Fort voters have just two candidates ready for a federal election now expected as early as this spring.

With Parliament prorogued until March 24, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau having announced that he will resign following a Liberal leadership race, `an early election appears certain.

But only two local political party organizations have so far chosen candidates. Conservatives are backing incumbent Garnett Genius for a fourth term, while the NDP nominated local pipefitter Chris Jones last spring.

Born on a farm, Jones has worked as a pipefitter, a plumber and a steelworker. He lives in Sherwood Park with his wife and two children.

Genuis is a professional politician, having gone into political life as an assistant to Prime Minister Stephen Harper right after college. He ran for Alberta’s Wild Rose Party in 2012, failing to win a seat, and was elected to Parliament as a Conservative in 2015. He lives in Sherwood Park with his wife and five children.

Strongly Catholic, Genuis was the only member of Parliament to vote against a motion requesting the Pope to make an apology for the abuses of the residential school program.

Genuis is also strongly anti-abortion. He has been endorsed by the Pro Life Coalition and paid for pro-life campaign billboards in Vancouver during the COVID pandemic. He also led the campaign against a bill to criminalize Conversion Therapy.

Genuis recently got into some hot water over a homophobic remark made while heckling Trudeau. Genuis later had to explain his statement, which involved a luxury bathtub in the new apartment for the Canadian consulate in New York, claiming “It had nothing to do with sex. I wasn’t thinking about sex at all.”

The Liberals have always had a candidate for the Fort seat, now the Sherwood Park - Fort Saskatchewan riding. The Green party also ran candidates in recent elections. The new People Party of Canada also nominated a candidate here in the 2015, 2019 and 2021 elections.

But none of these other parties has yet nominated anyone here.