Federal election call levels playing field, says Gail Shea

The election call Sunday removes removes a campaign advantage for sitting MPs, says Gail Shea, Prince Edward Island's incumbent Conservative candidate.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Sunday he had asked the governor-general to dissolve Parliament, sending Canadians to the polls on Oct. 19.

It will be the longest federal election campaign in recent history.

Now that the election has been called, major government funding announcements will stop for the next 11 weeks. Gail Shea, who had been busy making funding announcements in the week leading up to the election call, said making the campaign official changes who is paying the bills.

"When you look at this realistically, everyone's out campaigning," she said.

"All sitting MPs would be basically campaigning, or working in the constituency, paid for by taxpayers through their MP account."

Shea said making the campaign official means campaigning activities by incumbents will have to be paid for by political parties.