Catching Up With Liberal Nominations – Atlantic
Now that I’ve got more time on my hands, there’s been this backlog of nomination news to catch up on, and we’re working through it one party at a time. Given this week’s express bus launch, it seemed like a good time to see where the Liberals are at with their nominations. The post is so long that I’m breaking it up into regions.
The Atlantic
The party has nearly a full slate in one of its historic areas of strength. Their remaining holes include the NDP strongholds of St. John’s East, NL and Acadie – Bathurst, NB (75% vs. 13% and 58% vs. 22% respectively), along with two of the Conservatives’ gains in the region last time: Egmont, PE, and Saint John, NB which most people assume is being held open for former MP Paul Zed who returned home from Michael Ignatieff’s office this time last year (where he had served as Chief of Staff) to resume his law practice and prepare his campaign. According to the leaked draft itinerary of the Liberal Express tour obtained by Public Eye Online, the leader is expected to be in Saint John on Sunday, August 1, so we may get further news then. Finally, no candidate has been publicly identified in Central Nova, NS as yet, and as you’ll recall, the Liberals didn’t run any candidate there last time, in deference to Green Party leader Elizabeth May. May is now running in Saanich – Gulf Islands, BC, and has been replaced locally by Céline Papillon.
- Cumberland–Colchester–Musquodoboit Valley, NS – One nomination I did miss this past spring was the re-confirmation by acclamation of Jim Burrows for a second run in this recent by-election seat on February 27. According to the Amherst Daily News, he believed his by-election campaign was adversely affected by last fall’s announcement that the government’s time was up, and by the availability of government stimulus funds to go into the riding. But, he argues, more time to get organized should see an improved performance for his party. Also renominated here back on December 12, 2009 was Green Party candidate Jason Blanch; and the NDP’s Mark Austin who placed second in the by-election also received the nod of his party for another run on January 31, 2010. They’ll face first-time Conservative M.P. Scott Armstrong, who does not appear to have been officially renominated yet from what I can tell. I took a little break at this point to enter the candidate financials from the four 2009 by-election ridings, which are now available in as-submitted form from Elections Canada, and can thus pass along that Scott Armstrong’s campaign reportedly spent 99% of the limit, Austin spent 81% (a record for the NDP in this riding) maintaining his party’s second-place standing, while Christian Heritage Party leader Jim Hnatiuk spent fully 71% of the limit (I don’t think I’ve ever seen a CHP campaign this well funded, or as supported by so many individual donors, although unfortunately at 3.4% of the vote, none of it would be rebatable), and Mr. Burrows spent 68%.
Next up: Québec.
