Trailer Park Boys' Mr. Lahey answers federal election questions

Thewell-knownTrailer Park Boyscharacter Jim Lahey is encouraging people to vote in the federal election with personalized video messages, delivered between gulps of beer.

The website Mr Lahey Votesoffers users the chance to ask the grumpy trailer park superintendentforhis thoughts on election issues.

But a warning: the promotional video perhaps not surprisingly contains adult language.

Lahey,played by Halifaxactor JohnDunsworth,immediatelyoffers a personalizedreply in a video message.

There are60 different responses on everything from aboriginal issuesto health careand legalizingmarijuana.

Personalized answers

Responsescan be shared on Facebook or Twitter.

"You have to vote on October19and make this country great,"Dunsworthsays in one of the videos.

• John Dunsworth, a.k.a Jim Lahey, pushing student vote for #itsnosecret
• Advance polls considered crucial in close campaign
• Find your riding

Two Halifax companies, Nickel Media and Toy Dinosaur, are behind the interactive site, which launched Friday.

Jeff Middleton, the creative director at Nickel Media, said Dunsworth's character has "a lot of equity in a certain target audience."

"And what we used was his influence to help us to get the idea out there that everybody's got an opinion, so vote to have yours," he said.

Everyone involved donated their time and talent to the project,which came together in just two days.

Engaging voters

"We actually had to be really creative because we didn't have any capital," said Rebekah Higgs, the creative producer at Toy Dinosaur.

Higgs saidthe sound andediting equipment, plusthe space where the videos were shot, wereall donated.

"This is a way to engage with students and younger people and people that are maybe a little bit more apathetic,"Higgs said.

"And see what Mr. Lahey thinks and encourage them to have their thoughts on the process."

Higgs and Middleton hope to increase voter turnout across the country, which was 61 per cent in the May 2011 federal election.

"My goal is to have the highest Canadian voter turnout ever in our history," Middleton said.

The deadline to register online to vote is Tuesday, Oct.13.