I've just been watching an interesting series of web video tutorials on the current state of Javascript, the DOM and Ajax for a project I'm working on, in which the lecturer says "web time used to be fast, but now it's slow". No kidding. I stop for a day to do something else and then fall drastically behind on the nomination news. Which makes the news from here slow, but the expectations for speed high. Sorry about that folks; here's all the latest now:

• Joliette, QC - Thanks to the Liberal Scarf blog we learn that 2008 candidate Suzie St-Onge was acclaimed at the Liberal nomination meeting Tuesday night. The riding is currently held by Bloc Québécois House Leader Pierre Paquette, who has won it handily 4 times since the 2000 election. Ms. St-Onge placed third in 2008, but did improve on the vote share of her predecessor in 2006.
• Ottawa Centre, ON - The word is now that Isabel Metcalfe will not be running for the Liberal nomination here, setting up a two-way race between Scott Bradley and Janet Yale for an as-yet unscheduled nomination contest. The riding is currently represented by two-term NDP M.P. Paul Dewar. Sorry that it seems to get disproportionate attention in this blog, but being as it's where I live I'm privy to a lot more rumours to report. And naturally, being the riding that contains Parliament Hill, the place is crawling with politicos and journalists who live and work here and generate an above-average volume of rumours, such as another one that surfaced from the Conservative election school conference yesterday that John Baird might not run again; which seems unlikely to me, but then maybe he's planning to run for Mayor ... a job that could be opening up here soon. (h/t again to the Liberal Scarf, who should nevertheless not be held responsible for the very last piece of completely idle speculation on my part)
  
• Windsor West, ON - Lisa K. Lumley was acclaimed by the Windsor West Conservative candidate search committee on or about July 7 is my information now, and I've entered her into the database accordingly. I'm still trying to confirm a date on Denise Ghanam in neighouring Windsor – Tecumseh, ON but someone is working on this for us. Also, I have emails out on the two north Toronto Conservative candidates Joe Oliver in Eglinton – Lawrence, ON and John Carmichael in Don Valley West, ON, looking to confirm whether they've actually been renominated and if so on what date and were they contested, so if you can help out on any of these, please do get in touch.
• York – Simcoe, ON - Liberal nominations are now open in this central Ontario riding, currently held by three-term Conservative M.P. Peter Van Loan, according to the King Township Sentinel. Already nominated are Van Loan and Vicki Gunn for the Christian Heritage Party.
  
• Algoma – Manitoulin – Kapuskasing, ON - A whopping 4 Liberal candidates are now in the running for the nomination up here, which we learn thanks to a commenter on an earlier blogpost here (the ubiquitous Liberal Scarf once again). Joe Chapman, a federal Crown Attorney and former Mayor of Northeastern Manitoulin and the Islands (NEMI), is joining the Wawa Chief Accounting Officer Chris Wray, François Cloutier, a provincial public servant in the Ministry of Attorney-General and small business owner, and Marc Dupuis who is a VP of the Nord-Aski Regional Economic Development Corporation and a Hearst city councillor. in the race to represent the party of former riding M.P. Lestor B. Pearson. The winner will take on first-time NDP M.P. Carol Hughes. No date appears to have been set for the meeting as yet.
• Edmonton East, AB - As expected, and indeed as reported here quite some time ago, New Democrats renominated their former provincial leader and 2008 candidate Ray Martin last night, with Leader Jack Layton in attendance. The riding is currently held by long-time Conservative M.P. Peter Goldring, who was one of the government caucus members publicly advocating for incumbents to have their nominations protected last March, but whose own potential retirement I keep seeing referred to but never sourced. He was first elected in 1997, the year Ray Martin also first ran federally. See my earlier blogpost for a complete run-down on the riding.
• Edmonton Centre, AB - Again as expected, and at the same meeting even, the NDP officially welcomed first-time candidate Lewis Cardinal who won the party's nomination here by acclamation. I've received three separate emails about this one in the last 24 hours, so it seems people want to ensure you know about it! Meanwhile, the Liberal party acclaimed its candidate on Monday night, lawyer and former aide to Anne McLellan Mary MacDonald. The riding is currently held by two-term Conservative M.P. Laurie Hawn, and I've given a rundown of its history here earlier.
• New Westminster – Coquitlam, BC - I think I'm breaking the news here that the Liberal nomination meeting has now been scheduled for Tuesday, August 4. Running are Gerry Lenoski (as first reported here back in June) and also apparently Ken Beck Lee an engineer from Surrey, who is also the president of the Korean Cultural Heritage Society of Canada. Apparently not running after all is Port Moody Mayor Joe Trasolini. The TriCity News had a report yesterday on the municipal by-election implications of the federal by-election race, but didn't have the date or names for the Liberal meeting yet. The NDP has already picked Coquitlam councillor Fin Donnelly in a contested nomination late last month, while the Conservatives chose Port Moody councillor Diana Dilworth in a contest this past weekend. The Green Party has acclaimed new candidate Rebecca Helps. I'm told that over half the riding is comprised of Coquitlam, 15% is in Port Moody, with the remainder in New Westminster.
• Esquimalt – Juan de Fuca, BC - It's official. An entry in the Elections Canada database now confirms that Troy deSouza was renominated by acclamation on June 19, 2009. This will be his third try as Conservative candidate in this riding currently held by long-time Liberal M.P. Keith Martin, and usually hotly contested by three or more parties. I gave the full rundown in my last blogpost here.

Lewis Cardinal joins the growing list of nominated aboriginal candidates (4 Conservative, 1 Liberal, 2 NDP) which I'll start to keep track of in a new list as soon as I get a second to compile it.

In another update to an earlier blogpost, we learn from Manon Cornellier's blog at l'Actualité magazine's website that the Bloc Québécois' pre-session caucus meeting will be taking place right after the Labour Day weekend in Québec city, an area where they hope to regain seats from the Conservative Party.

Finally, on a very sad note, the Pundits' Guide wants to mark the far-too-early passing of a gentleman of Parliament, long-time Liberal procedural strategist Jerry Yanover. Mr. Yanover's funeral was very well attended this morning, and he was eulogized by Commons Speaker Peter Milliken and former Liberal House Leader and Interim Leader Herb Gray. Yanover was admired by his comrades and competitors alike, for if you had him in your corner it was a tremendous benefit, and if he beat you it was through being smarter, and maybe trickier, but certainly not meaner. The extent to which he is being mourned as a gentle man of Parliament is a measure of just how scarce are the inheritors of that ethic today. It is a great shame that time does not appear to have allowed his many stories and long history of parliamentary battles to have been documented in a book of memoirs, and we are the poorer for it. May he rest in peace.

If you have nomination news, or can confirm any of the details I'm looking for above, please jot me a note here, and then follow the Pundits' Guide on Twitter for all the latest news.

Labels: 41st General Election Nominations, Aboriginal Candidates, Conservatives, Liberals, NDP, New Westminster – Coquitlam