Poilievre going for win No. 5
Tory hopes to capture new riding after 4 wins in Nepean-Carleton, writes Blair Crawford.
THE CANDIDATES
Conservative: Pierre Poilievre, 36, is the incumbent for the former Nepean-Carleton riding and will carry the Tory flag in Carleton on Oct. 19. A native Calgarian, Poilievre came to Ottawa as a policy analyst for then-Reform Party leader Stockwell Day and later worked for MP Jason Kenney.
He made his first run for office in 2004, edging out Liberal cabinet minister David Pratt, and has carried the riding in all three elections since then. He is one of the highest profile ministers in Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s cabinet, championing the Tories’ democratic reforms and assuming the role of senior Ottawa MP overseeing the National Capital Commission after John Baird quit politics earlier this year. Website: pierremp.ca Twitter: @pierrepoilievre
Green: Deborah Coyne, a constitutional lawyer who joined the Greens in February as a senior policy adviser to Green leader Elizabeth May after long involvement with the Liberals, was selected at a nomination meeting the day before the election was called. Coyne, who is perhaps best-known for having a child with the late Pierre Trudeau, was the federal Liberal candidate in the riding of Toronto-Danforth in the 2006 general election before running for the top job in the Liberal party in 2013. Coyne lost to Justin Trudeau, a half-brother of her daughter. Website: deborahcoyne.ca Twitter: @DebCoyne
Liberal: Chris Rodgers, 38, is the challenger for the Grits. Born in Bloomfield, in Prince Edward County, Rodgers spent five years in small business before joining the public service nearly a decade ago. He is currently on a leave of absence from his job as a policy analyst at Public Safety Canada. He has also worked at Natural Resources Canada and Elections Canada. He has taught in a community college and also served as an international election observer.
Outside of politics, Rodgers is a performing musician with a band called the Bay County B’ys. Rodgers lives in Kars with his wife, Jenny, and his new son, Cameron. Website: chrisrodgers.liberal.ca Twitter: @VoteChris2015
New Democrat: Kc Larocque -“Kc” is her given name -- grew up in Constance Bay and is making her first run for office. She got a job with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives as a research assistant straight out of high school, and has supplemented her portfolio through positions with Health Canada and the Canada Revenue Agency.
Larocque, who currently manages her family’s small HVAC business, has prior involvement with the NDP in Ottawa, including work with the party during the 2011 federal election. She is 32 and lives with her partner, Isaac, and their two-year-old daughter, Elizabeth.
She was acclaimed the NDP candidate on July 28. Website: kclarocque.ndp.ca Twitter: twitter.com/kclarocque
THE RIDING
The new riding of Carleton — carved from the former riding of Nepean-Carleton minus the Nepean part — is a U-shaped district encompassing fast-growing Stittsville in the west, the rural land south to the Rideau River, then east of the river along the city’s southern boundary as far as Ramsayville Road.
It’s a huge area, that includes a mix of suburban commercial and housing developments and farmland.
The riding is home to just shy of 90,000 people, two-thirds of whom are at least third-generation Canadians. It is 90-percent white and overwhelmingly English-speaking, and the average annual income is $57,000.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
Poilievre would seem to be as safe as a candidate could be.
His hyper-partisanship rubs many the wrong way, and his stance in favour of the controversial Memorial to the Victims of Communism is unpopular locally, but it’s hard to see that harming the bedrock support he has had in past elections.
He won by 23,000 votes in 2011 and with Nepean carved out of the riding, it leaves the right-leaning rural voters with even more pull. In 2011, Poilievre captured more than 60 per cent of the vote in the area.
That leaves a hard road ahead for the Liberals who came a distant second in 2011, and the NDP who did even worse. Coyne’s run for the Greens adds some name recognition to a party that barely caused a ripple in the 2011 election.
I never say never in politics. But as of right now I am supporting the prime minister 100 per cent. — Doug Ford on report he will run for Conservative leadership if Stephen Harper loses