"I was born to do this."
BC Conservative hopeful Carol Day is positively revelling in the role as one of the main challengers to John Yap's position at the head of Richmond-Steveston's provincial table.
"I love campaigning, meeting new people and listening to their concerns and issues," added former school trustee Day, who narrowly missed out on a seat on city council 18 months ago.
"What I'm hearing from the people as I've been knocking on doors is that they simply want honesty and transparency in this riding.
"I had 14,000 votes at the city election, I believe I have a following and I believe I have a chance."
Hovering near the top of Day's campaign agenda is, not surprisingly, the jet fuel delivery to YVR proposal, which is currently stalled in the environmental process until after the election and is a plan which Day herself has vehemently opposed via a grassroots opposition group she helped form.
However, it's a plan - barging fuel up the south arm of the Fraser River, off-loading it to a tank farm in rural east Richmond and then piping it to the airport - which her party leader, John Cummins, supported three years ago when it first hit the headlines when he was a federal Tory MP.
It's a conflict that Day says exemplifies her decision to run for a party that wants independent thinkers who "speak for their constituents" and not just toe the line.
"(The party) came to me, I didn't go to them," explained Day. "I told them they may not want me as their candidate, I may be too outspoken, but they said they want people who fight for their ridings.
"We will, however, be making an announcement on Thursday with regard to this subject."
Day said she's already bent the ear of the NDP on the plan to implore them, should they win next week's election, to go back to the drawing board on the plan.
Should she knock long-time BC Liberal incumbent Yap off his seat, Day swears she will make a big push to engage with the locals to hear their problems and take the issues to Victoria's doorstep.
"There are so many things happening in this riding that the eye doesn't see, such as child poverty and actual hunger," she said.
"If elected, I would set up my office to be like a mini-community centre, a place where people can come meet, express their concerns, socialize, bring the 'village' back into Steveston.
"We need a different approach than the one we're getting right now and there are lots of people out there that I want to help; lots of forgotten people who I'm willing to represent."
