At least if you are Ruth Ellen Brosseau.
Never been to the constituency? Doesn't matter! Have problems with the local lanaguage? No problem!
Ruthe Ellen was a candidate for the New Democratic Party in last week's elections in Canada. As Wikipedia explains:
She is also an animal welfare activist who has worked to find homes for stray animals and help injured animals recover.
As of May, 2011, Brosseau is a single mother who resides in Gatineau, Quebec. Brosseau held the position of assistant manager for Oliver's Pub, a bar on the campus of Carleton University in Ottawa.
Brosseau ran for a seat to the Canadian House of Commons in the 2011 federal election. She stood as the New Democratic Party candidate in the electoral district of Berthier—Maskinongé in central Quebec. She was the second nomination choice of the party as the original candidate, Julie Demers, decided to run in Bourassa instead (where she lost).
Initially, Brosseau was considered a paper candidate who had been selected by the party due to the lack of a viable local nominee. She never put a serious campaign together and never went to the riding, which straddles the regions of Lanaudière and Mauricie, during the writ period. However, on election night, Brosseau defeated incumbent Bloc Québécois Member of Parliament Guy André and four other candidates winning with a plurality of 5,735 votes and taking just under 40% of all the votes cast. André finished a distant second, with only 29.4 percent of the vote.] Her victory was part of a wave of NDP support in Quebec--a province in which the party was virtually nonexistent prior to this election. By the end of election night, the party had seen a provincial seat increase from a single one in Montreal to a surprising total of 58.
The Toronto Globe And Mail has more here.
You'd have to have a heart of stone not to see the funny side of this. I sincerely wish her well. She's going to have an interesting time....
