Nomination News: Monday Morning Check-in
The Hill Times is reporting this morning that Liberal campaign veteran Senator David Smith expects "to complete nominations in 100 ridings, including the 77 held ridings, across the country by July 1". Senator Smith continued by saying that "By the time we come back on Sept. 14 that the bulk, there'll always be a few that are later on, the bulk of the nominations have either been held or called".
Well, I'm going to need some help from readers, then, because I can only document 15 of those nominations. Perhaps the Senator is referring to a process whereby the provincial-territorial association and party headquarters clear a riding to commence the nominations process, or some variation on that. I've been to all the PTA websites and have scoured Google News, but haven't found the other 85 of them yet, although I did find some more nomination meeting dates for Ontario ridings, which I've now been added to the list in the left-hand column.
Meanwhile, in another (subscription only) story, the Hill Times' Abbas Rana reports on the NDP's pre-election planning and target ridings in Nova Scotia, following the success of its provincial cousins in the recent provincial campaign. National Director Brad Lavigne says the party is targetting:
The Green Party is reporting another nomination in the Elections Canada database:
Well, I'm going to need some help from readers, then, because I can only document 15 of those nominations. Perhaps the Senator is referring to a process whereby the provincial-territorial association and party headquarters clear a riding to commence the nominations process, or some variation on that. I've been to all the PTA websites and have scoured Google News, but haven't found the other 85 of them yet, although I did find some more nomination meeting dates for Ontario ridings, which I've now been added to the list in the left-hand column.
Meanwhile, in another (subscription only) story, the Hill Times' Abbas Rana reports on the NDP's pre-election planning and target ridings in Nova Scotia, following the success of its provincial cousins in the recent provincial campaign. National Director Brad Lavigne says the party is targetting:
- South Shore – St. Margaret's, NS - where former M.P. Gordon Earle came within 2.3% of the vote of defeating five-term Conservative M.P. Gerald Keddy in the last federal election, and where the NDP won all 5 of the provincial seats contained within it, defeating Keddy's wife Judy Streatch in the process.
- Cumberland – Colchester – Musquodoboit Valley, NS - which of course is currently vacant and awaiting a possible by-election call, after Independent M.P. Bill Casey stepped down, and in which the NDP won 3 of the 5 provincial seats.
- Halifax West, NS - which the NDP last represented from 1997 to 2000 when Gordon Earle displaced Liberal M.P. Geoff Regan for a term, and where the party won another 3 of 5 seats.
- Cape Breton – Canso, NS - the riding Elizabeth May had originally planned to run in, before switching to Central Nova, and now represented by four-term Liberal M.P. Rodger Cuzner.
- Dartmouth – Cole Harbour, NS - which has been a priority in the past, and which contains Nova Scotia premier Darrell Dexter's provincial Cole Harbour riding; and
- Central Nova, NS - where the NDP has previously placed a strong second prior to the candidacy of Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, and where it captured 4 of the 5 provincial ridings.
The Green Party is reporting another nomination in the Elections Canada database:
- Nepean – Carleton, ON - A new candidate, Jean-Luc Cooke, was acclaimed on June 11, and will be facing three-term Conservative M.P. Pierre Poilievre in the next election. 2008 Green candidate Lori Gadzala posted a significant enough increase in Green support in this riding last time to qualify the party for a candidate election expenses rebate, obtaining 11.0% of the vote.
Labels: 41st General Election Nominations, Greens, Liberals
posted by The Pundits' Guide at
7:46 AM
6 Comments:
Perhaps the Senator is referring to a process whereby the provincial-territorial association and party headquarters clear a riding to commence the nominations process, or some variation on that.
Or perhaps the Senator is just full of it, but hey that's only my humble opinion.
Oh well, you know I'm not touching that one, don't you!
Thanks for reading and sharing your perspectives, as always, DTMB.
on the provincial thing for nova scotia , its not surprising the ndp would be optmistic of there chances there , but i do think that trying to link provincial results to potential federal one's can be ineffective espeically when ridings are much different and issues different . and the provincial ndp was in a position to form a government and the voters knew it , the federal ndp have no hope of forming a government so that factor might hurt them a bit .
I find Sydney-Victoria an interesting omission, too--why that over CB-Canso? Or Halifax West over Dartmouth, for that matter?
Adma, I don't get the Halifax West vs. Dartmouth thing either, unless there's something we don't know about their candidate search.
The case for Canso over Sydney-Vic does not seem to make sense federally either, when you look at their comparative voting histories. I thought the difference might be in the recent provincial results, but no ... they looked better for the NDP in the provincial ridings in Sydney-Vic as well. Of course, the deputy premier's seat (Cape Breton Centre) is in Canso, so that might be the consideration.
Again, it could be based on some knowledge of their own candidate search, or assessment of the incumbents, but to be honest I'm guessing that Lavigne said one, but meant the other in that case. He's from Coquitlam, and spent time in school at Concordia, so perhaps he just doesn't know Cape Breton as well now as he will after another year in the job.
Anon, to your point about whether the provincial results are transferable to the federal scene: they may or may not be. But the NDP is probably the most integrated of the major political parties as between their federal and provincial wings. So the organization and people would be transferable. And the by-elections that are coming up should give us a pretty good measure of just how much that's worth in terms of transferring the votes as well.
As to your point about who could form a government, it's my impression that this is one ballot question that rarely factors into by-election voting behaviour ... although if it would do so anywhere, it would be down east.
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