[See update below on Ottawa West – Nepean, ON]

Here are some notes that have accumulated over the past few days while I tried to catch up on other work. The weather has not been the greatest for barbecues, but parties do have to soldier on somehow:

• Kenora, ON - I'm thinking that no news is good news for former Liberal M.P. Roger Valley's effort to regain his party's nomination in this riding. The nomination meeting was scheduled for July 11 on the Liberal Party's Ontario section website (opens meeting notice in PDF). I've been checking the Kenora Daily Miner and News since then for any news, and have put feelers out on Twitter, to contacts in the Liberal party and to friends in Kenora, all without luck. Let's assume that if there was a contested nomination, we'd have heard about it by now. I've added him to the database as acclaimed on July 11 unless I hear otherwise. The riding was won from Valley by first-time Conservative M.P. Greg Rickford in 2008, and has featured 3-way races and close margins in two of the last three elections. In other Kenora news, 2008 NDP first nations candidate Tania Cameron has also just taken out papers in the hopes of running for her party once again.
  
• Bruce – Grey – Owen Sound, ON - Liberals in this riding are not waiting to find out whether Elizabeth May plans to run here or not; they wanted to move early to nominate a new candidate says the Owen Sound Sun Times. Candidate Kimberly Love has a background in journalism and communications, and was acclaimed as expected on July 14, the Meaford Express reports. The riding is currently represented by three-term Conservative M.P. Larry Miller, and was also one of the 5 ridings in which the Green Party achieved a second-place finish, in their second-best vote share of the last election (after May's riding of Central Nova, NS).
• Markham – Unionville, ON - Nominations opened for the Conservative Party in this riding north of Toronto last Wednesday, and Markham regional councillor Gordon Landon is throwing his hat in, writes YorkRegion.com. After the three-week opening, the riding association will hold a nomination meeting 21 days later. The riding is currently held by four-term Liberal M.P. John McCallum, who has won it easily since 2000.
• Pontiac, QC - A commenter on an earlier post relays that the Liberal nomination meeting in this riding is now scheduled for some time in August. This is said to have a negative impact for one of the candidates, for an unknown reason, and is speculated to rule another candidate out of the race. If anyone has more details, I'm all ears.
• Oakville, ON - From Twitter we learn that Connie Laurin-Bowie (@claurinbowie) is running for the Liberal nomination in this riding west of Mississauga. She tweeted me that no meeting date has been scheduled as yet. The riding was won by first-time Conservative M.P. Terence Young in 2008 on his second try against former Liberal M.P. Bonnie Brown, in a case where more 2006 Liberal voters stayed home in the last election than switched to the Conservatives or Green Party.
• Churchill, MB - Just west of Kenora, ON is this huge northern Manitoba riding, which changed hands during the last election. Liberals have called their nomination meeting there for Saturday, July 18, and so far only MKO grand chief Sydney Garrioch has declared, reports Mia Rabson of the Winnipeg Free Press in her Capital Chronicles blog. This likely means that former Liberal M.P. Tina Keeper is not planning to run again after all, dropping our count of former Liberal MPs running or said to be interested in running to 18. The seat is currently represented by first-term NDP M.P. Niki Ashton. Rabson identifies Churchill as having the largest aboriginal population in the country, which is true when ranking ridings by the count (52,405 identify as aboriginal out of a total population of 74,985 for that census measure in 2006, or 65%). However, the riding with the highest percentage of the population identifying as aboriginal in 2006 (the measure I've used here at the Pundits' Guide) is Nunavut at 85%, but of course based on a much smaller total population. Kenora, ON by the way, ranks 5th by the raw count and #6 in the percent rankings. (h/t to the Liberal Scarf blog for finding this clipping and sending it along)
• Winnipeg South, MB - Eagle-eyed Liberal blogger, Liberal Scarf, also noticed a comment in this Winnipeg Free Press story, which suggests that Terry Duguid is planning to run for the Liberal nomination in this riding currently held by two-term Conservative Métis M.P. Rod Bruinooge. Mr. Duguid has run for the party federally twice before in nearby Kildonan – St. Paul, MB.
  
• Halifax, NS - Also from the Liberal Scarf, news of a contested Liberal nomination race unfolding in the seat of first-time NDP M.P. Megan Leslie. Dalhousie University Medicine Faculty member Stan Kutcher and businessman Chris Crowell are in the running so far. No date appears to have been set for a nomination meeting here so far. Leslie retained the seat for her party with 47% of the vote over a split opposition last time around, after former NDP Leader Alexa McDonough retired.
  
• Glengarry – Prescott – Russell, ON - Again, thanks to the Liberal Scarf for this clipping about a 4-way race developing for the Liberal nomination in this eastern Ontario riding on the Québec border (and the home of Pundits' Guide power source, Beau's All Natural Brewing Company). The riding is currently represented by two-term Conservative M.P. Pierre Lemieux, and challenging him will be one of Russell Mayor Ken Hill, assistant Crown attorney Julie Bourgeois, Hawkesbury councillor Roch Greffe, and Liberal insider Maryanne Kampouris as reported here earlier. Not running is 2008 Liberal candidate Dan Boudria, who will be unable to continue his quest to replace his father, former Liberal M.P. Don Boudria, due to the demands of his current position in the federal public service.
• Mississauga South, ON - 2008 Conservative candidate Hugh Arrison is organizing for another run at the nomination here, reports the Liberal Scarf. The riding has been won by increasing small margins by long-standing Liberal incumbent Paul Szabo since the two conservative parties reunited, and was 38 of 42 close two-way races in the last election. No date has been set for a nomination meeting as yet.
• Ottawa West – Nepean, ON - Another former Liberal M.P. is now facing two battles to regain a seat in Parliament. David Pratt had moved over from his former riding of Nepean – Carleton, ON to run against Conservative John Baird in 2008, winning an appointment from then-Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion in order to do so. We reported here earlier that Pratt was planning to run there again. However, as the Ottawa Citizen reported last night, he is not going get the nomination so easily this time, since Telus executive Janet Yale (earlier thought to be interested in Ottawa Centre, ON) is now moving to challenge Pratt for the Liberal nomination. No date is set for a nomination meeting as yet, however Pratt is anticipating the possibility of a fall election and has returned early from work in Baghdad to contest the nomination.
  
  UPDATE: A late-breaking story from the Ottawa Citizen quotes Ms. Yale as demurring from a race in Ottawa West – Nepean, ON, and says she is still consulting with friends about whether to run in Ottawa Centre, ON where she lives. Pratt is staying in Baghdad. Former Liberal nomination candidate Scott Bradley, however, has confirmed his interest in running again in Ottawa Centre.
  

Thanks to readers for sending along news clippings, Facebook event invitations, and just staying in touch. If you have nomination news to share, please send me a quick email, and then join the Pundits' Guide on Twitter to keep up with all the latest.

Labels: 41st General Election Nominations, Conservatives, Liberals, NDP