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As predicted, Ottawa West-Nepean turned out to be a tight, three-way dogfight with the NDP’s Chandra Pasma leading by just a few hundred votes over Conservative Jeremy Roberts at press time Thursday.
Bob Chiarelli, the incumbent and a fixture of Ottawa politics for more than three decades was running a strong third — but third nonetheless.
Results from the riding were among the slowest to arrive in the entire province.
At Big Rig Kitchen & Brewery on Iris Street, several dozen NDP supporters gathered in a back corner of the crowded business to watch results roll in on a single TV that had been diverted from showing the hockey game. Pasma supporters waited on tenterhooks as results trickled in.
At Roberts’ campaign headquarters on Merivale Road, initial confidence turned into nail-biting anxiety with barely two percentage points separating the front runners.
Pasma’a strong showing came as a surprise in a riding where the party has never done well, placing third even in 1990 when Bob Rae led the NDP to its one Ontario government. Pasma, a researcher for the Canadian Union of Public Employees, had the experience of former city councillor Alex Cullen as a campaign manager.
If Pasma holds on to win, she will be the first NDP MPP voters in the riding have ever sent to Queen’s Park.
The riding had been Liberal since 2003 when Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson wrested it away from two-term Conservative MPP Gary Guzzo.
The mood at Chiarelli’s election night party was one of resignation. “Here’s to 15 years,” said one young Liberal, hoisting a beer to the party’s lengthy hold on government.
The cheering, when it came, was for reports of other Liberals elected.
Chiarelli’s defeat, while not unexpected, ends an era for the city. A generation of Ottawa residents has barely known a time without him in politics.
First elected to the legislature in 1987, Chiarelli served as an MPP for 11 years before stepping down for a career in municipal politics. He was elected regional chairman of Ottawa-Carleton, defeating incumbent Peter Clark, and segued from that to become the first mayor of the newly amalgamated City of Ottawa. He was easily re-elected mayor in 2003, winning with a 40,000-vote margin, but was ousted in 2006 by newcomer Larry O’Brien. Chiarelli finished a dismal third.
Four years later, Chiarelli was back, running in his old Ottawa West-Nepean riding in the 2010 byelection to replace Watson, who had resigned from the legislature to make his own bid for mayor. Chiarelli was re-elected twice more in 2011 and 2014, serving in cabinet for Kathleen Wynne in the heavyweight portfolios of Energy, Transportation and, most recently, Public Infrastructure and Renewal.
The road to the election for Roberts was as dramatic as Chiarelli’s was boring. The young politico lost the nomination in May to Karma Macgregor, but the vote was riddled with fraud and irregularities — scrutineers counted more ballots than there were eligible voters. Then-party leader Patrick Brown approved the nomination anyway, but when Brown was dumped, the nomination was thrown open again and Roberts was acclaimed.
The Green Party was represented by Patrick Freel. Also contesting the election were Libertarian candidate Nicholas Paliga and None of the Above Democracy Party’s Colin Pritchard.
— With files from Peter Hum and Elizabeth Payne
查看原文...
Bob Chiarelli, the incumbent and a fixture of Ottawa politics for more than three decades was running a strong third — but third nonetheless.
Results from the riding were among the slowest to arrive in the entire province.
At Big Rig Kitchen & Brewery on Iris Street, several dozen NDP supporters gathered in a back corner of the crowded business to watch results roll in on a single TV that had been diverted from showing the hockey game. Pasma supporters waited on tenterhooks as results trickled in.
At Roberts’ campaign headquarters on Merivale Road, initial confidence turned into nail-biting anxiety with barely two percentage points separating the front runners.
Pasma’a strong showing came as a surprise in a riding where the party has never done well, placing third even in 1990 when Bob Rae led the NDP to its one Ontario government. Pasma, a researcher for the Canadian Union of Public Employees, had the experience of former city councillor Alex Cullen as a campaign manager.
If Pasma holds on to win, she will be the first NDP MPP voters in the riding have ever sent to Queen’s Park.
The riding had been Liberal since 2003 when Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson wrested it away from two-term Conservative MPP Gary Guzzo.
The mood at Chiarelli’s election night party was one of resignation. “Here’s to 15 years,” said one young Liberal, hoisting a beer to the party’s lengthy hold on government.
The cheering, when it came, was for reports of other Liberals elected.
Chiarelli’s defeat, while not unexpected, ends an era for the city. A generation of Ottawa residents has barely known a time without him in politics.
First elected to the legislature in 1987, Chiarelli served as an MPP for 11 years before stepping down for a career in municipal politics. He was elected regional chairman of Ottawa-Carleton, defeating incumbent Peter Clark, and segued from that to become the first mayor of the newly amalgamated City of Ottawa. He was easily re-elected mayor in 2003, winning with a 40,000-vote margin, but was ousted in 2006 by newcomer Larry O’Brien. Chiarelli finished a dismal third.
Four years later, Chiarelli was back, running in his old Ottawa West-Nepean riding in the 2010 byelection to replace Watson, who had resigned from the legislature to make his own bid for mayor. Chiarelli was re-elected twice more in 2011 and 2014, serving in cabinet for Kathleen Wynne in the heavyweight portfolios of Energy, Transportation and, most recently, Public Infrastructure and Renewal.
The road to the election for Roberts was as dramatic as Chiarelli’s was boring. The young politico lost the nomination in May to Karma Macgregor, but the vote was riddled with fraud and irregularities — scrutineers counted more ballots than there were eligible voters. Then-party leader Patrick Brown approved the nomination anyway, but when Brown was dumped, the nomination was thrown open again and Roberts was acclaimed.
The Green Party was represented by Patrick Freel. Also contesting the election were Libertarian candidate Nicholas Paliga and None of the Above Democracy Party’s Colin Pritchard.
— With files from Peter Hum and Elizabeth Payne
查看原文...
