With rumours swirling around Parliament Hill about a possible fall election, the three main opposition parties have all selected their candidates to challenge local Liberal incumbent Marie-France Lalonde whenever the writ is dropped.

Local Conservatives have pinned their hopes on Mary-Elsie Wolfe, a former national director of the Free Methodist Church in Canada and author of the Christian faith-based book Becoming His Story: Inspiring Women to Leadership, which applies the values of Jesus to the model for leadership today.

Various biographies describe Wolfe as a “communicator, faith builder and passionate leader”. She holds a Doctor of Ministry degree from the Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California and a Master of Divinity from the Tyndale Seminary in Toronto. She is currently employed as a parliamentary assistant to Winnipeg-area MP Ted Falk.

When the election is called, Wolfe will need to build on the support former Conservative candidate David Bertschi received in the 2019 General Election if she wants to have any chance of beating Lalonde.

Bertschi received 28 per cent of the vote in 2019, far less than the Liberal incumbent who received 54 per cent of the vote.

NDP candidate Jacquie Wiens finished a distant third with 11.5 per cent of the vote.

This time around, political science major Jessica Joanis, will be carrying the NDP’s colours in Orléans.

Very little is none about the University of Ottawa student who is a proponent of the NDP’s plan to cancel up to $20,000 in federal student debt per student and offer new graduates a five-year repayment break.

The Green Party has yet to pick a candidate in Orléans. Michelle Petersen, who carried the party’s colours in the last election, is now the riding association president.

Rumours have been swirling on Parliament Hill regarding a federal election call possibly as soon as late September or early October.

Under the fixed election rules, the next vote must be held by the fall of 2023.

The Liberals have been in power for less than two years, albeit as a minority government with 157 seats in the 338-seat parliament. Their goal in calling an early election would be to gain a majority.

The most recent polls indicate that a majority is still in reach, however, Liberal support has been contracting.