While it’s still too early to tell how the recent $100 million sponsorship program scandal in Ottawa will affect the Liberal government’s election plans, local riding associations continue to move forward with their preparations.
As first reported in last week’s Times, the Thunder Bay-Rainy River riding association for the Conservative Party of Canada announced it will hold two nomination events to name the person to represent the party in the next election.
The first will be held Friday, March 12 at 7 p.m. at the Emo Legion, with the second going Saturday, March 13 at 2 p.m. at the Valhalla Inn in Thunder Bay.
Nomination chair John Carroll said some people have expressed an interest in running for the nomination, but no one has formally submitted an application so far.
“We have a total of seven interested people: five in Thunder Bay and two in the Rainy River District,” Carroll said yesterday.
The deadline for applications is Feb. 26 at 5 p.m. in the Rainy River District. “We’ll know by that time if we’ll have an acclaimed candidate or not,” Carroll explained.
Anyone wishing to vote for the Conservative candidate must purchase a party membership at least 21 days before the nomination meeting—meaning this Friday is the last day to join.
All three major parties in the riding are working on the assumption that the legislation that would remove Rainy River District from the Kenora riding and tack it on to the Thunder Bay-Atikokan riding will pass.
As a result, riding associations from Kenora-Rainy River and Thunder Bay-Atikokan must divide their assets and elect new executives to reflect the new boundaries.
The local NDP riding association will hold its founding meeting Feb. 28 in Atikokan, president Owen Lindsay said.
Following that, they will establish a date for the nomination meeting. Lindsay also said there is a chance they will hold more than one nomination meeting across the new riding.
“It’s a very definite possibility,” he said. “It’s a six-hour drive from one end of the riding to the other.”
Lindsay said he would like to see one NDP nomination meeting in Thunder Bay, one in Atikokan, and one in the Fort Frances area.
No one has submitted an application for nomination yet, but Lindsay said “a couple of people are interested.” Larry Richardson, a former Fort Frances councillor, expressed his intention to run for the nomination last month.
The Liberal riding association for Thunder Bay-Rainy River has said it also will hold its founding meeting Feb. 28. Once the new executive is in place, noted president Philomena Pauluk, the party will announce a date for the nomination meeting.
“Right now I don’t think it’s going to happen until the latter part of March,” Pauluk said.
When asked if there was a possibility of the party holding a nomination meeting in Rainy River District to make it more convenient for party members to vote, Pauluk said the issue had not been discussed yet.
In the proposed new Kenora riding, the three candidates seeking the Liberal nomination are making an effort to sell memberships before Friday’s deadline.
The nomination meeting is scheduled for March 13 in Dryden.
The NDP riding association there will hold its inaugural meeting and its nomination meeting on March 6 in Kenora. So far, only one candidate has thrown her hat into the ring—Rev. Susan Barclay, who also is president of the Kenora-Rainy River NDP riding association.
This doesn’t mean Barclay will go unchallenged. “Unlike some of the other parties, our process does allow nominations from the floor,” she explained, though adding that was unusual as most people indicate their intentions before the meeting.
The Conservative party for the Kenora riding held its founding meeting Jan. 17 in Vermilion Bay, but it has not yet set a date for the nomination meeting nor have any candidates filed to run.
“We have had a couple of people indicate interest in running for us in this district, but no one has yet filed nomination paper,” said Penny Todd, the nomination chair.
(Fort Frances Times)
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
