November Nomination News Catchup: Atlantic Provinces
With the by-elections out of the way, it's high time we got back to a cross-country review of nominations. And with this much of a catch-up to do, I'm going to be asking readers for a hand. Thanks to those of you who have been patiently sending in nomination news when you came across it. I'm going through it all now, but if I miss something you sent, please don't be offended ... just write me back and let me know.
Newfoundland and Labrador (7 seats)
All I'm aware of at present are:
Again, not too many names to report here yet:
A bit better coverage here:
The site of a lot of contested Liberal nominations earlier this year:
That brings us up-to-date in the Atlantic provinces. Next stop: Québec. If you have nomination news to share with other readers, I'm back in full gear on that front, so please drop me a line. Then follow along on Twitter.
Newfoundland and Labrador (7 seats)
All I'm aware of at present are:
- 2 New Democrats (incumbent St. John's East M.P. Jack Harris and 2008 St. John's South – Mount Pearl candidate Ryan Cleary), and
- 1 Liberal (incumbent Humber – St. Barbe – Baie Verte M.P. Gerry Byrne)
- A news story awhile back speculated that Conservative Senator and former M.P. Fabian Manning might be interested in running again in Avalon, but I haven't heard anything further there.
Again, not too many names to report here yet:
- 3 Green candidates (previous candidate Peter Bevan-Maker in Malpeque, arts administrator Corin McFadden in Charlottetown, and Karl Hengst in Egmont), and
- 1 Conservative (incumbent M.P. Gail Shea in Egmont was automatically renominated with the rest of her caucus on May 4)
A bit better coverage here:
- 6 Liberals (2 of the 5 incumbents, Geoff Regan in Halifax West and Mike Savage in Dartmouth – Cole Harbour, along with former M.P.s Robert Thibault in West Nova and Derek Wells in South Shore – St. Margaret's, Stan L. Kutcher who won a contested nomination in Halifax in late August, and 2008 candidate Carolyn Scott who was renominated by acclamation in late September in Sackville – Eastern Shore)
- 6 Greens (Michael Dewar in Sackville – Eastern Shore, Anthony Rosborough in Halifax, Thomas Trappenberg in Halifax West, and Paul Shreenan in Dartmouth – Cole Harbour, who are in the database, along with Celine Papillon in Central Nova and Sheila Richardson in Kings – Hants, who aren't there yet, pending me obtaining their details as to nomination date and method)
- 4 Conservatives (the 3 incumbents, Peter MacKay in Central Nova, Gerald Keddy in South Shore – St. Margaret's, and Greg Kerr in West Nova; along with Clarence Derrick Kennedy in Cape Breton – Canso)
- 2 New Democrats (Peter Stoffer is the first of 2 incumbents to be renominated in Sackville – Eastern Shore, while former M.P. Gordon Earle received the nod in South Shore – St. Margaret's this past summer). Halifax West has scheduled a nomination meeting for Thursday November 26 at which Atlantic Film Festival executive director Gregor Ash is expected to be acclaimed, and Halifax follows on Sunday November 29, when M.P. Megan Leslie hopes to receive her party's nod once again as well
The site of a lot of contested Liberal nominations earlier this year:
- all 6 incumbent Conservatives were automatically renominated on May 4, 2009 (Keith Ashfield in Fredericton, Rob Moore in Fundy Royal, Tilly O'Neill-Gordon in Miramichi, Greg Thompson in New Brunswick Southwest, Rodney Weston in Saint John, and Mike Allen in Tobique – Mactaquac)
- 5 Liberals (all in Conservative-held ridings: Pam Campbell in Fredericton, Dave Delaney in Fundy Royal, Keith Vickers in Miramichi, Kelly Wilson in New Brunswick Southwest, and Charles Chiasson in Tobique – Mactaquac). This leaves the 3 incumbent Liberal MPs, who are all able to run uncontested, Saint John which is assumed to be left open for former M.P. Paul Zed, and NDP-held Acadie – Bathurst)
- 2 Greens (Ron Mazerolle in Miramichi and Steven Steeves in Moncton – Riverview – Dieppe). According to ElectionPrediction.org, their very popular candidate last time in Fredericton, Mary Lou Babineau, is not running again, however.
- 1 New Democrat (incumbent Yvon Godin was renominated in Acadie – Bathurst a week ago, Sunday, November 8, with NDP Leader Jack Layton in attendance)
That brings us up-to-date in the Atlantic provinces. Next stop: Québec. If you have nomination news to share with other readers, I'm back in full gear on that front, so please drop me a line. Then follow along on Twitter.
Labels: 41st General Election Nominations, Conservatives, Greens, Liberals, NDP
posted by The Pundits' Guide at
11:08 PM
2 Comments:
the parties got all prepared for an election that didn't materialise . of course there will have to be another election at some point . as for the atlantic area specifically there doesn't appear to have been a mad rush to nominate here in general as the major parties still each have alot of open nominations here .
Well, Anon, I can understand Newfoundland being slow outside of St. John's, because the Conservatives would normally be the main opposition, but it's not clear how things will shake out in the province for them just yet. The NDP has nominated early in its one current target seat, which is to be expected.
Nova Scotia also makes sense inasmuch as folks would have been waiting for the provincial election to be out of the way; and then wait to see what the new equilibrium is, who the new Conservative leader is, and who might be available to run federally.
In New Brunswick, the Moncton seat wound up being a lot closer than the Liberals thought, and apparently 2008 Conservative candidate Daniel Allain is already out working the community in anticipation of another run, although I haven't seen any indication that he's actually nominated yet. But the provincial political situation has been getting a lot more volatile lately, I understand, with first the french immersion issue and now the proposed sale of NB Power to Quebec Hydro. I saw the NDP at 22% in one provincial poll, which if they can get organized to take advantage of this running room with their new francophone leader, might have federal repercussions as well. With the Green Party's star candidate apparently ruling herself out in Fredericton again this time, that might be one seat to watch if the NDP could recruit a strong candidate and get back to the 21.4% John Carty obtained in 2006. Meanwhile Conservative blogger Steve Janke has speculated about whether Paul Zed does indeed plan to run again, and last I read Zed was still hedging his bets. What's also unknown is the role the long gun registry issue would have in that province, given that the registry is administered there.
As to Prince Edward Island, I strongly suspect no-one will announce until it's known whether the long-standing Liberal incumbents plan to retire or not. If they do, the Liberals will have to handle the transition carefully, since the Conservatives are undoubtedly ready to pounce if they see an opening ... although the next Conservative M.P. won't get to be in cabinet the way the first one was guaranteed to be.
Thanks for reading and for taking the time to comment.
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