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Analysis & Commentary
Changing of the guard
A guide to notable names added to or deleted from the candidates list
Political life is a cycle. While the names and faces may sometimes seem the same, there are times when major changes are afoot. Election 2006 may just be one of those times.
Several well-known and/or long-serving politicians have decided they've had enough and won't be back for another kick at the political can. All parties have been doing their best to shore up their ranks - to attract candidates who have something of a star quality.
Here's a quick guide to who's in and who's out for the major parties.
Bowing out
Liberals
Jean Augustine
In 1993, Augustine became the first black woman elected to the House of Commons. In 2003, she was appointed minister of state for multiculturalism and the status of women. She has stepped aside in the riding of Etobicoke Lakeshore for well-known scholar Michael Ignatieff. Ignatieff was acclaimed as the candidate for the Toronto-area riding.
Don Boudria
Don Boudria (CP Photo/Fred Chartrand)
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The last member of the Liberal Rat Pack (Brian Tobin, John Nunziata and Sheila Copps were the other three) that dogged the government of former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Boudria, 56, represented the eastern Ontario riding of Glengarry-Prescott-Russell since 1984.
Boudria wants to spend more time with his wife, "whether she's ready for that or not."
Over the years, he has been party whip and held several cabinet positions under former prime minister Jean Chrétien, including minister of public works and government services.
He had to step down from that post in 2002 when it was revealed he had stayed at a luxury chalet belonging to the owner of Groupe Everest, a Quebec firm that did much business with the federal government.
John Efford
John Efford (CP Photo)
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Cabinet minister John Efford won't be running this time around. Efford gave up the natural resources portfolio in September 2005; he had held it since December 2003. But he stayed in the cabinet to represent Newfoundland and Labrador. Efford, 61, has health problems related to diabetes. He has been in the House of Commons since 2002.
David Anderson
David Anderson (AP Photo/Suzanne Plunkett)
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Anderson, 67, was first elected MP for the riding of Esquimalt-Saanich in 1968. He switched to provincial politics four years later - but returned to the federal scene and the House of Commons in 1993, representing Victoria.
He held three different cabinet posts under former prime minister Chretien - national revenue, transport, and fisheries and oceans - before he was named environment minister in 1999.
Prime Minister Martin dropped him from cabinet in 2004.
Peter Adams
Adams, 69, has represented Peterborough since 1993. Before that, he represented the area provincially for the Liberals.
Rose-Marie Ur
Ur, 58, was first elected in the London, Ontario-area in 1993. In the 2004 election, she ran in the new riding of Middlesex-Kent-Lambton.
Jerry Pickard
Pickard, 64, has represented the London, Ontario area since 1988. In the 2004 election, he won in Chatham-Kent Essex.
Claudette Bradshaw
Bradshaw represents Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe. She has said she will retire rather than run in the next election. Bradshaw says she wants to spend more time with her family. Since first being elected in 1997, she has served as labour minister and minister in charge of homelessness.
Conservatives
Darryl Stinson
Stinson, 59, has held the B.C. riding of North Okanagan-Shuswap since 1993. He joined the Reform Party in 1989 and was recognized as a member of the party's old guard.
Stinson was the only Canadian Alliance MP to vote against the party's merger with the Progressive Conservatives to form the Conservative Party of Canada.
He announced in the fall of 2004 that he was fighting bladder cancer.
Randy White
White, 56, was first elected in the Abbotsford, B.C. area as a Reform MP in 1993. He won three more elections as a members of the Reform, Canadian Alliance and Conservative parties.
Stinson and White are members of the "old guard" Reformers. White created a stir during the 2004 election campaign when he suggested a Conservative government would use the Constitution's notwithstanding clause to override court decisions it didn't like.
"Well, the heck with the courts. You know, one of these days we in this country are going to stand up and say, the politicians make the laws and the courts do not," White told an independent filmmaker.
White says he's stepping down to spend more time with his family on issues close to his heart, like fighting for the rights of victims of crime.
NDP
Ed Broadbent
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Ed Broadbent (CP Photo/Fred Chartrand)
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Broadbent, 69, returned to politics in 2004 after a 15-year absence to run for the NDP in Ottawa Centre. He had represented Oshawa for 21 years, between 1968 and 1989. He led the party from 1975 until his first retirement from politics in 1989.
Broadbent says he wants to spend more time with his wife, who is experiencing health problems.
BQ
Stéphane Bergeron
Bergeron, 40, was first elected in the riding of Verchères, Que., in 1993, and has continued to represent the riding ever since. He resigned in November 2005 to pursue a seat in a provincial byelection.
Independent
Carolyn Parrish
Parrish was kicked out of the Liberal caucus in the fall of 2004 days after she stomped on a George Bush doll in a skit for the CBC-TV comedy This Hour Has 22 Minutes. Parrish was an outspoken critic of the U.S. and a fierce opponent of the Iraq war.
She was also a harsh critic of Paul Martin's leadership - especially during the 2004 election campaign. Parrish says that's the real reason she was dumped from the Liberal caucus.
In a letter to her constituents, Parrish said she could not represent their interests effectively as an Independent MP and would not seek re-election.
Pat O'Brien
O'Brien represented the riding of London-Fanshawe in southern Ontario for 12 years. He left the Liberal caucus in June 2005 following a chain of events that began with an Ontario court legalizing same-sex marriage. Despite his efforts, the government did not appeal the decision.
O'Brien said he thought he had a good chance to win re-election if he ran again, but decided the time was right to step aside.
David Kilgour
Kilgour quit the Liberal Party in April 2005 to sit as an Independent. Kilgour said he was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the direction of the Liberal Party under Prime Minister Paul Martin. He also cited the sponsorship scandal as another reason for leaving. He was the Member of Parliament for Edmonton-Mill Woods-Beaumont.
Marijuana Party
Marc-Boris St-Maurice
St-Maurice, who was never elected to Parliament, stepped down as leader of the party he founded to join the Liberals. He said the Liberals were the only party with a chance of making changes to the country's laws regarding marijuana.
In the 2004 election, he ran in the Montreal riding of Lasalle-Emard, currently held by Prime Minister Martin. He captured 221 votes.
Switching teams
NDP to Independent
Bev Desjarlais
Desjarlais ran - and won - in the northern Manitoba riding of Churchill for the NDP the past three elections. But she lost the party's nomination this time around. She says the party wanted her out because she opposed the government's same-sex marriage legislation.
Desjarlais left the caucus to sit as an Independent after losing the nomination. She's running as an Independent this time around.
Conservative to Liberal
Belinda Stronach
Belinda Stronach (CP Photo/Aaron Harris)
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In a stunning move, the former Conservative Party leadership candidate announced - on May 17, 2005, just before a crucial confidence vote in the government - she was crossing the floor to join the Liberals. Prime Minister Martin appointed her minister of human resources development and put her in charge of making sure Justice John Gomery's recommendations are implemented after he issues his report.
Stronach will run for the Liberals in Newmarket-Aurora, where Martha Hall Findlay had already secured the party's nomination. She agreed to step aside for Stronach, who beat her by less than 700 votes in the 2004 election.
Stepping forward
BQ
Jacques Leonard
Leonard is a political veteran in Quebec. He won seats for the Parti Quebecois in the National Assembly from 1976 to 1985 and again between 1989 and 2001. He held several cabinet posts, including minister of transport, minister of municipal affairs, and Treasury Board president.
Leonard will run for the Bloc in the riding of Outremont, which was won by Jean Lapierre and the Liberals in 2004. The margin of victory was far closer than the party had hoped for in what has traditionally been a Liberal riding. Outremont is one of the ridings the Bloc believes the Liberals could lose in the aftermath of the sponsorship scandal.
Conservatives
Lawrence Cannon
Cannon represented a Quebec City-area riding provincially for the Liberals between 1985 and 1994. He was communications minister in the government of former premier Robert Bourassa.
He has also served as a city councillor in Gatineau, in western Quebec and is seen as the kind of candidate the Conservatives need to make inroads in Quebec.
Jean-Pierre Blackburn
Blackburn's no stranger to politics. He represented Jonquiere under Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's Progressive Conservatives between 1984 and 1993. Blackburn is running in the riding of Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean. Since 1996, he's run Blackburn Communication, which specializes in business development and public relations.
John Baird
Baird, 36, was elected three times for the Progressive Conservatives in provincial elections in Ontario. He's seen as the kind of candidate the party needs to attract to appeal to middle-of-the-road Canadians. He does not support party's official stand on same-sex marriage.
Baird will be running in Ottawa West-Nepean.
Since his election to Queen's Park in 1995, Baird has served as minister of community and social services, minister responsible for children, and energy minister, as well as Conservative party whip, and deputy house leader.
Barry Turner
Turner is a former MP. He represented Ottawa-Carleton for the Progressive Conservatives between 1984 and 1988, but lost when he ran in Ottawa South in 1988. He's running again in Ottawa South in 2005, facing Liberal David McGuinty, brother of Ontario's premier.
Jim Flaherty
Jim Flaherty (CP Photo/Frank Gunn)
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Flaherty wants to represent the Conservatives in Whitby-Oshawa. He's a former deputy premier and finance minister for Ontario.
He ran for the leadership of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives twice, losing to Ernie Eves and current leader John Tory.
Flaherty is seen as fiscally and socially conservative.
Pauline Browes
Browes is another former federal Progressive Conservative MP looking to come back under the new Conservative banner. She represented the Toronto-area riding of Scarborough Centre between 1984 and 1993 and served as minister of Indian affairs under former prime minister Kim Campbell.
Browes will be taking on Liberal incumbent John McKay in Scarborough-Guildwood.
Peter Kent
Peter Kent
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Kent, a former news anchor with CBC-TV and Global Television, is running in the Toronto riding of St. Paul's. It's an affluent residential constituency that includes the mansions of Forest Hill.
The seat is currently held by Liberal MP Carolyn Bennett, the minister of state for public health. The riding is seen as an indicator of national trends. Since 1935, it has been won by the Liberals 11 times and the Conservatives 10 times.
Terence Young
Young is a former Ontario Conservative MPP and founder of Drug Safety Canada. He founded the organization after his daughter, Vanessa Young, died at the age of 15 from an adverse reaction to a prescription drug - Prepulsid - that was later pulled from the market.
Drug Safety Canada lobbies for stronger consumer protection in the field of prescription drugs.
Young represented the riding of Halton Centre (west of Toronto) between 1995 and 1999.
Garth Turner
Turner represented the former riding of Halton-Peel between 1988 and 1993 and was briefly in cabinet when Kim Campbell became prime minister. Since leaving federal politics, the former Toronto Sun financial columnist has written seven books and founded a television production company. He is also a national director of the Sierra Legal Defence Fund.
Al Gretzky
Gretzky - uncle of hockey superstar, Wayne Gretzky, - is hoping to score London West for the Conservatives. The retired appliance salesman says his famous nephew won't be campaigning for him, but has offered to help financially.
Tony Clement
Tony Clement (CP Photo)
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Clement, another former Ontario cabinet minister, is making his second attempt at a federal seat. He'll be running in the Parry Sound-Muskoka riding held by Agriculture Minister Andrew Mitchell.
Clement was health minister under former premier Mike Harris. At the time, the opposition Liberals dubbed him "Two-tier Tony" because of a speech he gave in which he cited the need for more choice in the Canadian health care system.
Clement is on a political losing streak. He lost the race to replace Harris as Conservative Leader to Ernie Eves. In the subsequent provincial election, he lost his seat. That was followed by his loss to Stephen Harper in the race to become the first leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.
In the 2004 federal election, Clement ran in Brampton West (northwest of Toronto) and lost.
Clement is seen as a member of the socially and fiscally conservative wing of the party.
Liberals
Michael Ignatieff
Ignatieff has been acclaimed as the candidate in Etobicoke Lakeshore, the riding currently held by Liberal Jean Augustine. Ignatieff is an international scholar, most recently director of the Carr Institute for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University. There has been speculation for some time that he would run for the Liberals, and some even suggest his name as a successor to leader Paul Martin. Ignatieff has been living in Boston, but had been scheduled to move to Toronto this fall to become the Chancellor Jackman visiting professor in human rights policy at the University of Toronto.
Deborah Coyne
Coyne, a constitutional law expert - and mother of Pierre Elliot Trudeau's only daughter, Sarah - will face off against NDP Leader Jack Layton in the riding of Toronto-Danforth.
Tina Keeper
If you're a fan of the CBC-TV program North of 60, then you know Tina Keeper. She played Const. Michelle Kenidi, a single mother working as an RCMP officer in the fictional Northwest Territories town of Lynx River. In 1997, she won a Gemini Award as Best Actress in a Continuing Series.
Keeper left the show that year and has worked as a social activist, with issues including aboriginal rights, high suicide rates and violence against women on her agenda.
Keeper won a National Aboriginal Achievement Award in 2004.
She'll run in the northern Manitoba riding of Churchill.
NDP
Olivia Chow
Chow has resigned her seat as a Toronto city councillor to try another run at a federal seat. Chow is the wife of NDP Leader Jack Layton. She ran in the 2004 election in Trinity-Spadina, but lost to Liberal Tony Ianno by just 1.52 per cent of the vote.
Pierre Ducasse
Ducasse is well known within the party but outside it, he's not exactly a household name. He ran for the party leadership in January 2003 after he stepped down as associate president.
He's running in the Quebec riding of Manicouagan. The NDP has had very little electoral success in Quebec.
Sid Ryan
A long-time union activist, Ryan fell fewer than 500 votes short of taking the riding of Oshawa in the 2004 election. The former Ontario president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees is back for another shot at this one-time NDP stronghold.
Marilyn Churley
Churley has held an east Toronto riding in the Ontario legislature since 1990. She is currently the party's environment critic and has been deputy leader as well.
Before she entered provincial politics, Churley was a well-known Toronto city councillor.
She will run federally in the east Toronto riding of Beaches-East York, currently held by Liberal Maria Minna, who has represented the area since 1993.
Paul Summerville
Summerville left a 15-year career on Bay Street to take on Conservative Peter Kent and Liberal Carolyn Bennett in the downtown Toronto riding of St. Paul's.
The former chief economist for RBC Dominion Securities told a conference in September 2005 that he chose the NDP because "Jack Layton has the most coherent thinking about the challenges facing the Canadian economy, and Canadians in the next decade."
He said it's part of his job to convince voters that the NDP believes in a prosperous Canada - not just in taxing Canadians.
Svend Robinson
More than a year after he tearfully admitted that he had stolen a ring worth over $50,000 and would be leaving a 25-year career in federal politics, Robinson asked for a second chance. He told a news conference that he was ready to get back into the game.
He will seek the NDP nomination in the riding of Vancouver Centre, held by Liberal Hedy Fry since 1993 - when she defeated Prime Minister Kim Campbell.
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