Pundits' Guide

We continue our update of the nomination news in the five seats with retiring incumbents (aka “open seats”).  Here is the latest from east to west:

• New Brunswick Southwest, NB – Three candidates are vying for the chance to replace Greg Thompson as the governing party’s candidate in this longstanding Conservative seat.  First to give notice was the Prime Minister’s then-Director of Communications, John Williamson, on March 31.  Williamson was a founding editorial board member of the National Post and Financial Post blogger, and had then worked briefly as press secretary for Stephen Harper’s 2001 leadership campaign, before becoming the national spokesperson for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.  Explains Conservative blogger Stephen Taylor, Williamson was indicating his intention to run early, but could not formally commence his nomination campaign until his work with the Prime Minister’s Office concluded, which appears to have happened once Dimitri Soudas was named Director of Communications on April 11.  Williamson officially announced his campaign on May 17, 2010.  Taylor says that retiring M.P. Greg Thompson “encouraged” Williamson to run, but a month later Thompson’s 2008 campaign manager Rick Hunter also entered the race on April 29.  Hunter was an industrial arts teacher and vice-principal for three decades before sitting as a member of the District 18 education council.  The two were joined several days later by New Brunswick Community College international trade instructor, Lloyd Wilson.  No date has been set for the nomination meeting as yet, although it could come as late as next spring according to some reports.  Liberal candidate Kelly Wilson was selected by acclamation on October 3, 2009, while the NDP reconfirmed two-time candidate, carpenter Andrew Gordon Graham, as their standard-bearer this past February 21.  No Green Party candidate has surfaced in my research to date.
• Haute-Gaspésie – La Mitis – Matane – Matapédia, QC – Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe visited this riding to bolster the troops in February, in the wake of his party’s loss of neighbouring Montmagny – L’Islet – Kamouraska – Rivière-du-Loup, QC a few months before and the complaints of some local mayors (“from other political parties,” Duceppe said) that retiring Bloc M.P. Jean-Yves Roy was not often seen in the riding.  Duceppe came to support the local PQ MNA Claude Guimond, along with his local Bloc candidate Jean-François Fortin, a political science professor at the Rimouski CEGEP who was expected to be facing a tough challenge from returning Liberal candidate and former Matane MNA Nancy Charest.  Charest had a riding membership of 2,000 and came within 616 votes of unseating Roy in 2008; and she continued to receive fundraising assistance from former Québec lieutenant Denis Coderre earlier this year.  At that very cocktail party, however, she gave an interview to La Voix Gaspésienne apparently questioning Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff’s ability to properly represent Quebeckers, which Charest later claimed was misrepresented in the media, but not before the quotes were happily concurred with by Fortin, and the story was picked up by the national media and crossed the country.  All appeared to be forgiven, however, by mid-April when the new Québec lieutenant Marc Garneau visited the riding to campaign with her.  No Conservative or NDP candidates have surfaced as yet, however the Green Party’s Louis Drainville has been confirmed for another run this past January.
• Dauphin – Swan River – Marquette, MB – I’m still a bit in the dark as to the final state of things in the Conservative nomination here, although I do have some emails out to try and nail it down.  Of course, veteran Conservative M.P. Inky Mark announced back last June that he would not be running again, and set tongues wagging right away by speculating on who might run to replace him, naming the Conservative riding president Wayne Mathison, Neepawa publisher and past provincial candidate Ken Waddell, and conservationist Robert (Bob) Sopuck who has also had a column with the Winnipeg Free Press.  The Manitoba Post also added Minnedosa MLA Leanne Rowat’s name into the mix, but by mid-August the Winnipeg Free Press was reporting that neither Waddell nor Rowat were planning a run, and that Bob Sopuck was and Wayne Mathison still hadn’t ruled it out.  Now, why I’m confused in all this is that a commenter on this Endless Spin Cycle blogpost on Sopuck’s nomination candidacy, a blogpost by Mia Rabson a month later, and a source in the media, have all said that Sopuck is the confirmed Conservative candidate in the riding.  However, I’ve never seen any reporting on a nomination meeting, his nomination is not recorded in the Elections Canada nominations database, and moreover his own website still says he’s “seeking the nomination for the Conservative Party”.  There don’t seem to be any other parties’ candidates in the wind either, although given Mark’s legendary margins of victory, probably only the NDP, which last held the seat in the 1980s, could come anywhere close to the Conservatives.  (h/t Endless Spin Cycle for some of the links)
• Lethbridge, AB – Conservatives will hold a 5-way contested nomination meeting this coming Saturday June 19, to replace retiring M.P. Rick Casson as their standard-bearer in the coming election (and let’s face it, as their likely next M.P.).  First to announce his intention to run was Lethbridge businessman and former mayoralty candidate Mark Switzer, back in February.  Next in was business consultant Jill Hillyer, who announced his candidacy in March.  The two were joined in April by two-time Conservative campaign manager and former Wheat Pool employee Kent Prestage, who is currently the chief financial officer of the Christian broadcaster Miracle Channel.  Dairy farmer and Lethbridge County reeve, Henry Doeve joined the race two weeks later, followed by real estate agent and former healthcare worker, Lorna Peacock, later the same week.  Already nominated since January 16 for the NDP is retired Lethbridge University professor Mark Sandilands.  To date no Liberal or Green Party candidates have emerged, although 2008 Christian Heritage candidate Geoffrey Capp is back for another run.  (h/t Daveberta.ca for some of the links)
• Kootenay – Columbia, BC – Since we last ran down this riding’s history after long-time Conservative M.P. Jim Abbott’s announced retirement, there has been a bit of candidate news to report and a lot more speculation.  First to break some news on that score was colourful BC conservative blogger Alex Tsakumis on his blog last February, when he reported that the local provincial MLA and cabinet minister Bill Bennett was indeed contemplating a run federally, and that were he to make the jump, one of two mayors (Dave Wilks of Sparwood or Scott Manjak of Cranbrook) would be tapped as his provincial replacement, although that might risk an anti-HST by-election that the BC Liberals would want to avoid.  A few days later the federal Liberal riding association had some news of their own: two-time NDP candidate and Kimberley municipal councillor announced that he was disillusioned with what he called the “urban orientation” of Jack Layton’s NDP and that he was seeking the Liberal nomination instead.  The Conservative riding association scheduled a general meeting for April 8 (with Senator Mike Duffy as the guest speaker), and a week before the meeting, Bennett issued a statement putting himself out of contention.  The meeting elected Abbott’s constituency assistant as its new president, and as expected, a couple of days later Sparwood Mayor David Wilks did announce his candidacy on April 10, and he stepped down from his additional duties as Chair of the Regional District of East Kootenays the following month.  Two other candidates have also taken out nomination papers, according to the riding’s candidate search committee, which itself was criticized for omitting representation from the Revelstoke part of the very large riding.  Meanwhile, Creston area small businessperson and former provincial nomination candidate Rhonda Barter was the first to take out nomination papers for the NDP, which has also struck a candidate search committee, and she is also actively campaigning against the HST.  But meantime, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff’s announced intention to whip his caucus’ votes on an unamended version of Bill C-391 (the private member’s bill to disband the long gun registry), caused Bush to rescind his decision to run for the Liberals, although he may run as an Independent candidate anyway.  No dates have been set for either the Conservative or NDP nomination meetings, while the Liberals have recommenced their candidate search.  No Green Party candidates have surfaced yet in my research on this riding either. (h/t to the Blogging Tories for some of the links)

If you have nomination news to share from any of the open seats, for any of the political parties, why not get in touch to share it with other Pundits’ Guide readers, or stay tuned @punditsguide on Twitter.

Tags: 41st General Election Nominations, Bloc Québécois, Conservatives, Greens, Liberals, NDP, Retiring Incumbents