Decision Ottawa Centre

Bob Rae now running in Ottawa Centre!

2011-04-30T11:38:00.000-07:00

Things have become so desperate for the Liberal Party of Canada in the dying days of this election that former leadership contender Bob Rae is now running in the Ottawa Centre riding... at least according to the the Charlottetown Guardian
. Psssst: I'm pretty sure its just a typo. Rae is actually running in the, not dissimilar, riding of Toronto Centre.

Just a note...

2011-04-27T19:17:00.000-07:00

...and I do intend to post a context piece here at some point before the election. I'll have to make the time.

Latest on child care

2011-04-27T19:15:00.000-07:00

Here's a belated update on the story on child care in Hintonburg and environs I did for OpenFile Ottawa.

PSAC endorses Dewar

2011-04-27T19:13:00.000-07:00

Speaks for itself, I guess. I'd be interested to know how many PSAC members (or even voters generally) really pay attention to these kinds of endorsements?

The story of the ad

2011-04-26T19:18:00.000-07:00

...and here, curiously, is a news story about a television ad...

Liberal complains of crank calls

2011-04-26T19:09:00.000-07:00

The CBC has this follow on harassing calls. Apparently Ottawa Centre is the latest riding to be hit:

Scott Bradley, the Liberal candidate in Ottawa-Centre, says his riding is being targetted with late night and repeat phone calls asking people to vote Liberal. But, like others reported last week, he says they aren't coming from his campaign.

Bradley says he's filed a police report about the calls, which go out after 9 p.m. and come from a local area code. He says his campaign stops making calls around 8 p.m.

Read the full story here.

OpenFile Candidate profiles

2011-04-26T06:18:00.000-07:00

Here's an excellent selection of candidate profiles assembled by OpenFile Ottawa. I believe this is the first time Konstantinakos has commented to media on his bizzare twitter-jacking early in the campaign:

I found myself impersonated by someone who opened a twitter account in my name. I'm proud of the way that technology -- much of it developed right here in Ottawa -- has opened the doors to democracy around the world, including the Middle East. But when the impersonator used my name and picture to tweet hurtful and absurd comments, I saw how new technology raises new issues.

Read the full story here.

Child care in Ottawa Centre

2011-04-25T19:18:00.000-07:00

Here's an oldie but a goodie. Dewar plugs the NDP childcare plan in the Ottawa Citizen.

It's a natural issue for a riding populated with relatively wealthy civil servants. Slightly more than half of children are in some kind of child care outside the home and higher income couples are more likely to use it.

Here's a map on the same issue that I produced for OpenFile Ottawa. It shows licensed child care across the city by entrance age.

Pirates out in Ottawa Centre

2011-04-25T04:34:00.000-07:00

"Our Ottawa Centre candidate unfortunately didn't make Elections Canada's nomination deadline. We have 10 candidates on the ballot now."

That appears to be the official line from the Pirate Party of candidate on their MIA candidate in Ottawa Centre. Oren Mazor had declared himself a candidate but (as previously posted) never appeared on the Elections Canada website.

Azim K. is mayor of Scott Bradley's campaign office

2011-04-25T04:23:00.000-07:00

If Twitter has made this the social media election then foursquare remains the media that hasn't really arrived yet.

In Ottawa Centre a dude named Azim K. is apparently "mayor" of Scott Bradley's campaign office on Carling Avenue. His bragging righst, however, come cheap. At this count Azim held 11 visits out of only 21. Only four (square?) people participated. Foursquare is, of course, the location based social media that confers titles such as mayor on folks who check-in often at certain locations.

Paul Dewar's Rochester Street campaign office has one lonesome check-in and no mayor. The other candidate's HQs don't seem to be foursquare destinations. What does it all mean? Nothing, of course.

Future of the public service

2011-04-24T04:19:00.000-07:00

It isn't strictly Ottawa Centre related... but this column by David Reevely is a tidy little summary of the chatter on public service cuts... and sure to be of interest in the electoral district with the highest population of bureaucrats:

An election issue of local relevance: The Tory election platform and the government budget that preceded it imply (but do not explicitly declare) massive cuts to the public service and federal programs to eliminate the deficit in just a few years, according to both Le Devoir and Maclean's.

Read the full story here.

Small business in Westboro

2011-04-19T19:12:00.000-07:00

Jonathan Migneault with OpenFile has this take on party platforms through the eyes of small business.

Conservative no show

2011-04-19T03:55:00.000-07:00

Jessica Smith with Metro Ottawa reports that Conservative candidate Damian Konstantinakos didn't attend an all-candidates debate April 17. Does that make it a some-candidates debate?

About 60 people turned out yesterday to see three out of four candidates in Ottawa Centre debate issues important to the many new Canadians in the riding.

Conservative candidate Damian Konstantinakos didn’t attend the debate and his party became a target for the others.

The debate topic was New Canadians and Immigration.

Read the full story here.

Konstantinakos also declined an invitation to discuss art at the Cube Gallery tonight although his campaign office is directly across the street.

Conservative campaign

2011-04-16T12:21:00.000-07:00

Curious to know who's working on the campaign to elect Damian Konstantinakos? I found this list posted on the wall in his campaign office very helpful:

(I would obviously have posted similar lists from other candidates... if they were anywhere near this easy to come by.)

Child care visions for Hintonburg and beyond

2011-04-16T12:08:00.000-07:00

Oh my! Here's a wonderful little story from OpenFile Ottawa on an issue facing many parents in Ottawa Centre:

Jessica Velicogna and her husband had hoped to find licensed child care for their 11-month-old son when Jessica returned to work. A place within walking distance of their family home in the Civic Hospital or Hintonburg neighbourhoods would have been ideal. But they soon learned there was only one licensed centre nearby that accepted children that young and, not surprisingly, it was full.

“Once we realized how little there was in Hintonburg—in Civic Hospital, there 's nothing at all—we started looking at Centretown, Westboro, Experimental Farm and Ottawa South. And there wasn't much there either,” Velicogna says. “Most of them don't take kids until they are 18-months, and the ones that do charge a lot. So daycares were basically out for us.”

Read the full story here. (Psst. That is my own horn you hear...)

Environmental debate April 20

2011-04-16T12:03:00.001-07:00

Rabble.ca is plugging the following debate in the riding:

Ottawa-Centre environment debate: The themes covered will be: the green economy, climate change and water. The questions will be asked by four Ottawa-based groups: Ecology Ottawa, Council of Canadians (water campaigner Emma Lui), Citizens for Public Justice and the Polaris Institute. Some time will be reserved for questions from the audience at the end. The debate takes place on Wednesday April 20 at 7:30 p.m. at the Centretown United Church.

G&M predicts an NDP win

2011-04-15T11:59:00.000-07:00

View the Globe and Mail's summary for Ottawa Centre here.

Sun shines on Ottawa Centre

2011-04-15T11:50:00.000-07:00

Dewar says pegs himself as defender of the public service, Konstantinakos says "most important election any of us will vote in," Hunter is campaigning with a 3-month-old and Bradley gets a chance to dis Harper (if anyone reads to the end). That's the Ottawa Sun's take on Ottawa Centre.

Here's a sample:

Green Party candidate Jen Hunter is hoping to improve on her finish in 2008. The 42-year-old has been campaigning with her three-month-old son, whose first name is the same as her last.

He's a good conversation piece, and a heck of a lot more cheerful than the electorate, so it seems.

This is Hunter's second go around, but she's a little sensitive about that. If she had received just 44 more votes in 2008, her riding association would have qualified for $35,000 in funding.

More depressing than that, she says, is what she's hearing at the door.

"It break my heart," she says. "People are telling me they don't intend to vote."

Read the full story here.

Candidates meet with Citizen ed board

2011-04-14T18:00:00.000-07:00

The Ottawa Citizen has posted a replay video of their editorial board meeting with candidates for Ottawa Centre.

You can also view the original post at this link.

Eight seek election

2011-04-13T12:10:00.000-07:00

And this, belatedly, from Cassandra Trenholme in the Centretown News:

A record eight candidates have filed nomination papers in Ottawa Centre for the May 2 federal election.

Read the full story here.

It's official: more candidates!

2011-04-11T19:13:00.000-07:00

The field in Ottawa Centre just got a little broader. Stuart Ryan is running for the Communist Party of Canada and Pierre Soublière is representing the Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada.

Elections Canada list of candidates

...and... arrrr... while it isn't registered-with-Elections-Canada official... Oren Mazor is running in Ottawa Centre for the Pirate Party of Canada.

Hill Times profiles Dewar

2011-04-11T19:02:00.000-07:00

Jessica Bruno has this take on NDP candidate Paul Dewar in the Hill Times:

It's "door-to-door combat" in Ottawa Centre as the incumbent NDP Paul Dewar, who won in the 2008 election with 39.7 per cent of the vote and is considered a media darling, campaigns to get re-elected against the Grit, Tory, and Green candidates in the riding the Parliament Buildings call home.

Get the full story here (subscription required).

Dewar to debate arts

2011-04-08T11:27:00.000-07:00

NDP candidate Paul Dewar will participate in a debate organized by the Canada Conference for the arts. Here are the deets:

Election 2011: What about arts and culture?
Date: April 20, 2011
Time: 5 pm – 6:30 pm
Location: University of Ottawa, Desmarais Building

A part of our Thinking Culture forum series, the CCA will host a free bilingual debate with local election candidates, focusing on their arts, culture and heritage platforms. To date, confirmed participants include: Mauril Bélanger (Liberal candidate for Ottawa-Vanier), Paul Dewar (NDP candidate for Ottawa Centre), and Richard Nadeau (Bloc Québécois candidate for Gatineau). Visit our website for more information.

Read the original post here.

Bradley winning the sign war: Citizen ed

2011-04-08T11:23:00.000-07:00

David Reevley at the Ottawa Citizen sees Liberal Scott Bradley gaining ground in the sign war:

Liberal Scott Bradley seems currently to be winning the sign war. I've been spending a lot of time pushing strollers around the riding lately and although there are definitely plenty of signs to re-elect NDP MP Paul Dewar, Bradley's putting on the better show in the early days of the campaign. Probably nowhere more impressively than on this block of Flora, near Bank

Get the full story here.

Playing hard to get

2011-04-08T11:09:00.000-07:00

John Ibbitson and Daniel Leblanc at the Globe and Mail name candidate for Ottawa Centre among the Conservative shrinking violets:

The peekaboo nature of some campaigns has also extended to the media. Conservative candidate Damian Konstantinakos was the only no-show when CBC radio interviewed the candidates for Ottawa Centre, currently held by the NDP.

Get the full story here.

Unwelcome sign

2011-04-07T20:16:00.000-07:00

CBC reports a curious tale of a woman who awakes to find a sign promoting a party other than the one she supports on her lawn. But they really save the best part for last:

She also found out that if she damaged or even removed the sign, she could face fines under the Canada Elections Act.

"I was a little perturbed that their big concern was whether I took down the sign, not that the sign had been put up without my permission," Worton said.

No kidding.

Elections Canada also tells the CBC that "they've received a number of similar complaints of political parties of all stripes putting up signs without permission." Read the full story here.

Tracking candidates use of social media in Ottawa Centre

2011-04-06T20:24:00.000-07:00

Here's an interesting promise from Mark Blevis:

I’m planning to start looking at how candidates in Ottawa Centre (where my vote counts) are using social media beginning tomorrow.

We're interested to see what he has to say. Watch for his posts here.

Ottawa Centre debate

2011-04-06T20:18:00.000-07:00

Here's an all-candidates debate announcement from rabble.ca:

The Polaris Institute and the Centretown United Church are organizing an all-candidates debate for Ottawa-Centre on April 20. Questions will be asked by the Polaris Institute, Citizens for Public Justice and the Council of Canadians. The question posed by Council campaigner Emma Lui will be on water policy. More soon on this.

Scott Bradley accused of misrepresenting incumbent

2011-04-05T11:03:00.000-07:00

Scott Bradley is accused of misrepresenting NDP MP Paul Dewar's stance on the public service. A writer for the blog Dammit Janet notes that Bradley's campaing has edited a clip from CBC Radio to make it sound as though Dewar supports cuts to the public service.

But the clip begins with what sounds like: "Paul was saying, see, the PS is a good place to make cuts and save money..." That’s where the line is crossed. The actual quote, before Breitbarting, is:"Across the country many voters, despite what Paul was saying, see the PS as a good place to make cuts and save money..." Only the first week of the campaign, and one candidate is already aiming low.

You can read the full post here.

Here's the video (the radio clip plays at the beginning):

If you return to the post and scroll down you'll notice the following comment:

Scott Bradley said...

Saw your blog posting. You are correct that I did make a comment on the public record as quoted in your first paragraph, but the second comment you are attributing to me is absolutely false.

I've never said that, and would appreciate a retraction. I will differentiate myself from my opponent, and make comments on what I think he has or hasn't do, but I don't make false accusations.

You are welcome to criticize me all you want, but as you are asking me to be respectful, I am hoping others show the same courtesy

Regards,

Scott

I don't know. The original post looks an awful lot like fair comment to me.

How Ottawa Centre voted in 2008

2011-04-04T20:09:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder how people voted in different parts of Ottawa Centre? Glen McGregor at the Ottawa Citizen produced this map that shows just that. It's a poll by poll mapping of the results from 2008.

View Larger Map

See maps for other electoral districts here.

A twitter in Ottawa Centre

2011-04-02T19:17:00.000-07:00

An Ottawa Centre faker had folks a flutter on Twitter this Saturday evening. Blogger Mark Blevis offers a tidy little summary:

A tweet was published on what appears to be a fake account for Ottawa Centre Conservative candidate Damian Konstantinakos.
EZ 4 #Lib & #NDP coalitionistes 2 appeal 2 lazy govt workrs; real workrs suport #CPC govt. http://bit.ly/eVR4GE #OttCentre #elxn41 #cdnpoli
The tweet is making the rounds, reaching Toronto Star reporter Susan Delacourt and drawing fire from Ottawa Centre Liberal candidate Scott Bradley.
As it turns out, the tweet was issued on the Twitter account @DKonstantinakos. The actual account for the candidate is @VoteDamianCPC.

Read the full post here. Liberal candidate Scott Bradley has deleted his responses and asked others to do the same.

Hunter gets Toronto treatment

2011-04-02T12:33:00.000-07:00

The Green candidate in Ottawa Centre managed to score some minor media coverage in Toronto:

Another vocal supporter of women in politics is Jennifer Hunter, Green party candidate for Ottawa-Centre and Equal Voice volunteer, who is running against three men.

Read the full story here.

Scott Bradley, Lobbyist

2011-04-02T12:24:00.000-07:00

Meanwhile Glen McGregor at the Ottawa Citizen provides details on Scott Bradley's experience lobbying government:

In Ottawa Centre, Scott Bradley carries the can for the Liberals against incumbent New Democrat Paul Dewar. Bradley was previously in-house lobbyist with Scherring Plough and as recently as last November was registered to lobby Health Canada on behalf of Merck Frosst. The big drug companies, or course, are no fan of Bradley's opponent. Dewar championed a private members bill to help ship generic versions of patented medicines to the developing world.
Bradley says his government relations work concerned aboriginal education programs as part of the company's corporate social responsibility. He says he supports Dewar's bill.

Read the full article here.

Public service jobs the early battleground

2011-04-02T11:17:00.000-07:00

In a completely unsurprising move... the Liberal and NDP candidates in Ottawa Centre are pitching to public servants. As the CBC reports both held news conferences outside Tunney's Pasture -- where departments, including Statistics Canada, are based.

The Liberal candidate is Scott Bradley. The NDP candidate is Paul Dewar. Here's a taste of the CBC reporting:

Bradley said he would give the public service a stronger voice by creating a subcommittee of Parliament.

"There's such an environment of fear," he said. "A culture of fear in the government right now that they can't speak out. They're worried about their jobs. It's not healthy."

Critics point to the resignation of Canada's head statistician, Munir Sheikh, over the cancellation of the mandatory long-form census.

Dewar, the incumbent, said the public service is a muzzled institution.

If re-elected, he says he'll improve legislation to protect whistleblowers like Richard Colvin, the diplomat who spoke out about allegations that Afghan authorities were torturing detainees after they were handed over to them by Canadian soldiers.

Read the full article at the link posted above.

Who's running in Ottawa Centre?

2011-04-02T10:00:00.000-07:00

Elections Canada has not officially confirmed any candidates in the electoral district. Nominations close on April 11 and a complete list will be posted on the Elections Canada site here April 13.

* Please note Elections Canada does post preliminary candidate details as they come in. It is updated three times a day. So candidates are entirely responsible for getting their name and deets listed on the site.

Dewar launches and chats 'gender identity'

2011-04-01T10:36:00.000-07:00

NDP candidate Paul Dewar launches his campaign and talks about the failed push for recognition of 'gender identity' with Noreen Fagan at Xtra.

Linda Keen somewhat Green

2011-04-01T10:31:00.000-07:00

Former nuclear safety regulator, who was turfed over the shutdown at Chalk River, supports Elizabeth May but is undecided in her home riding of Ottawa-Centre, according to Glen McGregor at the Ottawa Citizen.

Sign time!

2011-03-28T11:15:00.000-07:00

What the melting snow reveals from Eric Darwin at West Side Action