Two items to share today:

• Ottawa – Orléans, ON - Former Liberal M.P. Marc Godbout is ruling himself out of a forthcoming nomination contest in his old riding, citing current professional commitments, reports the Orléans-East Ottawa Star. This leaves Ottawa city councillor Rainer Bloess, businesswoman Judith Cane, and lawyer David Bertschi in the race. I am not aware of the date of the meeting or whether it has even been set as yet. The riding is currently held by two-term Conservative M.P. Royal Galipeau. Already nominated is Green Party candidate Paul Maillet.
• Calgary West, AB - A reader has written to advise of a contest for the Liberal nomination in this riding, featuring 2006-08 candidate and former School Board chair, lawyer Jennifer Pollock, and newcomer Ernie Corbett, an IT consultant. No firm date has been set for the meeting, but it is expected to occur sometime in late July. The riding is currently held by long-time Conservative M.P. Rob Anders, whose own nomination was secured earlier this year after a referendum of party members conducted by party headquarters. Liberals have usually scored between 18-30% of the vote in this riding, the recent high watermark of 29% being scored by now-Calgary mayor Dave Bronconnier in 1997. Anders has scored between 47-57% of the vote since 1997 when he took over the seat from then one-term Reform M.P. Stephen Harper.

With Godbout ruling himself out, we are down to 19 former Liberal M.P.s either nominated, running for the nomination, or having expressed interest in running again. We also noted in an earlier blogpost that two more former Liberal M.P.'s have apparently ruled themselves out of future contention: Brent St.-Denis in Algoma – Manitoulin – Kapuskasing, ON and Carole-Marie Allard in Alfred-Pellan, QC.

Reader contributions help make the Pundits' Guide a more valuable resource for everyone, so if you have information to share about forthcoming meetings, and candidates who may be running (or who have ruled themselves out), please take a moment to send it along. Then you can follow all the fun on Twitter.

Labels: 41st General Election Nominations, Liberals