Haven't done one of these in awhile, a peek at early declared Liberal nomination candidates

Hey, before you take a look at who has come out of the wood work early to run for nominations, why don't you take a look at my policy on Common Ground, Encouraging Youth Voter Participation and Improving Civic Education? 


Lots of political space being paid attention to right now on the federal scene (and rightfully so) to the upcoming by-elections, the Throne Speech, CETA and the Senate, but I thought I'd do a blast from the past, and take a look at who has declared themselves running for a Liberal nomination for the 2015 election. 

The nomination process this time will be particularly interesting. Justin Trudeau has promised open nominations and if the by-elections are any indication (three of the four ridings saw contested nominations) we could see some wide open contests to be a Liberal candidate in the next election across Canada. Riding re-distribution is another factor, as more ridings means more nominations to be held, and intrigue (for all parties, really) where incumbents will run and which seats will be "open".

This post won't cover rumour or intrigue, just candidates who have openly declared they are running for a nomination either in the media or online. If you're supporting a candidate who has declared, feel free to leave your deets in the comments section. Let's get started with some ridings that even early on are seeing some competition.

Willowdale

Sonny Cho
http://sonnycho.ca/
https://www.facebook.com/GetToKnowSonny
https://www.facebook.com/GetToKnowSonny

Vincent Gasparro
http://www.vincegasparro.ca/
https://twitter.com/vgasparro

David Mousavi
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vote-David-for-Willowdale/516821751725319
https://twitter.com/DavidMousavi

Lily Pourzand
http://www.lilypourzand.ca/about/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lily-for-Willowdale/499118806843623

Willowdale seems to be a hot commodity, as it has drawn four declared candidates already!

Beaches-East York

Tom McGee
http://tommcgee.ca/meet-tom/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tom-McGee-for-Beaches-East-York/489701967792202
https://twitter.com/tommcgeeBEY

Jeff Rybak
http://www.jeffrybak.ca/
https://www.facebook.com/votejeffrybak

Ville-Marie

Marc Miller
http://marcmiller.ca/why-am-i-running/

Désirée McGraw
https://www.facebook.com/pages/D%C3%A9sir%C3%A9e-McGraw/228280297324201
https://twitter.com/Desiree_McGraw

And here are some non contested ones (as far as I could tell)

Etobicoke-Lakeshore

George Takach
http://www.vote4george.ca/
https://www.facebook.com/georgetakach
https://twitter.com/georgetakach

Markham-Stouffville

Jane Philpott  
http://janephilpott.ca/
https://www.facebook.com/janepaulinephilpott
https://twitter.com/janephilpott

Mississauga South/Mississauga-Lakeshore
(right now it's Mississauga South, but the final redistribution report alters the boundaries somewhat and changes the name of the riding)

Julie Desjardins
http://www.mississauga.com/news-story/4079645-desjardins-seeks-liberal-nomination-in-mississauga-south

Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill

Jason Cherniak
http://www.jasoncherniak.ca/
https://www.facebook.com/liberaljason
https://twitter.com/Cherniak

Dorval-Lachine

Alain Berinstain
http://alain.ca/
https://www.facebook.com/AlainDorvalLachine
https://twitter.com/alainbb

Scarborough North

Logan Kanapathi
http://www.yorkregion.com/news-story/4146802-markham-councillor-to-seek-liberal-nomination/

Scarborough South West

Amy Robichaud
http://www.amyrobichaud.ca/
https://www.facebook.com/Amy4SSW
https://twitter.com/Amy_Robichaud

Richmond Hill

Brian Chamberlain
https://www.facebook.com/ChamberlainRichmondHill

Scarborough-Rouge Park

Gary Anandasangaree
http://voteforgary.ca/


And last, but certainly not least...

Ottawa West-Nepean

Anita Vandenbeld
https://www.facebook.com/ElectAnita
https://twitter.com/anitavandenbeld

I'll drop any pretence of neutrality I have here and say that it is great to see Anita running again. I served as youth co-chair of her campaign in 2011, designed her lawn signs and generated most of the content at http://youthforanita.blogspot.ca/.