A fifth Member of Parliament has announced he won't be running in the next election. Jim Abbott from Kootenay – Columbia, BC was one of 10 remaining MPs first elected from the then-new Reform Party in 1993, when he defeated NDP M.P. Sid Parker.

The B.C. Member of Parliament is the fourth Conservative incumbent to announce his retirement. Bloc Québécois M.P. Jean-Yves Roy is the fifth retiring incumbent. A complete list can be found on the "Search the Database" page under "Nominations Progress in Ridings with Retiring Incumbents". I don't know what we should read into the fact that Abbott and New Brunswick Southwest M.P. Greg Thompson have both decided to announce their retirements just before the Commons returns from this break.

Abbott is the second-oldest of the 10 remaining Class of 1993 Reformers, but the Conservative caucus includes a further three MPs their senior. [UPDATE: He is the 10th remaining member *of the Conservative caucus* first elected as a Reformer in 1993. Of course Keith Martin was also elected then, but crossed the floor to the Liberal Party in 2004. Sorry for the confusion.] You can find a full list of MPs by age at the Library of Parliament's ParlINFO website. I also compiled a list of MPs in the 40th Parliament by year of first election.

Looking at its Google Map*, the riding straddles the lower part of the BC-Alberta border: from Yoho National Park outside Banff, it reaches through Golden and Glacier National Park as far west as the railway town of Revelstoke and then down to Nakusp in the north; and also south along skiing country through Invermere to the sister cities of Kimberley and Cranbrook (the focal point of some of the province's worst forest fires earlier this decade; coincidentally the very week my partner and I had scheduled a two-week driving trip through the area). To their east are the mining communities of Fernie and Sparwood; while the farming community of Creston, the Mormon community of Bountiful, and most of Kootenay Lake lies to the west. It includes territory claimed by the Ktunaxa-Kinbasket Tribal Council in their treaty negotiations, and the former residential school outside the St. Mary's Indian Reserve near Cranbrook has been converted into a conference centre and resort hotel with golf course and casino.

Before Abbott's six-term tenure began, the seat swang back and forth between Parker for the NDP and Stan Graham for the Progressive Conservatives. A former well-known local broadcaster, Abbott took the seat in 1993 with 48% of the vote, and in subsequent years collected as much as 68% before tapering back to a vote share in the mid-50s in the last 3 elections. The NDP has fallen from its earlier mid-40s vote shares of 20 years ago but is still the strongest contender in this seat, the Liberals having fallen to fourth behind the Green Party there in 2008.

I've suspected for some time that Abbott might be ready to retire soon, given that the Prime Minister has made some high-profile trips to the riding, and it ranked very high in several recent compilations of stimulus funding by riding. It was also targetted with a lot of federal and provincial radio advertising about the introduction of the provincial carbon tax and the proposal for a federal carbon tax in the summer before the last election, which I noticed on another driving trip through the area with my partner's daughter.

In any event a similar suspicion may also have led the NDP to delay nominating here until it was clear whether they would be recruiting for an open seat or one occupied by a strong incumbent. The party holds 3 of the 4 provincial seats in the Kootenays (which federally comprise this seat and neighbouring BC Southern Interior). But it doesn't currently hold Kootenay East which includes Cranbrook, where they ran Ktunaxa treaty negotiator Troy Sebastien. Sebastien, BC Treaty Commissioner Sophie Pierre, and retired former MLA Corky Evans from Nelson-Creston would probably appear on their ideal candidate search list, were 2008 candidate Leon Pendleton not to run again. I'll have to catch up on my reading to see who the likely Conservative candidates would be, although BC Conservative Party leader Wilf Hanni also ran provincially in the Cranbrook seat as well. The Green Party has already nominated new candidate Bryan Hunt, and I haven't seen any Liberal names surface as yet.

I've deleted Abbott's entry from the list of nominated candidates, and added his seat to the list of retiring incumbents. One thing's for sure: he'll be retiring to one of the most beautiful parts of the country, lucky guy! Thanks to commenter "Shadow" for drawing the clipping to our attention.

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* To the commenter who wrote the other week to say not enough detail appears in the rural maps, please note that these maps are fully interactive, which means that you can click on the + sign to zoom in, or else just double-click on the spot you want to zoom in to. You can also click and hold down your mouse to pan map right or left, up or down.

Labels: 41st General Election Nominations, Conservatives, Retiring Incumbents

A fourth M.P. has announced his retirement from politics at the next federal election. The Saint John Telegraph-Journal is reporting that New Brunswick Southwest M.P. Greg Thompson is retiring from cabinet effective immediately, and has decided not to re-offer in the next election.

The story concentrates more on Thompson's reasoning and history, and the implications for New Brunswick at the cabinet table, and contains no speculation on who might be in the wings to run in his stead, although we can assume that story is coming next.

The former executive director of the John Howard Society in that area, Kelly Wilson, was acclaimed to represent the Liberals in this riding this past October, and she has not been joined by any NDP or Green candidates thus far.

The riding has been a PC or Conservative bastion since the first Trudeau election of 1968, although funnily enough it had been a Liberal seat before that. Thompson himself has represented the riding since 1988, with only one break from 1993-1997 when it returned Liberal Harold Culbert for a single term.

I've deleted Thompson's entry for the 41st General Election from the database, and have added his riding to the list of Ridings with Retiring Incumbents on the "Search the Database" page.

Labels: 41st General Election Nominations, Conservatives, Retiring Incumbents

A second Conservative M.P., Rick Casson from Lethbridge, AB, has announced his retirement from politics at the next election. Casson was first elected in the Class of 1997, and was returned by his constituents four more times to Ottawa. Previously announced retirees are Conservative Inky Mark from Dauphin – Swan River – Marquette, MB and Bloquiste Jean-Yves Roy of Haute-Gaspésie – La Mitis – Matane – Matapédia, QC.

I've deleted Casson's nomination record from the 41st General Election, and have added the riding to our list of Ridings with Retiring Incumbents on the Search the Database page (in addition to removing the four by-election ridings from that list; oops, sorry, should have done that before).

Other nomination updates are on-going, and I hope to have a clear evening to get everything else updated tonight.

Labels: 41st General Election Nominations, Conservatives, Retiring Incumbents

While I've been working on the new Party Finance module here at Pundits' Guide, and wow'ing at some new Google Earth magic over at Stephen Taylor's site, the nomination news has been piling up. So now's as good a time as any to get us caught up, starting with an important decision Green Party leader Elizabeth May seems to have made, in light of the first by-election window closing:

• Cumberland – Colchester – Musquodoboit Valley, NS - May is telling the Hill Times this week (subscription only) that since no summer by-election has been called as yet for this vacant riding, she's out:
  

  Federal Green Party Leader Elizabeth May ... said she hoped the Prime Minister would announce byelections for vacant seats in the House of Commons, but since he has not done so yet she’s ruled that out as a possible avenue to get herself into the House of Commons and is now actively searching for a riding to run in for the next general election.
  “The moment has arrived where I have to say it’s too late for a byelection. I was hoping there might be a summer byelection in Nova Scotia in [former Ind. MP] Bill Casey’s riding, but even it were to be called tomorrow we’re in a position where it would morph into a September general election, just as happened last year,” Ms. May told The Hill Times in a phone interview last week from the Ontario riding of Bruce-Grey-Owen-Sound, where she was in town gauging reaction to her possible candidacy there.

  May names the ridings of Bruce – Grey – Owen Sound, ON, Guelph, ON and Saanich – Gulf Islands, BC as still being under active consideration for her to run in during a general election. More from the BlueGreenBlogger at the Not An Official Green Party Canada Site blog here. Meantime, the Conservatives have their CCMV candidate in place, the Liberals are having a contested nomination between Tracy Parsons and Jim Burrows, and the NDP is expected to announce its nomination plans either in the leadup to their Halifax convention, which is convening later this week, or shortly thereafter.
• Saint John, NB - The Globe and Mail's Jane Taber is reporting that Paul Zed is planning to return home to his former riding for a fundraiser with Michael Ignatieff next week and announce his intention to run for reelection there. Zed had narrowly defeated two other Conservative opponents in 2004 and 2006, narrowly lost to first-time Conservative M.P. Rodney Weston in 2008 by under 500 votes in the 14th closest race of the last election.
• Portneuf – Jacques-Cartier, QC - The Bloc Québécois candidate who nearly defeated two-term Independent conservative M.P. André Arthur in 2008 appears to be back for another try, according to le Québec Hebdo. Although he is not listed as renominated yet at the Elections Canada website (and the Bloc is pretty fastidious about that, so I'm guessing it's not formalized yet), Richard Côté was nevertheless part of the Bloc caucus' summer tour event in the Québec city event last week. Arthur was reelected by a margin of 1.5% over Côté, in the only riding the Conservative Party did not contest in the last election. Ironically, while the Conservatives bowed out to help protect Arthur who has usually voted with them in Parliament, Arthur's raw vote actually fell by 5,000 votes, while the Liberals, NDP and Bloc (in that order) saw an increase in their raw vote instead and the overall turnout dropped from 69% to 60%. An interesting case study for the proponents of strategic voting, to be sure!
• Saint-Maurice – Champlain , QC - This riding is on the list of new Québec Liberal nomination meetings recently announced (more on this below), and according to the Liberal Scarf blog Shawinigan city councillor (Ms.) France Beaulieu will be contesting the nomination on Wednesday August 26 when the meeting is to be held, along with 2008 candidate Ronald St-Onge Lynch who has apparently said on his Facebook page that if he doesn't win the nomination or get appointed a candidate by the leader, he will be running regardless as an independent. Two-term Bloc Québécois M.P. Jean-Yves Laforest currently represents the riding.
• Gatineau, QC - The race for the Liberal nomination is heating up in this western Québec riding, just across the bridge from Ottawa, reports le Droit. 2008 candidate and lawyer Michel Simard held a rally last week to announce his candidacy, claiming the support of the former Mayor, while former party national director Steve McKinnon issued a news release on the same day claiming the support of the majority of the riding executive. Liberals placed a close third in this riding last time, just behind their former M.P. now running for the NDP, Françoise Boivin, and two-term Bloc Québécois M.P. Richard Nadeau. The party is evidently interested in recouping the seat, with a third candidate reportedly set to enter the nomination race, now scheduled for September 3.
• Halton, ON - More reaction to Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff's appointment of businesswoman Deborah Gillis as the party's candidate here from the Oakville Beaver. In fact the third candidate Gary Zemlak had been greenlighted as well, and says that he's disappointed but understands that the party wants to hit its target number of women candidates, the Beaver reports. Originally from Cape Breton, Toronto businesswoman Gillis was appointed to take on another businesswoman from Toronto but formerly of Cape Breton, who also received her candidacy by appointment last time, first-time Conservative M.P. Lisa Raitt. Also running is businesswoman Amy Collard for the Green Party, which makes this riding the first one I've seen so far with all (business-) women candidates. Meantime, the Hill Times erroneously reported this morning (subscription only) that Ignatieff had appointed 4 women candidates, but that's a misreading of the news release. In fact, Gillis was the only appointee; two others were already acclaimed by their riding associations, while Marjorie Black is expected to be acclaimed in Newmarket – Aurora, ON on August 12.
• Oakville, ON - Just south of Halton, there are now 4 candidates in the running for the Liberal nomination in this riding, currently held by first-time Conservative M.P. Terence Young, according to the Oakville Beaver. We already reported that Connie Laurin-Bowie was running, and she is now being joined by two city councillors, Max Khan and Mary Chapin, and local businesswoman Darla Campbell. Young defeated former long-time Liberal M.P. Bonnie Brown in 2008 on his second try, having narrowly lost to her in 2006. Brown won the riding formerly held by Conservative M.P. Otto Jelinek in 1993 with fewer votes than the combined Reform Party and Progressive Conservative parties' support combined, and held the seat through four further elections. This will be the kind of seat to watch to see whether the Liberals can regain their former position in Ontario in spite of a united conservative political party. Thanks to a reader for passing along this clipping.
• Thunder Bay – Superior North, ON - I earlier erroneously reported the Liberal nomination meeting here as occurring tomorrow (August 11), but in fact it is scheduled for August 12 according to NetNewsLedger.com. As reported here several times, contesting it will be Don McArthur, Yves Fricot, and Joe Virdiramo. Michael Auld recently won a very closely contested Conservative nomination meeting on a coin toss. The riding is currently held by first-time NDP M.P. Bruce Hyer.
• Winnipeg South, MB - In a story this past weekend Winnipeg Free Press columnist (and a former Carleton University contemporary of mine) Dan Lett ran down the brewing race in this riding, and the nomination candidacy of former Manitoba Clean Environment Commission chair and current CEO of the International Centre for Infectious Diseases, Terry Duguid (which we first reported here last month). This morning, Duguid made it official, reports Mia Rabson, with a nomination meeting expected sometime in September. The riding is currently represented by two-term Conservative M.P. Rod Bruinooge, who narrowly defeated former Liberal M.P. Reg Alcock in 2006 by just 111 votes, but held the seat more decisively last time around. Duguid has run federally twice before in Kildonan – St. Paul, MB. Thanks to a reader for sending this last clipping along.
• Dauphin – Swan River – Marquette, MB - The Free Press would have also had a head start reporting this story, since one of their columnists, conservationist Robert Sopuck, will be seeking the Conservative nomination in this riding, about to be vacated by retiring Conservative M.P. Inky Mark. Sopuck may be joined in a nomination race by riding president Wayne Mathison. Mark first won the previous incarnation of this riding in a very tight four-way race, but was returned with over 60% of the vote on his last run for office. So far, the Green Party has renominated its 2006-08 candidate Kate Storey, but no other parties have selected their candidates.
• Saskatoon – Rosetown – Biggar, SK - We earlier reported that two-time NDP candidate Nettie Wiebe was set to give it one more shot in the forthcoming election, and now a reader writes to confirm that the riding association has set Wednesday, September 9 for their nomination meeting and Wiebe is the only declared candidate to this point. She came within 1% of the vote of besting first-time Conservative M.P. Kelly Block in the race to replace retiring Conservative M.P. Carol Skelton last time, in a sharply divided urban-vs-rural contest.
• Saskatoon – Humboldt, SK - In the neighbouring riding, which has gone from a tight four-way race in 2004 to a cakewalk for three-time Conservative M.P. Brad Trost, as many as three candidates are now vying for the NDP nomination to take him on in 2008 the next election (sorry, working too late there!), with a meeting pencilled in for Thursday, September 10. Apparently confirmed as running are recent U Sask grad Scott Stelmaschuk and community activist Denise Kouri, while 2008 candidate Scott Ruston apparently hasn't decided whether to enter the race as yet, but reportedly will once the meeting date is locked down. Thanks again to the reader for passing this along as well.
• Langley, BC - Another reader passed along a link to the Liberal nomination meeting notice for this riding on Tuesday, August 18, where the indispensible Langley Politics blog is confirming (as we first reported back in January in the very first Nomination News update of the current election cycle) that Rebecca Darnell will be running, and appears uncontested to date. The riding is currently held by three-term Conservative M.P. Mark Warawa, who has won it handily on each outing.
• Saanich – Gulf Islands, BC - Another Liberal nomination meeting date has now been confirmed as well for Saturday, September 12, this time the contested race we've reported on here before between Kit Spence and Renée Hetherington. The riding boasts one of the more interesting storylines of the last election, including more registered third party advertisers than any other single riding in the country, three candidates who at one time were all members of the Green Party and at one point proposed to hold a Shun-Lunn run-off race prior to the campaign, one of whom was later outed for some activities in his past and shunned by his own party, but whose resignation as a candidate occurred too late for his name to be withdrawn from the ballot, and allegedly on whose behalf some robo-calling was done late in the campaign. The spoof robo-calling incident and some questions about the third party spending reports were raised with the Commissioner of Canada Elections by the president of the Liberal riding association, and the reply he received from Elections Canada is, interestingly, now posted on the riding's website (warning, large PDF). The riding could continue to be interesting, should Green Party Leader Elizabeth May in fact decide to take the plunge here next time, as she mused to the Hill Times above.
• Nanaimo – Cowichan, BC - Thanks to a reader for passing along this brief from the Nanaimo Daily News announcing the contested Conservative nomination meeting scheduled for August 29 between Duncan chiropractor Martin Baker and North Cowichan city councillor, John Koury. More here from the Cowichan News Leader and Pictorial, and the Cowichan Valley Citizen. 2008 Conservative candidate and former M.P. Reed Elley is now the riding president, and does not appear to be interested in running again. The riding is currently represented by two-term NDP M.P. Jean Crowder, and a contested Liberal nomination is also underway but with no meeting date set as yet.

OK, that's a wrap on the riding-specific news. As mentioned above, the Liberals have announced a new series of nomination meetings in Québec, all of which have now been added to the growing list of Nomination Meetings in the left-hand column, which should bring them to 54 officially nominated candidates by the time the House resumes sitting on September 14. We should also start to be seeing a new list of Bloc Québécois nomination meetings, which were promised by Gilles Duceppe and his organizer Mario Laframboise earlier this summer, while the NDP appears to be working on its next tier target ridings, and a few first-time incumbents for their earliest meetings. The Conservative process appears to be a lot more low-key, in many cases being completed by riding association candidate search committees who acclaim a candidate after a search process concludes. I've just noticed that the Green Party has added a number of new candidates to their website list, but due to the late hour I'll have to include them in the next update.

If you have nomination news to share, why not jot me a note so I can include it in the next nomination news update. And join follow the Pundits' Guide on Twitter for the latest.

Labels: 41st General Election Nominations, Bloc Québécois, Conservatives, Cumberland – Colchester – Musquodoboit Valley, Greens, Liberals, NDP, Retiring Incumbents

Thanks to a reader for passing along this news from this morning's Winnipeg Free Press:

• Dauphin – Swan River – Marquette, NB - Long-time Conservative M.P. Inky Mark has announced his retirement at the next election, the Free Press' Mia Rabson is reporting this morning. A former mayor of Dauphin, he was first elected to the Commons as a Reform M.P. in 1997 with just 35% of the vote, but increased his vote share in each election since, obtaining some 61% of the vote in 2008. Conservatives will be looking for a replacement candidate (and obviously Mark's announced retirement has the immediate effect of reducing their nominated count by one). The riding was held for one term by the Liberals in 1993, and for one term by the NDP in 1980, but has otherwise stayed in conservative if not Conservative hands the rest of the time since then.

I'll be adding the Dauphin seat to the list of seats with retiring incumbents on the "Search the Database" page as well, to help us track nominations in that special case of seats.

Do you have nomination news from your province or party? Send it along to me, and I'll share it with Guide readers and help make this a better dataset for all to use.

Labels: 41st General Election Nominations, Conservatives, Retiring Incumbents

Not all the news from Nova Scotia tonight is provincial. A new name has appeared in the Elections Canada database, and it means that the race is on for the Commons seat recently vacated by Bill Casey:

• Cumberland – Colchester – Musquodoboit Valley, NS - As expected, Scott Armstrong was nominated by acclamation at a meeting this past May 30 to represent the Conservative party in any forthcoming contest here. whether a by-election or general election. Meanwhile 2008 Liberal candidate Tracy Parsons (herself the former leader of the Progressive Canadian Party) still seems to be running for the Liberal nomination as reported here earlier, the NDP is lifting its nomination freeze in the riding now that the provincial election is concluded, and of course Elizabeth May has yet to make her intentions known, and may not unless or until a by-election is called.

In other nomination news:

• Haute-Gaspésie – La Mitis – Matane – Matapédia, QC - Meanwhile in a seat that isn't vacant now but will be by the next election, the Bloc Québécois has confirmed its new candidate in the seat currently held by Bloc M.P. Jean-Yves Roy, who earlier announced he won't be running again. After winning three earlier elections comfortably, Roy only narrowly defeated Liberal Nancy Charest in 2008, winning by just under 3 votes per poll. As reported here earlier, Charest also appears likely to make another run at the seat. Running for the Bloc this time will be Jean-François Fortin, the mayor of Sainte-Flavie, who won an uncontested nomination this past Sunday June 7 in Amqui, after other prospective candidates had earlier withdrawn.
• Edmonton – Strathcona, AB - Mark down next Wednesday June 16 on your calendar of upcoming nomination meetings, when three candidates will be vying for the right to represent the Conservative party in the only non-Conservative seat in Alberta. The Hill Times reported on Monday that former PMO staffperson Ryan Hastman, neighbouring riding president Cathay Wagantall and performance sports expert Linda Slade are in the running. A fourth candidate, University of Alberta student Matthew Sztym was not mentioned by the Hill Times, so I'm not clear what his status is (can any Alberta readers out there clarify for us in the comments section?). The winner will face off against first-term NDP M.P. Linda Duncan.
  
• Yukon, YT - Yukon Greens renominated John Streicker as their candidate at a nomination meeting this past Monday, June 1, a reader writes to advise. The riding is currently represented by four-term Liberal M.P. Larry Bagnall.

UPDATE: And in late-breaking news:

• Saanich – Gulf Islands, BC - I should know better than to click publish on a post without consulting Public Eye Online for the latest in BC nomination news. We already noted Sean Holman's reporting that Liberal backroomer Kit Spence would be running for the Liberal nomination in this west coast riding once Briony Penn ruled herself out of contention. Now he's reporting that another candidate, riding association director Renée Hetherington, has also taken out nomination papers. The riding is currently represented by long-time Conservative M.P. Gary Lunn.
  

I'll be updating the database with the new entries in a second to update our nomination counts, but in the meantime, if you have nomination news to share with Guide readers, please send it along.

Labels: 41st General Election Nominations, Bloc Québécois, Conservatives, Cumberland – Colchester – Musquodoboit Valley, Greens, Liberals, Retiring Incumbents, Vacant Seats

Some big news today from the Bloc Québécois, and a few nominations to catch up on as well:

• Montmagny – L'Islet – Kamouraska – Rivière-du-Loup, QC - Six-term Bloc M.P. Paul Crête announced today that he will step down to run provincially for the P.Q. in the Rivière-du-Loup seat being vacated by ADQ leader Mario Dumont. Crête says that once Québec Premier Jean Charest calls the by-election, he will resign his federal seat to run. He had held the federal seat with comfortable margins during his tenure.
  
• Haute-Gaspésie – La Mitis – Matane – Matapédia, QC - Two ridings further east, four-term Bloc Québécois M.P. Jean-Yves Roy announced last week that he will not be running in the next election, for health reasons. And several candidates are already lining up to replace him and/or contemplating a run, including the Bloc's youth president Jean-François Landry, Christian Gionest the executive director of homecare services in Matane, and possibly Sainte-Flavie Mayor, Jean-François Fortin. While Roy had won his seat by comfortable margins in the past, in 2008 he faced a very strong Liberal candidate in Nancy Charest, who came within 1.9% of winning the seat, in the Liberals' 2nd best non-incumbent seat in Québec of the last election. Thanks to a commenter for drawing our attention to this clipping.
• Chambly – Borduas, QC - Yves Lessard was the first Bloc M.P. and first Bloc candidate to be officially nominated on April 16. Lessard has held this riding with 50% or more of the vote over the past three elections.
  
• Saint-Maurice – Champlain, QC - Two-term Bloc M.P. Jean-Yves Laforest is aiming for a third term when he is officially nominated Friday night. This one-time seat of former Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chrétien has returned Bloc members with solid margins since Mr. Chrétien retired from politics.

Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe told Le Plateau last week that he expects to have 20 candidates nominated by July, and as La Presse reported on Monday the party expects to have another 20 in place by September.

I now count 1 Green candidate, 1 Conservative candidate, and 2 Bloc Québécois candidates nominated for the next election. Do you know of other candidates or potential candidates? Write in and share the knowledge.

Labels: 41st General Election Nominations, Bloc Québécois, Retiring Incumbents, Vacant Seats

Although it's hard to be sure when the next federal election might be, it seems we will forever be on the verge of one, and so a few prospective candidates are getting a head start, including:

• In Cumberland – Colchester – Musquodoboit Valley, NS the 2008 Liberal candidate Tracy Parsons has recently announced her intention to run for the Liberal nomination once again. Parsons is the former leader of the Progressive Canadian Party, whose members did not support the merger of the Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative parties, and she ran twice under that banner before switching to the Liberals in 2008. This riding becomes one to watch, given incumbent Independent M.P. Bill Casey's announcement that he won't be running for reelection.

As always, if you know of forthcoming nomination announcements or meetings, send them in to the Pundits' Guide here.

Labels: 41st General Election Nominations, Liberals, Retiring Incumbents

Recently re-elected Independent M.P. Bill CASEY (Cumberland – Colchester – Musquodoboit Valley, NS) has just announced that he will not be a candidate in the next general election whenever it should be held.

Your Guide has heard from sources down east that Casey may be contemplating a run at the premier's chair if and when it should become vacant, although the above news story suggests he will likely serve out the remainder of his term in the 40th Parliament.

Meantime, Casey's Conservative opponent in the last election, Joel BERNARD, was in the news himself recently.

Labels: Independent Candidates, Retiring Incumbents

Well, he kept 'em guessing right until the end, but in the end ...

• Thunder Bay – Superior North, ON Conservative M.P. Joe Comuzzi announced today that he will be retiring ... after all. And after all, the Conservatives had already nominated Beverly Sarafin in the riding some time ago.
• Also (h/t to Ms. O'Malley), Tony Ianno is stepping down as Liberal candidate in the Toronto riding of Trinity – Spadina, ON in favour of his significant other, lawyer Christine Innes. Ianno represented the riding from 1993 to 2006, when after a series of close contests he finally lost to the current first-time NDP incumbent M.P. Olivia Chow (who, since we're mentioning spousal relationships in this one blog-post for this one time only ... and for *anyone* who didn't already know, is married to NDP Leader Jack Layton).
• One of Kady's commenters also draws to our attention that Christine McGirr is running for the Conservatives in Trinity – Spadina as well, which I have confirmed here. Thus, there will be three women running here, alongside Green candidate Stephen "mimeguy" LaFrenie, who does indeed work as a professional Mime.
• Moving over to Québec, the Liberals have named elite Tae-kwan-do athlete Ronald St-Onge Lynch as their candidate in Saint-Maurice – Champlain, QC. St-Onge Lynch will be taking on first-time Bloc Québecois M.P. Jean-Yves Laforest.

As a result, Thunder Bay – Superior North will now be added to the list of Ridings with Retiring Incumbents, while Tony Ianno will be added to the List of Candidates who have stepped down.

Labels: 40th General Election Nominations, Conservatives, Liberals, Retiring Incumbents

Thanks to alert commenter "alan" for bringing this to our attention:

• Long-time Brampton West, ON M.P. Colleen Beaumier has announced that she will be retiring and will not be a candidate in the forthcoming election. The riding association plans to convene a nomination meeting in short order to find a new candidate.

Brampton West will thus be added to the list of Riding with Retiring Incumbents, bringing that count up to 45 (36 recently retired or retiring in this election + 9 already replaced in by-elections).

Labels: 40th General Election Nominations, Liberals, Retiring Incumbents

The Conservatives have just announced that three Cabinet Ministers will be retiring. Two (David Emerson and Loyola Hearn) we knew or strongly guessed at, but Monte Solberg, M.P. for Medicine Hat, AB was the surprising news of the day, and Medicine Hat has been added to the list of Ridings with Retiring Incumbents (see here).

This brings to 44 the number of M.P.s who have retired or stepped down since the 2006 General Election (35 retiring or being replaced in the current set of by-elections + 9 already replaced in previous by-elections). Aaron Wherry at Macleans.ca is counting 42, but doesn't have the two Bloc Québécois names from yesterday (Gilles-A. Perron from Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC and Pauline Picard from Drummond, QC).

In other news from readers and elsewhere:

• As expected, former Liberal M.P. Paddy Torsney who had been on Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion's staff until very recently, is expected to be acclaimed in her former riding of Burlington, ON this coming Sunday September 7 at 4:00 PM. Torsney lost in 2006 to first-time Conservative M.P. Mike Wallace.
• Another reader writes to say that the remaining Liberal candidates in Saskatchewan are expected to be announced on the weekend, including rumours of an interestingly strong candidate in Saskatoon – Wanuskewin, SK currently held by long-time Conservative M.P. Maurice Vellacott.
• As reported here previously, the Conservative candidate in Moncton – Riverview – Dieppe, NB will be Daniel Allain, the director-general of Downtown Moncton Centre-ville Inc, an urban revitalization and development group, and of course a former aide to the former premier of New Brunswick, Bernard Lord. Allain will be taking on first-term Liberal M.P. Brian Murphy. The Conservatives now have 7/10 candidates named in New Brunswick, while the Liberals have all but one, and the other parties are much further behind: the NDP and Green Party have just 4 candidates each so far.
• Meanwhile, however, Liberals will have look elsewhere for a candidate in Halifax, NS, as deputy provincial Liberal leader Diane Whelan has ruled herself out of the nomination race. The riding is being vacated by retiring NDP M.P. Alexa McDonough.
• And, hot off the presses, the former Liberal M.P. for Nepean – Carleton, ON, David Pratt, has just been appointed by Stéphane Dion as the Liberal candidate in neighbouring riding Ottawa West – Nepean, ON, where he will take on first-term Conservative M.P. John Baird. Long considered the National Capital's swing riding, Ottawa West – Nepean has rarely voted against the government. Pratt's appointment also completes the Liberal Party slate in the National Capital Region.

The Pundits' Guide was in the news this morning, in an Ottawa Citizen story by Glen McGregor on the parties' performance to date in recruiting and nominating women candidates. The latest numbers can always be found on the Guide's "Search the Database" page, but are being featured for now on the main page as well. Don't forget, you can click on any party row-title in that table to take you to the latest detailed list of their candidates.

Labels: 40th General Election Nominations, Bloc Québécois, Conservatives, Liberals, Retiring Incumbents

Two more candidates, including a sitting M.P., are stepping aside from the next election:

• In Surrey North, BC, the riding previously held by Independent M.P. Chuck Cadman, first-term incumbent NDP M.P. Penny Priddy has decided that the delayed election is a good opportunity to step aside from her renomination and spend time with her grandchildren.
• In Calgary Northeast, AB, Liberal candidate Dobie Yiu-Chung To's name has disappeared from the party's web-site, and a reader confirms that "life has happened" for him as well. The Liberals will now be looking for a new candidate in the riding being vacated by retiring Conservative M.P. Art Hanger.

This adds Surrey North to the list of "Ridings with Retiring Incumbents" for which we're tracking Nominations Progress over on the "Search the Database" page where it joins Calgary Northeast among others. Ironically, it's also by definition on the list of "Ridings with First-Time Incumbents" since Priddy was elected for the first time federally in 2006.

Chuck Cadman's wife, Dona Marie, is the nominated Conservative candidate in Surrey North and Kevin Pielak is nominated for the Christian Heritage Party, however no other candidates are in place there. Together with Halifax, NS, where former NDP Leader and Halifax M.P. Alexa McDonough earlier announced her resignation and only provincial Green Party leader Ryan Watson has been nominated, these are two ridings with retiring incumbents where the race is now wide open, and all parties -- especially the incumbent party -- will be putting their best foot forward in terms of candidate recruitment. These are definitely two ridings to watch.

Only Conservative candidate Devinder Shory remains in Calgary Northeast, however it has only elected different flavours of Conservatives since well before I was born (and I'm no spring chicken), so forgive me but history would suggest we're not looking at quite as open a race there, barring an upset or some kind of seismic event out west. Still, these things do happen every so often, which is after all why we're all so addicted to politics, so I'll be keeping an eye out there too.

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One other passage of note: Canadian Action Party (CAP) leader Connie Fogal-Rankin has announced that she will retire at the party's upcoming convention in Ottawa, August 22-24. Voting for a replacement will proceed by a mail-in ballot afterwards, on a date on or before sometime in November 2008.

Labels: 40th General Election Nominations, Liberals, NDP, Retiring Incumbents