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Until this year, Ottawa West-Nepean was a reliable Conservative seat in the national capital, represented since 2006 by John Baird, one of Stephen Harper’s most trusted and influential ministers.
That changed when Baird first decided to run next time in neighbouring Nepean, then quit politics altogether. His departure put the riding in play, especially for the Liberals, who held the seat from 1997 to 2006, but also for the NDP, which hoped to build on a respectable third-place showing in 2011.
Liberal Anita Vandenbeld, an expert on democracy and human rights who finished a solid second to Baird in 2011, was the first candidate in the field.
She won the nomination last November and has spent the last two years networking in the riding, building relationships with progressive voters from all parties. One of her high-profile supporters was David Daubney , a former Progressive Conservative MP for the area.
New Democrat Marlene Rivier, running for the fifth straight election in Ottawa West-Nepean, beat out three opponents at an unusually competitive nomination meeting in late August.
In her four previous elections, she had managed to quadruple the NDP vote to nearly 20 per cent by 2011 and had an arguable shot at winning this time.
However, she may have been undone by the late start to her campaign and the slow slide in NDP support nationally, both of which helped make Vandenbeld an attractive choice for voters eager to see the last of Stephen Harper.
Indeed, Leadnow, an organization dedicated to identifying and supporting candidates best positioned to defeat Conservative incumbents, urged Anybody-But-Conservative voters to support Vandenbeld last week.
Abdul Abdi, who took a leave of absence from his job with the Ottawa Police Service, was the Conservative party’s choice, nominated in April with the Baird’s endorsement.
His candidacy was a watershed moment for Ottawa black and Muslim communities, but their enthusiasm was tempered by his choice of the Conservatives, a party that’s unpopular with many ethnic voters in the city.
Abdi’s task wasn’t made any easier by the Conservatives’ decision to make an issue of the niqab and the party’s campaign promise to establish a hotline for Canadians to report “barbaric cultural practices” — widely seen as targeting Muslims.
For his part, Baird kept a low profile throughout the campaign. He wrote a letter of support for Abdi and appeared at a private fundraiser days before the election, but did no canvassing for his would-be successor.
The Green party waited until mid-September to pick Mark Brooks as its candidate. Brooks is smart and personable, a former federal government economist who teaches at Algonquin College. But his party has never been a serious contender in Ottawa West-Nepean.
Also running were Rod Taylor, a B.C. resident who is national leader of the Christian Heritage Party of Canada, and Sam Heaton, a recent Carleton University graduate, representing the Marxist-Leninists.
In his pitch to voters, Abdi highlighted his background as a police officer, arguing that he was best able to keep residents safe from crime.
He also made sure voters knew that he arrived in Canada without money or parents as a 14-year-old Somali refugee and overcame those barriers to become a successful, contributing Canadian.
But Abdi had to contend with growing distaste for the Conservatives among public servants and other residents turned off by the governing party’s hyper-partisan, sometimes nasty style.
Though Abdi downplayed that animosity, Vandenbeld and Rivier agreed it was a significant factor within the riding.
“The public service is extremely important,’ Rivier said in an interview. “It’s awful for people to be living on a daily basis with a feeling of dread.”
Vandenbeld said public servants weren’t so much complaining about job cuts. “That’s not the primary issue. It’s about the fact that their professionalism is being undermined.”
dbutler@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/ButlerDon
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That changed when Baird first decided to run next time in neighbouring Nepean, then quit politics altogether. His departure put the riding in play, especially for the Liberals, who held the seat from 1997 to 2006, but also for the NDP, which hoped to build on a respectable third-place showing in 2011.
Liberal Anita Vandenbeld, an expert on democracy and human rights who finished a solid second to Baird in 2011, was the first candidate in the field.
She won the nomination last November and has spent the last two years networking in the riding, building relationships with progressive voters from all parties. One of her high-profile supporters was David Daubney , a former Progressive Conservative MP for the area.
New Democrat Marlene Rivier, running for the fifth straight election in Ottawa West-Nepean, beat out three opponents at an unusually competitive nomination meeting in late August.
In her four previous elections, she had managed to quadruple the NDP vote to nearly 20 per cent by 2011 and had an arguable shot at winning this time.
However, she may have been undone by the late start to her campaign and the slow slide in NDP support nationally, both of which helped make Vandenbeld an attractive choice for voters eager to see the last of Stephen Harper.
Indeed, Leadnow, an organization dedicated to identifying and supporting candidates best positioned to defeat Conservative incumbents, urged Anybody-But-Conservative voters to support Vandenbeld last week.
Abdul Abdi, who took a leave of absence from his job with the Ottawa Police Service, was the Conservative party’s choice, nominated in April with the Baird’s endorsement.
His candidacy was a watershed moment for Ottawa black and Muslim communities, but their enthusiasm was tempered by his choice of the Conservatives, a party that’s unpopular with many ethnic voters in the city.
Abdi’s task wasn’t made any easier by the Conservatives’ decision to make an issue of the niqab and the party’s campaign promise to establish a hotline for Canadians to report “barbaric cultural practices” — widely seen as targeting Muslims.
For his part, Baird kept a low profile throughout the campaign. He wrote a letter of support for Abdi and appeared at a private fundraiser days before the election, but did no canvassing for his would-be successor.
The Green party waited until mid-September to pick Mark Brooks as its candidate. Brooks is smart and personable, a former federal government economist who teaches at Algonquin College. But his party has never been a serious contender in Ottawa West-Nepean.
Also running were Rod Taylor, a B.C. resident who is national leader of the Christian Heritage Party of Canada, and Sam Heaton, a recent Carleton University graduate, representing the Marxist-Leninists.
In his pitch to voters, Abdi highlighted his background as a police officer, arguing that he was best able to keep residents safe from crime.
He also made sure voters knew that he arrived in Canada without money or parents as a 14-year-old Somali refugee and overcame those barriers to become a successful, contributing Canadian.
But Abdi had to contend with growing distaste for the Conservatives among public servants and other residents turned off by the governing party’s hyper-partisan, sometimes nasty style.
Though Abdi downplayed that animosity, Vandenbeld and Rivier agreed it was a significant factor within the riding.
“The public service is extremely important,’ Rivier said in an interview. “It’s awful for people to be living on a daily basis with a feeling of dread.”
Vandenbeld said public servants weren’t so much complaining about job cuts. “That’s not the primary issue. It’s about the fact that their professionalism is being undermined.”
dbutler@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/ButlerDon
Related
查看原文...
