Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Redmonton Not In The Bag for the Conservatives

The Liberals are behind the eight ball in Redmonton. You'd think they only found out about the election last night. They still have to nominate eight more seats in Alberta and three of those are in Edmonton. Huh?

And as I reported here yesterday their national webpage is soooooo far behind that they claim only to have 12 candidates in Alberta. Today the have updated it for the twenty candidates they do have nominated.

Yep Alberta is NOT IMPORTANT TO THE LIBERALS OR CONSERVATIVES.... Its in the bag..... Big mistake......there are four ridings that could be contenders;

Landslide Anne's Edmonton Centre, where Laurie Hawn PC has run before and kicked off the attack ads on the radio on the weekend, his focus Crime and Punishment, he is punishing Anne for having been justice minister, being soft on crime and the Gun Registry....might work in Calgary but we're more urban than gunslinger here......

Edmonton- Beaumont where Kilgour stepped down and the PC's nominated a white guy to replace him in this huge East Indian community (ohhh thats smart...must have figured since Kilgour did it any white guy can.....Kilgour had a base in the community......opps this could be a strategic blunder......) Must figure since he works for the Oilers that will help.....The NDP have nominated a White Guy to run here too, though his campaign manager is Anand Sharma of the NDYA, problem is that this guy has no profile.......the Liberals have still to nominate anyone here.....
rumour has it And speaking of Dan Maclennan, the popular Union leader of AUPE,( a guy that even the right wing Sun media loves) may be the Liberal candidate here after losing the nomination in Edmonton East.......and if Dan does run this could be one to watch.......

Nomination meetings are set for Dec. 3 and Dec. 5 for Edmonton-Strathcona and Millwoods-Beaumont.

MID-WINTER BLAHS If there's an election, the only interesting local ridings will be Edmonton-Beaumont, with David Kilgour retiring and non-ethnic Mike Lake winning the Conservative nomination. In Edmonton East, it's another odd situation for the Liberals, with this Nicole Martel campaigning as if she's the Liberal nominee, while the PM invites Alberta Union of Provincial Employees president Dan MacLennan to run in the riding. In Strathcona, the Liberals will sic Andy Hladyshevsky on incumbent Tory Rahim Jaffer.

Edmonton East only had their Liberal candidate nominated Sunday night and despite some failed arm twisting it ain't Dan its unknown Nicole Martel ......She is running against NDP candidate Arlene Chapman who has a good profile in the community,and unlike the Liberals who can't count on their Provincial party to help out, can count on her NDP MLA to help out. So I predict its a two way race between the NDP and PC's.

Edmonton Strathcona is one to watch as well. Vote splitting has allowed Rahim Jaffer to come up the middle and get elected in this left wing riding where the MLA is popular former NDP Leader Raj Pannu. The NDP gained an enormous amount of votes last election, putting them neck and neck with the Liberals.

This time around their candidate Linda Duncan ,an experienced parlimentary lobbyist for the Environmental movement may be able to win votes away from the Liberals, with Laytons send more NDPs to Ottawa campaign. Will that be enough to defeat Jaffer? Place your wagers.

With the Liberals nominating for Edmonton Strathcon newcomer
Hladyshevsky, an Executive member of the right wing Nationalist Ukrainian Canadian Congress and partner with the Liberal dominated law firm of Fraser Milner Casgrain, they are hoping his connection to the University and its Ukrainian Ctudies department will help out. Nicole Martel is also Ukrainian and Edmonton East has a large Ukrainian community, though it is mostly old timers.

The Liberals may be trying to make up for the Ignatieff factor in Toronto with Ukes from Edmonton, see we're inclusive....I wonder what Hladyshevsky has to say about Ignatieff since the UCC has denounced him.....

Local candidates gear up for looming election


by KAREN KARBASHEWSKI
Examiner Staff


On your mark.

Get set.

Campaign!

The race is on as federal political parties gear up for an expected election in early 2006, and have most of their candidates in place, ready to trudge through sleet and snow to spread the message.

“All of our campaign teams have been ready to go since May,” says Tony Clark, federal NDP organizer.

One familiar name on the NDP ballot is Donna Martyn. She ran in Edmonton-Riverview in the 2004 provincial election under the New Democrat banner, attempting to take down incumbent MLA and Liberal leader Kevin Taft. Though unsuccessful, she remains undaunted and has thrown her hat and passion into the federal camp.

“I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve been waiting for this for a long time,” she says, adding she’s been out meeting constituents since the spring.

Martyn is running in Edmonton Centre, Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan’s riding. Edmonton Centre will be the focal point for political watchers this election as McLellan, Alberta’s lone Liberal member of parliament, fights for her seat for the fifth time.

It was a nail-biter in Edmonton Centre in the 2004 election as McLellan beat conservative candidate Laurie Hawn by 721 votes. Some pundits questioned if voters were confused about the Conservative party’s name. The Reform party and the Progressive Conservatives had merged under the name Conservative Party of Canada or CPC. But a candidate also ran under the banner of the PC party, or the Progressive Canadian party.

Conservative Laurie Hawn is gearing up for another duel in Edmonton Centre and says there’s no doubt people who voted for the PC party candidate in 2004 thought they were voting for the Conservative party.
“They used the old (Progressive Conservative) fonts and colours, they were on the ballot as PC. We had observed on that to Elections Canada and they said there wasn’t any confusion, but of course, there was. It was annoying and it was deceitful ... We’ll deal with it if it comes up again,” says Hawn.

He says the loss motivated the ‘heck’ out of him and he’s ready to take a leave from his position as the manager of Union Securities Limited to hit the campaign trail when the need comes.

He’s already secured office space in a former bank building at the north end of Westmount Mall and has built on his volunteer base from the last election.

Anne McLellan’s camp is also ready to go at a moment’s notice, says team member Ray McKall.

“We will be prepared. It appears now to be coming sooner, not later, even though that’s not the prime minister ‘s schedule. If it is forced early, we will be ready to go early,” he says.

Volunteers have been securing new office space for the expected campaign as McLellan’s campaign headquarters for the last two elections is now home to a gardening business.

McLellan’s team will also have help from Dan MacLennan, president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE), who was rumoured to be running for the Liberals.

“It was something I was looking at seriously. I’d had lots of meetings (about it) but I just go re-elected three weeks ago to this job. I met with my new six-person executive and not one of them has more than a year’s experience. What I’m going to be doing instead, is taking some holidays and helping Anne McLellan,” he says.

“I think she’s going to have the toughest fight ever, so I think that’s where my energy is going to be spent,” he added.

Edmonton-area Liberals have some candidates in place and continue to hold nomination meetings to determine who will run in some ridings. Calls to the party’s election readiness co-chair went unreturned.

Mark MacGillivray, Alberta coordinator for the Green Party of Canada, says the party will be running a full slate of candidates in the area and has people in place for all but two Edmonton-area ridings.

Edmontonian Harold Knippschild doesn’t think a January 2006 election is a great idea as it will force candidates to campaign over Christmas.

“I’d rather them come after the holidays because it’s so hectic. I think we have to do something about this government. I just hope this time something is done. It seems everybody complains about the Liberals, but when it comes right down to it, they get back into power,” he says.

Kitt Sampley says she’s all for an election and now is as good a time as ever.

“I’d love to get the Liberals out of there. Soon is good, but sooner is better,” she says.

Sampley’s sister Chris Caddey says an early year election means candidates will have to campaign during Christmas and be away from their families.

“They never come to my house,” counters Sampley. “I’ve lived in Mill Woods for 10 years and never had one there.”

Both women say sleet nor slow would stop them from heading to the polls to cast their ballots. When that will be is still up in the air, but a motion of non-confidence is expected to be entered into the House of Commons on Thursday, with the vote expected on Nov. 28 or Nov. 29. If his minority government is defeated, which is widely expected, Prime Minister Paul Martin would then be forced to call an election which is expected to be Jan. 9 or Jan. 16.


CONFIRMED CANDIDATES


EDMONTON CENTRE
Anne McLellan - LIB
Laurie Hawn - CPC
Donna Martyn - NDP
David Parker - GREEN
EDMONTON EAST
Peter Goldring - CPC
Arlene Chapman - NDP
Unknown - GREEN
EDMONTON LEDUC
James Rajotte - CPC
Marty Rybiak - NDP
Ben Pete - GREEN
EDMONTON MILLWOODS BEAUMONT
Mike Lake - CPC
Neal Gray - NDP
EDMONTON SHERWOOD PARK
Ken Epp - CPC
Unknown - NDP
Lynn Lau - GREEN
EDMONTON SPRUCE GROVE
Rona Ambrose - CPC
Jason Rockwell - NDP
John Lackey - GREEN
EDMONTON ST. ALBERT
John Williams - CPC
Mike Melymick - NDP
Peter Johnston - GREEN
EDMONTON STRATHCONA
Rahim Jaffer - CPC
Linda Duncan - NDP
Cameron Wakefield - GREEN





No comments: