UPDATED: Crowd Envy in Winnipeg North
Continuing our catch-up of the nomination news, let's do an update of the one vacant seat, and review the relevant dates surrounding a potential by-election call. [UPDATE: I've corrected the dates below. The by-election must be called between 11 and 180 days after the writ is issued, however I had mistakenly added the 180 to the 11 in the second set of calculations on my first pass.]
- Winnipeg North, NB – The first battle between the NDP and Liberals in this riding, it seems, will revolve around crowd counts at their respective nomination meetings. New Democrat candidate Kevin Chief was nominated by acclamation in a room of between 700 and 800 at RB Russell School in the North End this past Monday, May 31, according to various NDP sources (you can judge for yourself from the event's video here). Not to be outdone, the Liberals have tentatively booked the Winnipeg Convention Centre for their contested Liberal nomination between MLA Kevin Lamoureux and City Councillor Mike Pagtakhan slated for Wednesday, June 30, according to the Winnipeg Free Press, and are telling reporters that they're expecting it to be pretty big ("it's possible we could have about a 1,000 people there," says the party's Manitoba executive director). I haven't seen any name attached to a possible Conservative candidate yet (although controller Ray Larkin finished second in 2008), but the Winnipeg Sun reported that they have a person in mind; meanwhile the party's chances are being discussed in a thread over at the Blogging Tories forum. The Sun story also reported that the Green Party had yet to identify a candidate, its 2008 candidate Catharine Johannson having since moved to Ottawa to become the party's campaign director (she later left that job, but is still apparently here in town volunteering for the party). I guess that means John Harvie is no longer running, but will have to look into that.
The relevant dates for calling the by-election are shown below. Indeed the Prime Minister could call the by-election any time now, but following previous patterns might call it on the Monday of the August long weekend (August 2) for the Tuesday after Labour Day (Tuesday, September 7). This is just a guess on my part of course. Normally the House would be scheduled to return for its fall sitting on Monday, September 20, so a Sunday August 8 call for Monday, September 13, 2010 might be another possibility.
Note that the Winnipeg municipal and school board elections will also be held this fall (the reason for the federal vacancy, of course, since former NDP M.P. Judy Wasylycia-Leis is now running for Mayor). Municipal candidates must be nominated by Tuesday, September 21 at the latest, for elections to be held on Wednesday, October 27. This means there would be plenty of time to hold the by-election this fall, either before or after the Winnipeg municipal campaign. Of course this is all assuming there's no federal general election called or forced in the meantime. [UPDATE: So, councillor Mike Pagtakhan might get his wish.]
| Wpg North | |
|---|---|
| Date of resignation: | Fri Apr 30, 2010 |
| Date Speaker's warrant received by CEO: | Fri Apr 30, 2010 |
| Earliest date the by-election could be called (11 days later): |
Tue May 11, 2010 |
| Earliest date the by-election could be held (first Monday at least 36 days after that): |
Mon Jun 21, 2010 |
| Latest date the by-election could be called (180 days later): |
Wed Oct 27, 2010 |
| Latest date the by-election could be held (first Monday at least 36 – [no maximum] days later, or the next non-Statuatory holiday): |
on or after Mon Dec 6, 2010 |
If you have information about other potential candidates for the upcoming Winnipeg North by-election, drop us a line, or send them along @punditsguide on Twitter.
Next, the five seats with retiring incumbents.
Tags: 41st General Election Nominations, Vacant Seats, Winnipeg North
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