Sunday's federal election call didn't change much in the political landscape locally, but by the time people returned to work on Tuesday the physical landscape in Prince George had a blue tinge.
Cariboo-Prince George Conservative candidate Todd Doherty made his presence known with campaign signs throughout the city. And as the only official candidate in the riding, his signs will likely be the only ones people will see for the next couple of weeks.
It's one advantage of an early election call, said Kimberly Speers, a political scientist at the University of Victoria.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's visit to Rideau Hall on Sunday to ask Gov. Gen. David Johnson to dissolve Parliament triggered an 11-week election campaign, with Canadians set to go to the polls on Oct. 19.
Many political watchers have pointed to the Conservatives as having a bigger election bank account to weather the more-than 70-day storm as a benefit gleaned in making the early call.
"I think the idea was Harper wasn't going to call (the election) until September. So this is one way of kind of, if I can say, catching the enemy off guard, not only concerning money but also concerning campaign readiness," said Speers, who is an assistant teaching professor at the university's school of public administration. "If that early name recognition starts to build with parties who do have candidates and then it's kind of this black hole where say if the Liberals or NDP or Greens don't have a candidate, their names aren't getting out there, so that's not good."
As of Tuesday, the only other Cariboo-Prince George riding association with confirmed plans for a nomination meeting was the NDP.
A candidate will be selected Aug. 29 from the pool of Laura Zimmerman from William's Lake, former P.G. city councillor Debora Munoz and P.G. businessman Trent Derrick.
The Liberal riding association has identified two candidates - Tracy Calogheros and Matt Shaw - and are awaiting feedback from the party that both have the green light to run.
Though initially both Calogheros and Shaw were competing for the Cariboo-Prince George nomination, Shaw has moved over to stand as a candidate for the neighbouring Prince George-Peace River.
"We expect to use the expedited process in our nomination rules to have our nomination meetings within the next two weeks so that our candidates can officially hit the campaign trail," said association president Heather Sanford.
Unlike its neighbour, the Prince George-Peace River (soon to have Northern Rockies added to the name) riding has an incumbent member of Parliament.
As of Tuesday, there were no publicly named candidates for the Green or NDP parties to go head to head with Bob Zimmer.
Though Liberal leader Justin Trudeau launched his party's campaign in Vancouver Sunday morning before fulfilling a commitment to participate in the city's Pride parade, Speers said she wouldn't be surprised if British Columbia isn't high on the party leaders' list of priorities.
"It's simple numbers - we don't have the number of seats," she said.
There are 42 federal seats up for grabs in B.C. (six more than the last election thanks to new boundaries), compared to the population juggernauts of Ontario (121 seats) and Quebec(78 seats).
"But the rest of Canada is important, too," said Speers, noting that Stephen Harper was at one point an outspoken advocate for western inclusion and having Green Party leader Elizabeth May's home base on Vancouver Island also helps bring a spotlight to B.C.
"I think it will be the most challenging actually for (NDP leader Tom Mulcair) and Trudeau to establish kind of a presence in the four western provinces and B.C.," said Speers.
