[UPDATE: See below for information on Niagara West – Glanbrook]

Picking up where we left off from last time, there are some upcoming meetings I've located more information on, which start later today:

• South Shore – St. Margaret's, NS - Until earlier this week, most Dippers were assuming that former NDP M.P. and three-time candidate in this south shore riding, Gordon Earle, would win his party's nomination uncontested and go on to claim the seat he very nearly won in the last election. But the provincial party's recent victories in all 5 provincial seats contained in this federal riding have no doubt caused others to turn their attention here, and indeed a second candidate has now stepped into the race for the NDP nomination meeting presently underway just south of Bridgewater. Geoff Le Boutillier, a film and TV producer for the past 30 years, who founded one of the country’s oldest film co-ops, the Writers Guild of Canada, and the St. Margaret’s Bay Stewardship Association, told party members in an email earlier this week that he "did not declare his candidacy lightly", but was running to advance key issues for him, notably coastal development, out-migration, and the environment. A reader has promised to get in touch with the results once known. The winner will go on to face five-term Conservative M.P. Gerald Keddy, and the winner of the contested Liberal nomination between former M.P. Derek Wells and software engineer Mark Delory, scheduled to take place in a week's time.
  
• Toronto – Danforth, ON - The outcome should not be a big surprise, but NDP Leader Jack Layton is nevertheless running to be renominated as his party's candidate in this downtown Toronto riding later this afternoon in a restaurant on the Danforth. Next Sunday, October 4 his 2008 Liberal opponent Andrew Lang is also slated to be renominated by acclamation as well, a reader writes to let us know. They will join already-nominated first-time Green Party candidate Adriana Mugnatto-Hamu, and a Conservative to be named later.
• Peterborough, ON - A reader sent us this clipping from the Peterborough Examiner with more background on the NDP nomination meeting scheduled for Monday night, at which local high school teacher and former provincial candidate Dave Nickle is expected to be acclaimed. He will then join 2008 Liberal candidate Betsy McGregor who was earlier renominated by acclamation, and two-time Conservative M.P. Dean Del Mastro on the campaign trail.
• Niagara West – Glanbrook, ON - According to the Ontario Federal Liberal Party website, a nomination meeting has been called in this riding for Monday, September 28, but I'm unaware of who might be running in it. If you know, please get in touch so it can be passed along to readers. The riding is currently held by three-term Conservative M.P. Dean Allison, who won it with some 52% of the vote last time around. UPDATE: Thanks to several readers who got in touch to say that Ivan Luksic is the candidate, and is expected to be acclaimed tomorrow.]
  

In other nomination and candidate news:

• Pierrefonds – Dollard, QC - If six-term Liberal M.P. Bernard Patry is on the way out as Liberal candidate, it's news to him reports the West Island Chronicle, telling them that "[i]t's a mountain out of a mole hill". Patry says that he has a letter from Ignatieff saying he is the Liberal candidate in the riding, and that although neighbouring Lac-Saint-Louis M.P. Francis Scarpaleggia has already had an official nomination meeting, "that doesn't mean anything". Patry says he knows Denis Coderre very well, having attended his wedding and hosting his 30th birthday party, and believes the main controversy was in fact over the party nomination in Outremont riding instead. Patry has run in every election since 1988, although his vote has declined from its 1993 high of 65% when he defeated then-Progressive Conservative M.P. Gerry Weiner, to 47% in the most recent election when he faced a fairly divided opposition.
• Ajax – Pickering, ON - As yet, no firm details on meeting dates for the Conservative nomination being contested by former Canadian ambassador to Afghanistan, Christopher Alexander, but a story in the Globe & Mail this week highlights some of his initiation into his new field of politics. Folks on the Blogging Tories forum seem to be welcoming the candidacy. If nominated, Alexander will face three-term Liberal M.P. Mark Holland, who maintained a 6.6% margin over 2008 Conservative challenger Rick Johnson last time out.
• Davenport, ON - This west central Toronto riding could have a new NDP candidate, if musician Andrew Cash is successful in winning that party's nomination. A member of the band The Skydiggers, Cash announced his candidacy at a fundraising bash for Timmins – James Bay, ON NDP M.P. Charlie Angus (himself a former member of musical group The Grievous Angels) earlier this week, reported Jane Taber in yesterday's Globe and Mail. Left unanswered by Taber's piece is the question of 2008 candidate Peter Ferreira's candidacy, given his appearance in the NDP's Halifax Convention video where he endorsed Jack Layton's leadership. A former Liberal and school board chairperson, Ferreira's candidacy for the NDP in this riding that is the traditional home of the Portuguese community in Toronto represented what some believed to be the party's strongest potential challenge to three-term Liberal M.P. Mario Silva. However, turnout dropped in the riding from 61% to 53%, hurting both Silva's and Ferreira's totals with only Green Party candidate Wayne Scott bucking the trend. However, Ferreira was not running in his home riding last time, which begs the question of whether he will run again at all, and if so, will he compete with Cash for the nomination in Davenport, or attempt another run in some other riding such as neighbouring York South – Weston, ON, which has previously elected another New Democrat named Ferreira in provincial and municipal elections. Let's file this story under "developing".
• Parkdale – High Park, ON - The NDP's scheduled nomination meeting in this riding for Wednesday has been postponed. The riding is currently held by first-time Liberal M.P. Gerard Kennedy, who defeated first-time NDP M.P. Peggy Nash in the last election by about 7 percentage points in a situation of declining overall turnout, but a higher raw vote for Kennedy. Nash has since been elected party president.
  

That's it for now, but stayed tuned for a comprehensive update of Green Party nominations, thanks to a list compiled for us by someone at the party office on Friday, for which I'm greatly appreciative.

Also, an astute reader "Jamie" sent an error report about the chart for Mississauga – Erindale, ON, which must have been generated earlier in the results process, and thus did not show the Conservatives as the winners of the riding, even though the final results table clearly shows Conservative M.P. Bob Dechert as the victor. For your information, the charts here are generated the first time they're requested, and are subsequently cached for performance reasons. Notably, the french chart for the riding, which must have been generated later on, did show the Conservatives in the lead. Thus, I deleted the english version of the chart and then refreshed the page in order to regenerate it, and I believe Jamie you'll find that it's correct now, which I would have written to tell you personally, but alas you left no reply email address. But thanks are in order, and I very much appreciate your having taken the time to report the error.

As always, if you have nomination or candidate news to share, or errors to report, please pass it all along, and then follow the latest @punditsguide on Twitter.

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