Pundits' Guide: Early Nomination News

Believe it or not, prospective federal candidates are already starting to announce their intentions in regards to the next federal election.

Too early? Well, the last election was held over 3 months ago and after the 2006 election (held on January 23) two candidates had already been nominated by that time:

The NDP's Chris Charlton in Hamilton Mountain, ON was first on February 11, 2006,
followed by the Conservative's Richard Majkot in Vaughan, ON on March 28, 2006 (although he later stepped down and was replaced by Richard Lorello).
The Liberals also nominated Wendy Yuan very early (July 29, 2006) in Vancouver Kingsway, BC, following the defection of David Emerson to the Conservatives.
After that, the Conservatives nominated 54 candidates in the first 3 weeks of August 2006, many of them incumbents.

So what's going on now? Well, no nomination meetings have been reported to Elections Canada yet. However, thanks to Google Alerts, I can report that several former and first-time candidates are starting to announce their intentions now, and some are already calling for nomination meetings to be held:

Former Liberal nomination candidate in Bruce – Grey – Owen Sound, ON, Kimberley Love, was first out of the gate, calling on her riding's executive to organize an early nomination meeting after having nominated so late last time, and announcing her intention to contest her party's nomination once again. Liberal candidate Thom Noble fell to third place behind the Green Party's Dick Hibma in 2008, running against three-time Conservative M.P. Larry Miller.
Recently defeated Kenora, ON Liberal M.P. Roger Valley has also announced his intention to run again, as has his NDP opponent in 2008, Tania Cameron. Valley lost to first-time Conservative M.P. Greg Rickford.
Peterborough, ON NDP candidate Steven Sharpe hopes to carry his party's banner once again, and take on two-time Conservative M.P. Dean Del Mastro.
And newcomer Rebecca Darnell, a lawyer and restorative justice supporter, has announced her interest in challenging three-time Langley, BC Conservative M.P., Mark Warawa, as the Liberal candidate for that riding.

Meantime, in addition to Independent M.P. Bill Casey (Cumberland – Colchester – Musquodoboit Valley, NS) whose planned retirement has already been mentioned here, a few other past candidates are bowing out, or moving on to other challenges:

Defeated two-time North Vancouver, BC Liberal M.P. Don Bell has announced his candidacy for the provincial Liberal nomination in North Vancouver-Lonsdale.
Three-time NDP candidate in Saskatoon – Rosetown – Biggar, SK, Nettie Wiebe, has now ruled out a run for her party's provincial leadership.
The Green Party's former candidate in London West, ON, Monica Jarabek, has announced that she's switching her allegiance to the Liberal Party, and is expected to run for the chance to replace defeated long-time Liberal M.P. Sue Barnes there in the riding won by first-time Conservative M.P. Ed Holder.
Meantime, the new Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff's announcement of his shadow cabinet has set off a few rounds of speculation about which Liberal M.P.s might be planning not to run again, given their notable absence from the list.