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- 2002-10-07
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Ottawa Centre is one of the most politicized ridings on the federal election map. In the 2011 election nearly 75 per cent of eligible voters marched to the polls, a 5.5-per-cent jump over the 2008 election.
When you consider that voter participation averages in the 60-per-cent range nationally — 61.4 per cent in 2011 and 58.8 per cent in 2008 — the Ottawa Centre turnout suggests that living in the heart of the nation’s capital provides residents with a heightened sense of political awareness and participation. That certainly seemed to be the case over the Thanksgiving weekend when 18,751 voters turned up at the advance polls — the highest riding vote numbers in the country.
But perhaps the best demonstration of political interest is evidenced in short stints of mainstreeting, door-knocking and interviewing with some of the candidates.
If you take a walk with NDP incumbent Paul Dewar along Wellington Street West, you had best be prepared for a lot of interruptions. You can’t go many steps before someone — man, woman, young, old — hails him with a cheerful good-to-see-you, how’s-it-going familiarity. You’ll also hear horn-honk greetings from passing drivers.
Canada Day celebrants in Ottawa Centre, a riding with heightened political awareness and participation.
Related
On this particular day Dewar, 52, nips into shops and cafés along the street, handing out a pamphlet, reminding owners, staff and customers alike of the election and, gently, asking for their support as he talks to them about the economy, health care issues, immigration problems, etc. More often than not he gets it.
“My wife and I already voted,” says a man in a Bridgehead coffee shop on Wellington. “You don’t have a thing to worry about.”
“I’m excited about this election,” says a woman in The Ministry of Coffee, assuring Dewar he’ll get her vote. “Hopefully we’ll get a change of government.”
The question, of course, is whether all this translates into enough votes for Dewar to fend off challengers pressing hard to dislodge him.
Conservative candidate Damian Konstantinakos, 41, is not surprised at the advance poll numbers. “There is certainly an eagerness to participate (in the election process),” he says after finishing another day of door-to-door canvassing.
And he claims that eagerness has served him well. In his canvassing, Konstantinakos says he’s finding “a lot of excitement about this election, and I’m getting a very good response at the door.”
Dewar’s other serious challenger, Liberal candidate Catherine McKenna, 44, has encountered similar voter interest, although, of course, she interprets it somewhat differently. “It’s a tight race, but it’s totally winnable,” she says, arguing that the voter trend is toward the Liberals.
McKenna, too, has walked the streets and knocked on thousands of doors in addition to taking part in numerous meet-the-candidates gatherings. As she door-knocked along a few streets in the Glebe earlier this week it was clear she was a serious contender.
Whether it was passersby offering a greeting — and, sometimes, acknowledging having voted for her at the advance poll — or a householder giving a warm and, sometimes, enthusiastic reception, McKenna enjoyed considerable name recognition after months of hard-slog campaigning.
“I think you can count on my vote,” said a First Avenue resident after McKenna had given her pitch and urged him to vote strategically — “this is a really close race” and “if you vote NDP you may end up with a Harper government.”
Still, there were doors where the occupants said, in all politeness, they were NDP supporters.
Among the various issues of the campaign, both McKenna and Dewar have pinpointed the Harper government’s treatment of the bureaucracy as something that can win them votes in a riding with a high concentration of public servants. Both claim the Conservatives have strained the relationship between government and public service and both claim their party will repair that relationship.
Konstantinakos doesn’t see it that way. “Given the economic upturn in this country, locally and across the country, and the soundness of our fiscal plan, I think my opponents had to pick something to talk about,” he says, suggesting there is a “disconnect” between the public service unions’ leaders and their members.
Referring to Liberal leader Justin Trudeau’s plans for a deficit in order to fund infrastructure projects, Konstantinakos says “running a $10 billion deficit today means layoffs in the public service tomorrow.”
Polls of Ottawa Centre voters lean in Dewar’s favour. Earlier this week, an aggregate poll had Dewar with 40.7-per-cent support among leaning and decided voters compared to McKenna’s 33.4 per cent. Konstantinakos was at 17.8 per cent, while the Green and Libertarian candidates were in single digits.
However, a week earlier Dewar had a 12-percentage-point lead over McKenna — 42 per cent compared to 30 per cent — while Konstantinakos stood at 22 per cent.
At the time, Quito Maggi, president of Mainstreet Research, said Dewar’s seat looked safe, but he warned the riding “could be put into play” if the national NDP campaign continued to sputter.
With one brief exception, Ottawa Centre has swung back and forth between the Liberals and the NDP since its creation in 1966. Dewar has won the riding three times since 2006 — with ever-increasing margins.
The big question for Dewar in this, his fourth election, is whether the apparent turn toward the Liberals, assuming it holds, will whittle away too much of his support by the time election day rolls around.
rsibley@ottawacitizen.com
查看原文...
When you consider that voter participation averages in the 60-per-cent range nationally — 61.4 per cent in 2011 and 58.8 per cent in 2008 — the Ottawa Centre turnout suggests that living in the heart of the nation’s capital provides residents with a heightened sense of political awareness and participation. That certainly seemed to be the case over the Thanksgiving weekend when 18,751 voters turned up at the advance polls — the highest riding vote numbers in the country.
But perhaps the best demonstration of political interest is evidenced in short stints of mainstreeting, door-knocking and interviewing with some of the candidates.
If you take a walk with NDP incumbent Paul Dewar along Wellington Street West, you had best be prepared for a lot of interruptions. You can’t go many steps before someone — man, woman, young, old — hails him with a cheerful good-to-see-you, how’s-it-going familiarity. You’ll also hear horn-honk greetings from passing drivers.
Canada Day celebrants in Ottawa Centre, a riding with heightened political awareness and participation.
Related
On this particular day Dewar, 52, nips into shops and cafés along the street, handing out a pamphlet, reminding owners, staff and customers alike of the election and, gently, asking for their support as he talks to them about the economy, health care issues, immigration problems, etc. More often than not he gets it.
“My wife and I already voted,” says a man in a Bridgehead coffee shop on Wellington. “You don’t have a thing to worry about.”
“I’m excited about this election,” says a woman in The Ministry of Coffee, assuring Dewar he’ll get her vote. “Hopefully we’ll get a change of government.”
The question, of course, is whether all this translates into enough votes for Dewar to fend off challengers pressing hard to dislodge him.
Conservative candidate Damian Konstantinakos, 41, is not surprised at the advance poll numbers. “There is certainly an eagerness to participate (in the election process),” he says after finishing another day of door-to-door canvassing.
And he claims that eagerness has served him well. In his canvassing, Konstantinakos says he’s finding “a lot of excitement about this election, and I’m getting a very good response at the door.”
Dewar’s other serious challenger, Liberal candidate Catherine McKenna, 44, has encountered similar voter interest, although, of course, she interprets it somewhat differently. “It’s a tight race, but it’s totally winnable,” she says, arguing that the voter trend is toward the Liberals.
McKenna, too, has walked the streets and knocked on thousands of doors in addition to taking part in numerous meet-the-candidates gatherings. As she door-knocked along a few streets in the Glebe earlier this week it was clear she was a serious contender.
Whether it was passersby offering a greeting — and, sometimes, acknowledging having voted for her at the advance poll — or a householder giving a warm and, sometimes, enthusiastic reception, McKenna enjoyed considerable name recognition after months of hard-slog campaigning.
“I think you can count on my vote,” said a First Avenue resident after McKenna had given her pitch and urged him to vote strategically — “this is a really close race” and “if you vote NDP you may end up with a Harper government.”
Still, there were doors where the occupants said, in all politeness, they were NDP supporters.
Among the various issues of the campaign, both McKenna and Dewar have pinpointed the Harper government’s treatment of the bureaucracy as something that can win them votes in a riding with a high concentration of public servants. Both claim the Conservatives have strained the relationship between government and public service and both claim their party will repair that relationship.
Konstantinakos doesn’t see it that way. “Given the economic upturn in this country, locally and across the country, and the soundness of our fiscal plan, I think my opponents had to pick something to talk about,” he says, suggesting there is a “disconnect” between the public service unions’ leaders and their members.
Referring to Liberal leader Justin Trudeau’s plans for a deficit in order to fund infrastructure projects, Konstantinakos says “running a $10 billion deficit today means layoffs in the public service tomorrow.”
Polls of Ottawa Centre voters lean in Dewar’s favour. Earlier this week, an aggregate poll had Dewar with 40.7-per-cent support among leaning and decided voters compared to McKenna’s 33.4 per cent. Konstantinakos was at 17.8 per cent, while the Green and Libertarian candidates were in single digits.
However, a week earlier Dewar had a 12-percentage-point lead over McKenna — 42 per cent compared to 30 per cent — while Konstantinakos stood at 22 per cent.
At the time, Quito Maggi, president of Mainstreet Research, said Dewar’s seat looked safe, but he warned the riding “could be put into play” if the national NDP campaign continued to sputter.
With one brief exception, Ottawa Centre has swung back and forth between the Liberals and the NDP since its creation in 1966. Dewar has won the riding three times since 2006 — with ever-increasing margins.
The big question for Dewar in this, his fourth election, is whether the apparent turn toward the Liberals, assuming it holds, will whittle away too much of his support by the time election day rolls around.
rsibley@ottawacitizen.com
查看原文...
