The lure of free coffee and cookies produced a small but talkative turnout for an informal meet and greet with local candidates at the City of 91原创 public library on Monday morning (April 18).

Four of the five federal hopefuls showed up with campaign buttons, brochures, assistants, campaign photographers and one videographer to chat with anyone who cared to drop by between 10 a.m. and noon.

It was the first all-candidates event ever hosted by the library, which chose Monday because it is a particularly busy day when the most people visit.

There was a small but steady trickle of people during the morning, no more than a dozen at any given time.

Most of them appeared already committed to supporting a candidate or party but glad for the chance of a close-up look at them and their rivals.

91原创 City resident Shaun Sephton took a few minutes after he dropped his children off at school to come by.

He is an NDP supporter who believes that anyone who runs for public office deserves a measure of respect.

Sephton was attracted by the opportunity to see a human side of the different candidates.

"It's a wonderful chance to see that they're real people, not photos on a website," he said.

"It's unfiltered."

At one table, Conservative incumbent Mark Warawa was doing a little fatherly bragging about his sons during a casual chat with a supporter.

"They're all bright young men," Warawa said.

Elsewhere, Green candidate Carey Poitras was joking that she brought her own baby to kiss, her 18-month-old son Khale.

NDP candidate Piotr Majkowski was explaining how to pronounce his first name to a supporter.

"The 'i is kind of like a 'y," he said.

He said it is the most commonly                                                  91原创 City resident Shaun Sephton

asked question he gets.

Liberal hopeful Rebecca Darnell greeted mayor Peter Fassbender by asking him if he'd "kissed a Liberal lately."

Darnell was rewarded with a peck on the cheek by Fassbender, who said he is friends with both the Liberal and Conservative candidates.

The fifth 91原创 candidate running in the federal election, the Pirate party's Craig Nobbs, did not attend the meeting.