Prices, Tariffs, and Sovereignty
The North Shore enters the "elbows up" election
Shore Report Federal Election Special
Centre Block, Parliament Hill. Image © John Degen, 2019.
With Governor General Mary Simon’s dissolving of Parliament on March 23rd, Canada has entered a federal election period to be decided with a vote on April 28th. Shore Report has previously reported on the loss of one North Shore riding in the last boundary shuffle, and will focus on three ridings covering the entirety of Lake Huron’s north shore.
According to a recent CBC report by Martha Dillman, each of our federal ridings has a slate of declared candidates, and Shore Report will reach out to all for quick interviews and platform statements. With the loss of the Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing riding and its longtime NDP MP Carol Hughes, the North Shore right now is uniformly red and represented by government-side Liberal MPs. Challengers for these seats include a former Police Chief (Hugh Stevenson, Sault Ste. Marie—Algoma), a CUPE National Health and Safety Representative (Andréane Chénier, Sudbury East—Manitoulin—Nickel Belt), and an Army Reservist and Professional Engineer in the resource industry (Nicholas Bonderoff, Sudbury).
The full list of candidates* to date are:
Sault Ste. Marie—Algoma:
Liberal Party of Canada: Terry Sheehan (sitting MP)
Conservative Party of Canada: Hugh Stevenson
New Democratic Party: Laura Mayer
Left to right - Sheehan, Stevenson, and Mayer. Images courtesy the campaigns.
Sudbury East—Manitoulin—Nickel Belt:
Liberal Party of Canada: Marc Serré (sitting MP)
Conservative Party of Canada: Jim Belanger
New Democratic Party: Andréane Chénier
Left to right - Serré, Belanger, and Chénier. Images courtesy the campaigns.
Sudbury:
Liberal Party of Canada: Viviane Lapointe (sitting MP)
Conservative Party of Canada: Ian Symington
New Democratic Party: Nadia Verrelli
People's Party of Canada: Nicholas Bonderoff
Left to right - Lapointe, Symington, Verrelli, and Bonderoff. Images courtesy the campaigns.
Shore Report also intends to conduct an exit interview with retiring Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing MP, Carol Hughes. Hughes, originally elected in 2008, has seen the NDP hold Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing through four subsequent elections. She and all other North Shore MPs were strongly opposed to the redistricting that saw the loss of Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing.
Retiring MP, Carol Hughes. Image courtesy House of Commons.
Hughes represented the North Shore’s only completely non-urban riding, and has expressed worries that rural and remote voters will no longer be well-represented by the electoral map.
Stayed tuned for more election coverage.