Completing our westward tour of the country, let's wrap up the backlog of nomination news from Canada's west coast and north of 60. Owing to the volume of updates and the length of the backlog, I may not be crediting every contributor properly, but again I am indebted to everyone who has been passing items along, and thank you all for your contributions.

• Langley, BC - Thanks to a patient reader who passed this item along awhile ago. Lawyer Rebecca Darnell was one of the very first candidates to announce her interest in running for office this past January, and as we reported the other week, her wish finally came true and a nomination meeting was scheduled for this past Wednesday. She will be facing three-term Conservative M.P. Mark Warawa, who has won the seat with large vote shares on each occasion.
  
• Richmond, BC - Former Liberal M.P. Raymond Chan is reportedly back for another try in his old seat, but first he'll have to win his nomination, because as a reader wrote to pass along, he will apparently be facing some competition from former Bob Rae leadership organizer Mason Loh. No date for a nomination meeting was mentioned. Chan lost the seat, which was heavily targetted by the Conservative campaign and leader's tour, to first-time Conservative M.P. Alice Wong in the last election.
  
• North Vancouver, BC - The Liberals' candidate search in this riding is continuing, given that BC Tech Industries association chair Jonathan Wilkinson has ruled himself out completely, according to Public Eye Online, while North Van lawyer Jay Straith has only ruled himself out of a fall campaign, Public Eye Online reports in another story (p.s., nice PEO site redesign, Sean!). We earlier reported that former M.P. Don Bell, having lost his bid for the BC Liberal nomination in last fall's provincial election, was considering running again federally, and haven't seen anything ruling him out since then. The riding was won by first-time Conservative M.P. Andrew Saxton in 2008, when he defeated Bell.
  
• West Vancouver – Sunshine Coast – Sea to Sky Country, BC - Daniel Veniez, the former chair of the crown corporation running Prince Rupert's bulk commodity terminal who was fired by the government several months ago, and who was at one time a Conservative fundraiser and political aide, is now hoping to become a Liberal candidate in this riding, calling himself a "Paul Martin conservative and a Joe Clark liberal", according to Public Eye Online. More coverage here, here, here and here. Veniez is scheduled to meet Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff on September 3, and one assumes the riding will hold a nomination meeting at some point after that. The seat is currently held by one-term Conservative M.P. John Weston, who defeated former Liberal-turned-Independent-turned (at the last minute)-Green M.P. Blair Wilson in the last election.
  
• Victoria, BC - Sean Holman of Public Eye Online also broke the story that Oak Bay Mayor Chris Causton is running for the Liberal nomination in this riding, after musing earlier this spring that he might run as an independent, according to the Oak Bay News. His nomination papers have been filed, and one veteran Liberal tells the Victoria Times-Colonist that he'll be a "slam-dunk" for the nomination (no date has been identified as yet), which is presumably why he's been able to get out of town now for a brief holiday. The winner will face two-term NDP M.P. Denise Savoie.
  
• Saanich – Gulf Islands, BC - The contested Liberal nomination meeting, as reported here earlier, will be held on Saturday September 12 between Renée Hetherington and Kit Spence, and 2008 Liberal candidate Briony Penn has endorsed one of the two candidates rather than support her former Green Party colleague Elizabeth May, telling Public Eye Online that "Elizabeth did ask for my support. And I kind of had to point out, 'Where was yours six months ago?' Because I would have been in Ottawa right now if it had been there." Meanwhile, the Green Party nomination meeting has been scheduled for the following Saturday, September 19. Still no word from 2008 Green Party candidate Andrew Lewis about whether he plans to run or not. The riding is currently held by five-term Conservative M.P. Gary Lunn.
• Western Arctic, NT - Further north, Northwest Territories Liberals acclaimed former NWT Premier Joe Handley as their candidate this past Saturday, and Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff landed in Yellowknife yesterday to meet with him. The riding is currently held by two-term NDP M.P. Dennis Bevington, who narrowly beat out Conservative candidate Brendan Bell in the last election, with Liberal candidate Gabrielle Mackenzie-Scott a distant third. Bell has yet to decide whether he'll run again, the CBC is reporting. Interestingly, Bell was an MLA and member of Handley's cabinet in the NWT territorial government.

So now there are a few items of nomination news from across the country to catch up on tomorrow, and then we are fully back up to date after the distractions of summer. As always, if you have nomination or candidate information from your neck of the woods, please bring us up to speed by dropping me a line. Then follow along on Twitter for the latest updates and nomination counts.

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