While the parties have all played their opening moves in the beginning-of-session chess game that now seems to launch and conclude every sitting of Parliament, the Liberals settled two contested nominations in the vicinity of Ottawa last night, and the NDP appears to have really started to ramp up its nominations. Let's start with the newly-selected candidates:

• Gatineau, QC - Steve MacKinnon won the the 3-way race for the Liberal nomination last night in this western Québec riding just across the bridge from Ottawa, we first learned from @liberalrocco last night. @davidakin reported on Twitter that some 1200 people were in attendance. McKinnon will now face two-term Bloc Québécois M.P. Richard Nadeau, and almost certainly former Liberal M.P. and Federal NDP Québec co-President lawyer Françoise Boivin, and a Conservative to be named later. McKinnon was the focus of claims that he was Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff's preferred candidate, and given that the riding also met the criteria for a close race, a close 3-way race, and a close 4-way last time, for all these reasons I am placing it at or near the top of my list of ridings to watch this time.
  
• Glengarry – Prescott – Russell, ON - Later the same evening, small businesswoman assistant crown attorney Julie Bourgeois (the first woman to play on a boy's hockey team in Embrun, her website says) won the contested 4-way Liberal nomination race in this riding east of Ontario and adjoining the province of Québec on two sides. Bourgeois will now face two-term Conservative M.P. Pierre Lemieux, and an NDP and Green candidate to be named later. Thanks to a reader for sending along this information late last night on his return to Ottawa from the meeting. [UPDATE: Thanks to a reader for correcting my error about Ms. Bourgeois' occupation; indeed, I should have re-read my earlier blogpost more carefully. My apologies.]
  
• Winnipeg Centre, MB - The Conservative candidate for this riding is Bev Pitura, who was apparently acclaimed during the late spring, according to a reader, and also Mia Rabson of the Winnipeg Free Press on her blog the other day. I'm trying to nail down the exact date in order to add her to the database. Conservatives moved into second place ahead of the Liberals in this riding held by five-term NDP M.P. Pat Martin, as they did in many NDP-held ridings in 2008, particularly in northern and southwestern Ontario along with western Canada. Meanwhile, Rabson reports that Pat Martin's previously scheduled September 25 nomination meeting has been cancelled pending further developments in the Manitoba NDP provincial leadership race, as one of Martin's provincial counterparts, Minto MLA Andrew Swan, recently announced a leadership bid.
  

In other NDP nomination news:

• London – Fanshawe, ON - Two-term NDP M.P. Irene Mathyssen was renominated by acclamation at a double nomination meeting last night attended by newly-elected party president Peggy Nash. Mathyssen improved her margin in 2008 (from 1.9% to 12.2%), as the Conservatives again moved ahead of the Liberals into second place. She will face a new Conservative candidate this time in Jim Chahbar, who was recently nominated, and a Liberal candidate to be selected at a scheduled nomination meeting on Wednesday, Septemer 16.
  
• Elgin – Middlesex – London, ON - At the same meeting, 2008 candidate and autoworker Ryan Dolby was also acclaimed for another run. He will face three-term Conservative M.P. Joe Preston and a Liberal to be named later, as previous Liberal candidate Suzanne Van Bommel has recently announced she won't be running again.
  
• Thunder Bay – Superior North, ON - Further north, the NDP will hold a series of local nomination meetings to select their candidate next Tuesday and Wednesday, September 8-9. To date no-one is challenging first-time M.P. Bruce Hyer, reports NetNewsLedger.com. Hyer won the riding formerly represented by Liberal-turned-Conservative M.P. Joe Comuzzi. Both his opponents to date have won contested nominations, Conservative Michael Auld (on a coin toss) and Liberal Yves Fricot. No Green Party candidate has been nominated as yet that I'm aware of.
  
• St. John's South – Mount Pearl, NL - A reader writes to advise that the call for NDP nominations in this riding is set to close on Tuesday, September 15. 2008 candidate journalist Ryan Cleary recently announced his intention to run for the nomination once again, setting up a second battle with first-time Liberal M.P. Siobhan Coady who bested him by 2.8% of the vote in the riding vacated by retiring Conservative M.P. Loyola Hearn.
  
• St. John's East, NL - The reader also reports that the neighbouring NDP riding association will meet next Wednesday to set the close of nominations in this riding held by two-term NDP M.P. Jack Harris (the first term was 1987-88, not in this database). Harris had the largest vote-share of any NDP candidate in the last election (75%), and the 5th highest of any candidate (4 Alberta Conservatives placed between 77% and 83%). He is expected to be acclaimed, needless to say.
  
• Churchill, MB - A nomination meeting has been set for Saturday, September 12 in this northern Manitoba riding, currently represented by first-term NDP M.P. Niki Ashton, whose father, Thompson MLA Steve Ashton, is set to announce a bid for the provincial NDP leadership today as well. Ashton Jr. will face Liberal candidate Sydney Garrioch and apparently 2008 Conservative Wally Daudrich, although I still haven't been able to confirm the details of his nomination as yet. (h/t Mia Rabson)
  
• Brandon – Souris, MB - Rabson also reports the scheduling of an NDP nomination in this southwest Manitoba riding for Sunday, September 20. The riding is currently represented by three-term Conservative M.P. Merv Tweed.
• Vancouver Island North, BC - A Babbler reports that former NDP M.P. Catherine Bell has announced she will be running again for her party's nomination, which would mark her 4th consecutive race against Conservative M.P. John Duncan, the last 3 of which were settled by less than 5% of the vote. No Liberal candidate has been identified as yet, but Esquimalt – Juan de Fuca M.P. Keith Martin visited the riding last week to tour housing projects and bolster the party faithful, telling them that "My constituents don't want an election, they want us to make parliament work." A week is a lifetime in politics.

Moving to other general nomination news:

• Egmont, PE - There has been a lot of interest in the Liberal nomination in this riding following Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff's visit the other week, however 2008 candidate Keith Milligan has reluctantly decided not to run this time owing to a family medical situation, clearing the way for other rumoured but as yet undeclared candidates to emerge for a nomination meeting likely taking place in late September or early October, reports the Charlottetown Guardian. The riding was a surprise pickup for the Conservatives in the last election, after the retirement of former Liberal M.P. Joe McGuire, giving first-time M.P. Gail Shea a guaranteed seat in the cabinet.
  
• Saint John, NB - Another narrow Conservative pickup in Atlantic Canada last time was first-time Conservative M.P. Rodney Weston, who defeated former Liberal M.P. Paul Zed in this riding. Zed recently left Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff's office where he had been serving as interim Chief of Staff, and it was widely assumed he was returning home to try and reclaim his seat. However, now Conservative blogger Steve Janke is hearing that Zed's run may be on hold, and questions how Zed could have been holding a fundraising dinner for his leader at which he was expected to announce his candidacy one week, but be refusing to confirm his candidacy to the local paper just one week later.
• Hochelaga, QC - Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe refused to answer questions yesterday about whether he intended to appoint Daniel Paillé as his candidate in this riding over the objections of the local riding association, saying that he would be making an announcement about it today, according to La Presse Canadienne. Meantime Le Devoir is reporting that matters have been resolved in favour of the riding association, and a proper nomination meeting will be held after all. The seat will be vacant as of Wednesday, September 16 when long-time Bloc Québécois M.P. Réal Ménard is set to announce his resignation in order to run for municipal office in Montréal. Ménard's aide, Benoit Dumuy, has been organizing for the nomination for some time. The NDP has already renominated its 2008 candidate, party Québec co-president and union leader, Jean-Claude Rocheleau, in early August.
  
• Pontiac, QC - Thanks to a reader for correcting my last blogpost, in which I reported the contested Liberal nomination meeting here as being next next Thursday, whereas the correct date is the one on our list of Upcoming Nomination Meetings, namely Sunday September 13. I apologize for any confusion this might have caused, and am now fixing the problematic post.
  

Well, I've run out of time to cover the latest news on Conservative nominations in Québec, but will return to that in the next update.

Thanks to all the readers for submitting candidate and nomination information from across the country. It's the reader submissions that help keep this database up-to-date, and so keep them coming. And then follow all the latest news on Twitter.

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