Winnipeg North could be a contest for the Liberals

http://www.winnipegsun.com/news/winnipeg/2010/05/05/13840081.html

With MLA Kevin Lamoureux already in the race for the federal Liberal nomination, he could soon be joined by Winnipeg city councillor Mike Pagtakhan who says "People have been asking me to consider it. I’m giving it some further thought. At this point, it’s possible...I’m sort of in self-evaluation mode right now." Mike is the nephew of Rey Pagtakhan, who was the Liberal MP for the area from 1988-2004, when seat redistribution put him up against Judy Wasylycia-Leis, who he had originally defeated in 1993 but was elected in a next door riding in 1997. The new riding was more NDP heavy which lead to his defeat.

The article also confirms that Kevin Chief will go after the NDP nomination.

Nomination news from the West

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/mla-lamoureux-to-seek-nomination-for-federal-seat-91014009.html

Liberal MLA Kevin Lamoureux confirmed the rumours, and will run for the federal Liberal nomination in Winnipeg North. Roldan Sevillano Jr., who had been nominated as the federal candidate back in November, is stepping down to run for a provincial seat.

http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/Councillor+gets+Liberal+nomination/2913674/story.html
Saskatoon city councillor Darren Hill won the Liberal nomination in Saskatoon-Humboldt last night, defeating Susan Hayton, a local physician.

http://www.bclocalnews.com/news/90621644.html

Sparwood Mayor David Wilks has declared his intention to go after the Tory nomination in Kootenay-Columbia, with incumbent Conservative MP Jim Abbott stepping down next election.

http://www.kamloopsnews.ca/article/20100414/KAMLOOPS0101/304149960/-1/KAMLOOPS01/green-nominee-has-eye-on-commons-vote

Staying in BC, local carpenter Kevin Ortner is expected to be acclaimed for the Green Party in Kamloops – Thompson – Cariboo this Sunday.

Increasingly relevant nomination news

http://www.jewishtribune.ca/TribuneV2/index.php/200909012033/Strong-Liberal-candidate-hopes-to-run-federally-in-Thornhill.html

This article mentions Karen Mock and no other candidate as going after the Liberal nomination for Thornhill (and the Thornhill nomination facebook event page explictly mentions Mock) so I think Mock might be a pretty solid lock for a riding that has to be fairly high up on the Ontario target list. The article also says that "Thus far, the NDP (Simon Strelchik) and Green Party (Norbert Koehl) candidates have not changed.", which could mean either that both are planing on running again, or that neither the Greens nor NDP have found other candidates yet.

http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/index.cfm?sid=283443&sc=98
Former PEI Premier and 2008 Liberal candidate Keith Milligan will not be running for the Egmont nomination. Rumoured candidates include former nomination candidateAngie Cormier, Brenda Hackett, former president of the Liberal party in P.E.I., businessman Warren Ellis and Kelly Ellis, a former assisstant to former MP Joe McGuire. Interestingly this article omits the names of Matt McGuire, Joe McGuire's son, and Liberal MLA's Janice Sherry and Rob Henderson, who were previously rumoured to be considering a run.

http://www.stratfordbeaconherald.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1726749
And this will make commenter penlan happy, news out of Perth-Wellington. 2008 candidate and riding association president Sandra Gardiner won't be running again, but apparently:

"The Perth-Wellington Liberals have a potential candidate who has already filed nomination papers. Ms. Gardiner would not divulge the person's name.

"Once they pass the green light process we'll certainly be making that person's name public knowledge," she said.
There have been "musings" from others interested in running as well, she said.

http://lejournaldequebec.canoe.ca/journaldequebec/politique/federale/archives/2009/09/20090902-215938.html
And the Tories failed to recruit a star candidate in Quebec, as Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu, President of the Association of Families with people killed or missing (the name sounds better in French) declined an offer to run for the Conservatives in an attempt to bolster their anti-crime stock. Boisvenu has also declined offers before from the Parti Quebecois and ADQ.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/blogs/rabson/Gauntlet-down-Nominations-on-56746007.html
This article examines the readiness of the various parties in Manitoba, and identifies Bob Sopuck in Dauphin-Swan River-Marquette, taking over from the retiring Inky Mark and Wally Daudrich in Churchill for the Conservatives as being nominated, although I haven't seen anything to make these official. The article mentions that Winnipeg Centre NDP MP Pat Martin's nomination meeting on the 25th "has been cancelled due to the ongoing provincial leadership race. Martin says if there is a "snap election" he will have a "snap" nomination meeting." The provincial leadership race being the reason for cancelling is interesting, as more than a few people have suggessted that Martin might be interested in running for provincial party leadership.

http://netnewsledger.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=279:ndp-in-tbsn-set-nomination-meetings&catid=35:northwestern-ontario-regional-news&Itemid=83
The NDP in Thunder Bay-Superior North will hold a rolling nomination meeting on the 8th and 9th. Incumbant Bruce Hyer will almost certainly be acclaimed.

Gary Doer to be new US ambassador

http://www.cjob.com/News/Local/Story.aspx?ID=1133974

The official word should be coming in the next hour or so. Of course, what is interesting will be to see how long Doer stays US ambassador, or if/when Layton steps down as NDP leader if he will go after the federal leadership. I can see Doer becoming the Frank McKenna of the NDP, the highly respected former Premier who everyone thinks would be a great party leader but for personal reasons never goes after the job.

Ps: I ended up going to Montreal after all, just in case any of you readers were following that sub-plot.

Rainy morning nomination news

It's raining here in Ottawa right now, but that doesn't stop nomination news from pouring in.



http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/53785957.html

In this article, a Conservative nomination candidate for Churchill, Wally Daudrich, a local business owner, attacks Liberal candidate Sydney Garrioch for not leaving his position as grand chief of the northern Manitoba reserves. I hadn't seen Daudrich's name mentioned earlier, so I dunno when he entered the race, and I don't know if he faces any competition for the Tory nod.



http://www.lelacstjean.com/article-368319-Bianka-Villeneuve-representera-le-Parti-liberal-du-Canada-dans-JonquiereAlma.html

More news for the Liberals out of Quebec, with Bianka Villeneuve winning the nomination for Jonquière-Alma, currently held by cabinet minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn. Villenueve is the president of the local riding association, and has served as a notary and on the local Chamber of Commerce.



http://www.letoiledulac.com/article-367973-Le-Parti-liberal-du-Canada-suscite-de-linteret.html

In the other Tory held seat in the region, 2008 Liberal candidate Bernard Garneau says he will run, joining former ADQ candidate Jacques Cadieux, who declared back in April apparently and I missed the article: http://www.letoiledulac.com/article-i328678-Jacques-Cadieux-annonce-ses-couleurs.html

The seat has is one of the few in Quebec that historically (ie, pre rise of the BQ) tended to vote more conservatively, with the PC's holding it from 52-53, 58-62, and 84-93, as well as a being a Social Credit stronghold for almost 20 years from 62-80, so the Conservatives picking it up in a by-election in 2007 was not the most surprising thing in the world.



There is a thread on the rabble boards talking about possible NDP candidates, and while much of it is wishful thinking, some of it was a bit more substantive, with one commenter suggesting that the presence of 2008 candidate Davenport candidate Peter Ferreira in the recorded video to Layton at the NDP convention might be a sign that he is interested in the nomination.

Anyway that's all for now, hopefully hope to see you at Yasir Naqvi's community BBQ tonight.

Liberals score big name for Churchill

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/blogs/rabson/Election-aromas-50541942.html

The Liberals have scored a pretty big name to run for them in Churchill: Sydney Garrioch, the grand chief of the Manitoba Keewatinook Ininew Okimowin (the northern chiefs association).
In a riding with the largest native population of any riding in Canada, running an aboriginal candidate with the experience and name recognition of Sydney Garrioch has to make the Liberals pretty happy.

They lost the seat in 2008 to NDP Niki Ashton.
Garrioch hasn’t been nominated yet, however, He’s currently the only declared candidate and the nomination will take place July 18.

Garroich would be the fourth consecutive high-profile native Liberal candidate in the the riding, after defeated MP Tina Keeper, Ron Evans, and Elijah Harper.

Edit: A commenter in this article (http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/liberals-gaining-in-winnipeg-poll-50532372.html) says former Winnipeg city councillor Terry Duguid, who has ran unsuccessfully for both the federal and provincial Liberals, will be running in Winnipeg South.

More nomination news

Might as well keep a good thing going.

http://recorder.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1635974

A second candidate in Leeds-Grenville, Heather Rothgeb, a former journalist and town councillour.

http://www.cjob.com/News/Local/Story.aspx?ID=1108267

Another riding that should be very near the top of the target list, St. Boniface, one of the few ridings in Western Canada with a large Francophone population will have former MP Ray Simard try to take back his old riding, as he was officially nominated.