he said.
“I knew this was a very important election . That’s really why I’m here. This is a monumental election that is going to make a difference for generations.
” It’s essentially the same feeling that everyone in the crowd brought to the day. [email protected] Recommended from Editorial What's at stake for Ottawa in the April 28 federal election? Mark Carney kicks off election campaign in Ottawa with promise of a middle-class tax cut Related What's at stake for Ottawa in the April 28 federal election? Mark Carney kicks off election campaign in Ottawa with promise of a middle-class tax cut Article content Share this article in your social network Share this Story : Ottawa residents witness start of 'monumental election' campaign at Rideau Hall Copy Link Email X Reddit Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Comments You must be logged in to join the discussion or read more comments.
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