The federal election may have started yesterday, but for voters in Orléans there is still an important piece missing from the board as the Liberals have yet to choose a candidate to place on the ballot.

The latest rumour has the Liberals holding a nomination meeting sometime late next week, either on Thursday, Friday or Saturday. The General Election will be held on Oct. 21, meaning the candidate -- whoever it turns out to be -- will have four weeks to stage their campaign.

Meanwhile, the Conservative and NDP candidates have been actively campaign for the past three months.

Conservative nominee David Bertschi estimates he and his team have knocked on more than 31,000 doors in 12 weeks, working 10 hours a day. NDP candidate Jacqui Wiens has knocked on hundreds of doors and talked to hundreds more voters as well.

While the Conservative and NDP nominees have been out campaigning, the two candidates in the running for the Liberal nomination have been busy trying to build sufficient support to get their name put on the ballot.

According to the campaign managers for both Marie-France Lalonde and Khatera Akbari -- the two people in the running for the Liberal nomination -- more than 5,000 members have been registered during the nomination campaign so far. I say "so far" because the period to sell new memberships is still open.

Many of the people involved in Akbari's campaign believe the race between the riding assosication president and the local Liberal MPP -- Lalonde does not have to resign her seat in the provincial legislature unless and until she wins the federal nomination -- is incredibly close. If they are right it means the local Liberal nomination race will come down to which campaign is able to get their supporters out to vote the best.

In the meantime, Bertschi plans to make the most of the headstart he's been given by Liberal Party organizers.

"We're going to keep knocking on doors and talking to people right up until Election Day," says Bertschi. "And really, it doesn't matter who my Liberal opponent is, they will still have to run against Justin Trudeau and his attacks on our federal institutions."

Bertschi says the delay in nominating a local candidate is further evidence of a lack of respect for the voters of Orléans the Prime Minister and the Liberal Party.

"They have no respect for democracy, they have no respect for our institutions and they have no respect for voters here in Orléans," says Bertschi, foreshadowing the campaign to come. "In a way it shows a real arrogance towards the people of Orléans that they think that they don't have to nominate a candidate or run a real campaign to still win the riding. They're being taken for granted and I think, no, I'm hearing from people, that they're realizing this and they've had enough."

The true test will come on Election Day, Oct. 21.

(This story was made possible thanks to the generous support of our local business partners.)