Canadian federal by-elections, 2008

Four federal by-elections were held in Canada on March 17, 2008 to fill vacancies in the Canadian House of Commons.

The vacancies were caused by the resignations of Liberal MPs Gary Merasty (Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River), Bill Graham (Toronto Centre), Stephen Owen (Vancouver Quadra) and Jim Peterson (Willowdale).

A further three by-elections were scheduled for September 8 due to the resignations of Liberal MPs Lucienne Robillard (Westmount—Ville-Marie) Brenda Chamberlain (Guelph) and Bloc Québécois MP Maka Kotto (Saint-Lambert). An eighth by-election, resulting from the resignation of Liberal MP John Godfrey (Don Valley West), had been called for September 22, 2008. However, the four by-elections scheduled for September were pre-empted by the issuance on September 7 of election writs for the 2008 federal election. [ [http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/484135] ]

March 17 by-elections

With all four by-elections taking place in ridings previously held by the Liberals, media generally treated them as a test of Stéphane Dion's leadership. The riding of Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, which the Liberals had won by a margin of just 68 votes in the 2006 election and in which the by-election campaign was mired in controversy around the process of appointing candidates, was seen as the only riding of the four that the Liberals could afford to lose — the other three were all safe Liberal ridings whose loss would have been seen as precipitating a major crisis for the party. [ [http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/347212 "It's a great day for Liberals"] , Linda Diebel, "Toronto Star", March 18, 2008.]

Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River

The riding of Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River became vacant on August 31, 2007 with the resignation of Liberal MP Gary Merasty.

David Orchard, a former member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada and backer of Stéphane Dion during the Liberal leadership contest, had announced that he would seek the Liberal nomination in Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River. However, on January 3, 2008, Dion used his power of appointment to appoint Joan Beatty as the Liberal candidate for that riding. While Dion has stated several times that he would use his power of appointment to ensure more female candidates [http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060712/dion_women_060712/20060712?hub=QPeriod| Dion offers plan for gender parity in Parliament] , July 12, 2006] , many felt the appointment was a snub to his erstwhile supporter and media reports suggested that Ralph Goodale, a prominent Saskatchewan MP, opposed Orchard's candidacy.Delacourt, Susan, "Dion accused of snubbing Orchard", "Toronto Star", January 5, 2008.]

Beatty, who was a New Democratic Party MLA in the Saskatchewan legislature until her federal candidacy was announced, also faced some criticism, both for her switch in party affiliations and for resigning to run federally just seven weeks after being reelected in the 2007 provincial election. [http://www.newstalk650.com/incoming/20080104/joan-beatty-explain-yourself "Joan Beatty, Explain Yourself"] , CKOM News/Talk 650, January 4, 2008.] Some Liberal Party members in the riding threatened to boycott the by-election entirely, or to vote for another party, if Dion did not rescind the appointment and allow a normal nomination contest to take place. [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080126.wsaskliberals0126/BNStory/National/home "Saskatchewan Liberals may boycott by-election"] , "The Globe and Mail", January 26, 2008.]

Voter turnout: 10,462 of 41,841 registered electors (25.0%)

Toronto Centre

The riding of Toronto Centre became vacant on July 2, 2007, with the resignation of Liberal MP Bill Graham.

The original Conservative candidate, Mark Warner, was dropped by the party's national council on October 31, 2007 [http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/272579 Susan Delacourt, "Harper's team dumps city-friendly candidate"] , "Toronto Star", November 1, 2007] , reportedly for not following party policy. Warner eventually endorsed Rae rather than his successor as Conservative candidate, Don Meredith, after Meredith reportedly told a voter who asked him a question about the ongoing bedbug problem in the St. Jamestown neighbourhood to improve their personal hygiene. [Weisblott, Marc, [http://www.eyeweekly.com/city/features/article/20539 "What about Bob?"] , "Eye Weekly", March 12, 2008]

Voter turnout: 23,951 of 85,976 registered electors (27.9%).

Vancouver Quadra

The riding of Vancouver Quadra became vacant on July 27, 2007 with the resignation of Liberal MP Stephen Owen. Joyce Murray won the Liberal nomination in the riding and faced a hard-fought campaign against Conservative challenger Deborah Meredith. Murray, originally an MLA and former provincial cabinet minister from New Westminster, grew up in the riding, but recently moved back to run for federal office. Her campaign was focussed on environmental issues. Meredith is a UBC law lecturer and has lived in Vancouver Quadra her whole life, campaigning primarily on a tougher judicial system. NDP candidate and UBC student Rebecca Coad focussed her attacks on Murray, criticizing her record as provincial environment minister in Gordon Campbell's government. Green Party candidate Dan Grice, a technology consultant, ran a campaign based on cutting down on carbon emissions and tax shifting, hoping for an electoral breakthrough for his party.

On election day, early results showed Murray and Meredith in a dead heat, see-saw race. Later in the night, Murray was able to capture a more comfortable lead of several hundred votes, and the media declared her the winner. However, as the advanced polls were opened and counted, Meredith started to close the gap. After all 237 polls were counted, Murray remained in the lead, finishing with a narrow 151 (0.53%) vote margin above her Conservative opponent.

Voter turnout: 28,165 of 83,121 registered electors (33.9%).

Willowdale

The riding of Willowdale became vacant on July 12, 2007 with the resignation of Liberal MP Jim Peterson. Martha Hall Findlay, former Liberal leadership contestant, was a star candidate. She faced Conservative lawyer Maureen Harquail, NDP candidate Rini Ghosh, and Green candidate Lou Carcasole. On election night, Hall Findlay garnered nearly 60% of the vote.

Voter turnout: 22,797 of 93,413 registered electors (24.4%).

Cancelled by-elections

Four by-elections scheduled for September 2008 were pre-empted by the issuance on September 7 of election writs for the 2008 federal election.

Westmount—Ville-Marie

The riding of Westmount—Ville-Marie had been vacant since January 25, 2008 due to the resignation of Liberal MP Lucienne Robillard. The nominated candidates were Marc Garneau (Liberal), Charles Larivée (Bloc Québécois), Guy Dufort (Conservative), Anne Lagacé Dowson (New Democrat), Claude William Genest (Green) and independents Régent Millette, David Sommer Rovins, Ronald Andrew Wattie.

The by-election was scheduled for September 8.

aint-Lambert

The riding of Saint-Lambert had been vacant since March 13, 2008 due to Bloc Québécois MP Maka Kotto's resignation in order to run for a seat in the Quebec National Assembly. Kotto was elected to the National Assembly in a May 12 2008 provincial by-election. The new BQ candidate was Josée Beaudin. The NDP nominated Richard Marois, president of the Conseil régional de l’environnement de la Montérégie, the Liberals ran lawyer and Crown attorney Roxane Stanners, the Conservative candidate was Patrick Clune, and the Greens nominated occupational therapist Diane Joubert.

The by-election was scheduled for September 8.

Guelph

The riding of Guelph was held by Liberal Brenda Chamberlain, until she resigned her seat effective April 7, 2008. The Conservative candidate was originally businessman Brent Barr, but his candidacy was rejected by the party in October without specific reasons for the move being made public. Municipal councillor Gloria Kovach was subsequently nominated as the Conservative candidate and faced lawyer Frank Valeriote for the Liberals, author and broadcaster Tom King for the NDP, business manager Mike Nagy for the Greens, Philip Bender ran for the Libertarians, Kornelis Klevering ran for the Marijuana Party, Karen Levenson ran for the Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party, and John C. Turmel ran as an independent.

The by-election was scheduled for September 8.

Don Valley West

The riding of Don Valley West was held by Liberal John Godfrey who initially said he would resign from the House of Commons on July 1, 2008 in order to accept a position as headmaster of Toronto French School but delayed his resignation until August 1. The delay was reportedly at the request of the Liberal Party which, the "National Post" claims, would prefer not to fight four by-elections simultaneously for financial reasons. [Ivison, John, " [http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/story.html?id=640924 Liberal war chest on credit] ", "National Post", July 9, 2008] Godfrey's office stated the delay was due to a private members bill Godfrey had worked on not being given royal assent until June 26. [http://www.thehilltimes.ca/html/cover_index.php?display=story&full_path=/2008/july/14/byelection_calls/&c=1 "Candidates girding for byelection calls"] , "Hill Times", July 14, 2008]

This by-election was scheduled for September 22. Due to the timing of Godfrey's retirement, the Don Valley West by-election could not have been added to the September 8 trio. Under current Canadian election law, a by-election cannot occur any earlier than 47 working days (an 11-day period to ensure that Elections Canada has been notified of the vacancy, plus a minimum 36-day campaign) after a vacancy occurs in the House.

Rob Oliphant was nominated as the Liberal Party's standard-bearer on March 2, 2008 after defeating former Parkdale—High Park MP Sarmite Bulte for the nomination on the fourth ballot. Constitutional lawyer Deborah Coyne had also contested the nomination but withdrew in February and backed Oliphant. [Queen, Lisa, [http://www.insidetoronto.com/news/News/EastYork/article/42852 "Oliphant wins tough federal Liberal race"] , "The (East York-Rivedale) Mirror", March 3, 2008, accessed March 4, 2008] The Conservative Party of Canada re-nominated 2006 candidate John Carmichael, the New Democratic Party nominated actor David Sparrow, while the Green Party nominated Georgina Wilcock, a medical doctor with specialist training in obstetrics and gynecology.

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