By Nia Williams
CALGARY, Sept 17 (Reuters) - His signs are getting
vandalized and some long-time supporters plan to switch their
votes but Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper should handily
win his own seat, despite a restless electorate, in an election
that pits him against a country singer and a 34-year-old doctor
in their first campaigns.
Support for the Conservative leader's aging government is
far from universal among voters in his own Calgary-area riding,
or district.
A Reuters straw poll of residents of the Calgary Heritage
riding, an affluent suburb of Alberta's oil capital, echo wider
themes emerging across Canada: a desire for fresh ideas and new
faces.
Across Calgary Heritage's green lawns, vandals have targeted
the blue signs of the prime minister, 56, and voters have voiced
fatigue with a nine-year-old government seeking a fourth
consecutive electoral victory.
"We think he (Harper) is actually tired of governing," said
Tracey Wood, 53, a small business owner who voted Conservative
in 2011 but plans to switch allegiance on Oct. 19.
Information technology manager Scott Isaacs, 49, a lifelong
Conservative, wants "anyone but Harper" in power after the
election, and sees a sense of entitlement similar to that of the
provincial Conservatives, whose government was swept from power
in May after 44 years of rule.
Harper takes center stage in Calgary on Thursday for the
second leaders' debate, amid high expectations for a campaign
turnaround.
The Calgary Heritage district was created in 2012 and
closely resembles Calgary Southwest, the riding Harper held
since 2002. While he won Calgary Southwest with 75 percent of
the vote, projections from poll tracker threehundredeight.com
show support ebbing to 62.9 percent this time.
The riding was once dominated by older retired voters but
has been getting younger and more diverse - not the natural
audience for Harper's brand of pragmatic politics.
But the economist-turned-politician still has support. Jack
McDowell, 81, a retired oil worker, and Paul Thompson, 75, a
retired consultant, both said he had done a good job on the
economy and foreign policy.
They concede that disillusionment is on the rise. The
Conservatives are tied in national polls with the Liberals and
New Democratic Party (NDP).
"It's not so much pro-NDP or Pro-Liberal, it's just people
believe maybe it's time Stephen should not quite have the same
majority he has had in recent years," Thompson said.
Alternatives to Harper would require a big change in voter
mindset. While the left-leaning NDP is the official federal
opposition and, since May, the provincial government, the local
candidate is a 39-year-old country singer running his first
campaign.
Matt Masters Burgener said 25 percent of the roughly 80,000
electors in the district are under 35 and eager for change, and
he thinks he has a chance to unseat his veteran opponent.
But the centrist Liberal candidate, family doctor Brendan
Miles, 34, admitted his rookie campaign was "an uphill battle."
(Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)