Although the worst of the urgency may have abated, there is still a large volume of nomination news to catch up on. Last post I started in the west, so this time I'll start down east. Thank you to all the patient readers who have been writing in with news, and sorry if I didn't move on it as quickly as you hoped.

• St. John's East, NL - Nominations close for the NDP candidacy in this riding on September 22, and incumbent M.P. Jack Harris has declared his intention to run again. The nomination meeting will be held on Friday, September 25. Thanks to a reader for passing this along.
• Cumberland – Colchester – Musquodoboit Valley, NS - A fairly decisive victory for new Liberal candidate and farmer, Jim Burrows, in his nomination race against 2008 Liberal candidate and former Progressive Canadian party leader Tracy Parsons last Saturday September 12 (he won 175 of 206 votes cast), sees him become the third candidate nominated in this vacant seat, after Conservative Scott Anderson and Christian Heritage Party leader Jim Hnatiuk. Still no word on the NDP or Green candidates here. The by-election must be called by Saturday, October 31.
• South Shore – St. Margaret's, NS - Thanks to one of my very first readers for getting in touch to let us know about the news in this riding. Apparently former one-term Liberal M.P. Derek Wells is set to run for the nomination again, with a meeting slated for Saturday, October 3. The Sunday before (September 27), writes another long-time reader, former Halifax West NDP M.P. and three-time candidate in this riding, Gordon Earle, is expected to be renominated here as well, making for a three-way battle of current and former MPs. The riding was a heart-breaker for the NDP last time, one they thought they might take but wound up losing by 4.4 votes per poll (around 2.3% of the vote) to five-time Conservative M.P. Gerald Keddy. Keddy, who first ran as a Progressive Conservative, defeated Wells in 1997, the election where the Liberals lost every seat in Nova Scotia over anger about their changes to the E.I. program, provincial patronage, and in this riding over the gun registry. The same election saw Earle defeat Liberal M.P. Gerald Regan in a surprise upset, although Regan regained the upper hand there in 2000. This time NDP Leader Jack Layton is leaving nothing to chance, and has made several trips to the south shore over the summer, celebrating in part his provincial cousins' victories in all five provincial ridings contained within the federal boundaries, one of which was previously represented by Keddy's wife, former MLA Judy Streatch. This will certainly be a riding to watch in the next campaign, to see whether the recent provincial election has any impact federally.

The catch-up will continue in Central Canada shortly.

Labels: 41st General Election Nominations, Liberals, NDP