Liberals must try to beat NDP
Incumbent Nycole Turmel is NDP whip in parliament, writes Norman Provencher.
THE CANDIDATES
Bloc Québécois: Third-year social sciences student (Université du Québec en Outaouais) Maude Chouinard-Boucher voted in her first federal election in 2011 and decided to take it a step further this year. She’s been getting into the campaign gradually with door-to-door work and “listening.” She expects to step up with firm policy positions Sept. 1. Green: Community activist and retired teacher Roger Fleury is well-known in the area for his support of causes as wideranging as aboriginal rights and light-rail transit. President of an off-reserve Algonquin group, he was arrested in 2014 for protesting a development project on a 3,000-year-old aboriginal archeological site in Gatineau. Fleury is also a political veteran, having run unsuccessfully municipally (for mayor of Gatineau several times), provincially and federally. Website: rogerfleury.ca Twitter: @rogerfleury Liberal: The party’s former national director Greg Fergus, 46, won a hard-fought nomination battle against two opponents, including ex-mayor of Hull and Gatineau Yves Ducharme. Born in the Dollard-des- Ormeaux borough of Montreal, Fergus is a longtime party activist and has served as the president of the Young Liberals of Canada, as well as national director of the party. He was also an adviser to former Liberal cabinet ministers Pierre Pettigrew and Jim Peterson. He has bachelor degrees in social science and international relations. Website: gregfergus.liberal.ca Phone: 819-557-4734 Twitter: @gregfergus New Democrat (I): Nycole Turmel garnered high marks in her first term as MP, both for regional projects such as a private member’s bill to try to protect Gatineau Park’s boundaries, and clarifying the National Capital Commission’s responsibilities. The former national president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, Turmel, 72, added to her national profile in her role as interim party leader when the late NDP leader Jack Layton was struck ill. She is the NDP’s whip in parliament. Website: nycoleturmel.ndp.ca Twitter: @nycole_turmel
Other parties: The Conservatives have not yet nominated a candidate.
THE RIDING
Made up of the former cities of Aylmer and Hull, the riding had had Liberal representatives (apart from the three-year conversion of former MP Gilles Rocheleau to the Bloc Québécois in 1990) for more than a century until the NDP’s Nycole Turmel crushed incumbent Marcel Proulx with about 60 per cent of the vote in 2011. The riding has about 91,000 eligible voters, with French the primary language in about 80 per cent of the homes. The National Household Survey indicates the FrenchEnglish split is closer at work, with French listed as primary in a ratio of about 3-2.
2011 RESULTS
Turmel won with a hefty 59.2 per cent of the vote, while incumbent Proulx’s vote took 20 per cent. The other candidates were far behind: Green’s Roger Fleury polled 13.63 per cent, the Tories’ Nancy Brassard-Fortin polled 10.19 per cent, and the Bloc’s Dino Lemay was at 8.44 per cent.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR
Government and its offshoots are the big employers in the urban riding, home to about 125,000 residents. Budget measures and federal staffing issues are always big news and the Conservatives seem not to have made many friends with spending cuts and job reductions. Like many Ottawa ridings, the National Capital Commission is a favourite whipping boy for politicians and many residents.
City council in Gatineau has also called for a debate by candidates on the federal role in development and infrastructure, such as that required by the massive Zibi commercialresidential project on the old Domtar lands (which Gatineau firmly supports).
While Turmel seems unassailable due to a strong record both in parliament and in the riding, Fergus’s candidacy is proof that the Liberals are not going to walk away from the fight.
If he can translate his backroom organizational skills and contacts into votes — and if the Liberals can gain momentum nationally — Fergus could prove stiff competition for Turmel.