By Jared Adams
With a provincial election on the horizon, the race in Ottawa Centre remains uncertain.
The Liberals will rely on incumbent MPP Richard Patten to carry their banner, while the NDP recently chose Somerset City Coun. Elisabeth Arnold to advance their colours.
Meanwhile, the governing Progressive Conservative party can’t seem to find anyone to run up the flagpole.
Amid speculation that the Conservatives might parachute in a high-profile candidate, the Ottawa Centre riding committee isn’t announcing who might take on Patten and Arnold.
Chris Thompson, the eastern regional vice-president of the provincial Conservatives, says he expects an announcement to be made about the first week of April.
“The bylaws require a 30-day period between the announcement and the nomination meeting, so we ll probably wait until early April,” he said.
Thompson also confirmed at least two high-profile Conservatives were potentially interested in tossing their hats into the ring. He declined to reveal who, saying they “would prefer to remain confidential for now.”
Barbara Corkum, president of the Ottawa Centre riding association, would not return phone calls.
Finding a well-known candidate to face off against two popular local politicians might be the only hope the Conservatives have of winning.
When the cobalt-and-white wave sparked by Mike Harris’s Common Sense Revolution rolled across Ontario in the 1995 elections, it found itself parted by a red sea in Ottawa.
The wave crested around the national capital, with the Liberals locking up the majority of Ottawa-area ridings. Ottawa-Nepean MPP Garry Guzzo was left as the lone Conservative.
In the election, Patten defeated then-NDP incumbent Evelyn Gigantes by 1,638 votes and Thompson, the Conservative candidate, by 4,409 votes. The defeat was rare for the NDP, which has won the riding seven of the last nine elections.
Likewise, Arnold enjoyed strong support in her last race for city council. She received 78 per cent of the vote in Somerset ward, defeating opponent Kris Schimmel by almost 3,000 votes.
The election call is likely not too far off. The Conservatives have recently begun running an increasing number of aggressive television ads detailing the progress they’ve made since their election.
As well, the premier announced last week that the province had committed to spending almost $376 million to hire 12,000 nurses over the next two years.
The dwindling number of nurses in provincial hospitals and a perceived shortfall in health-care services have long been thorns in the side of the government, and the move was perceived by many analysts to be the equivalent of candy at Halloween.
Patten and Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty, MPP for Ottawa South, were unavailable for comment.
McGuinty may be another reason why the Conservatives are keeping their cards close to the vest. Ottawa Centre adjoins against McGuinty’s riding. While the possibility of the popular McGuinty being defeated is small, the Conservatives would love to have his riding surrounded buy their own MPPs.
Arnold says that she’s buoyed by historical precedent and expects Ottawa Centre voters will like what the NDP has to offer.
“Regardless of the Tories, I think this will be a race between the Liberals and the NDP,” she said. “The representative in Queen’s Park has to be active and aggressive. I think the voters know they can count on me based on my record.”
Part of the NDP platform includes substantial changes to the province s health-care system.
By rolling back the recent provincial income tax cuts for the top six per cent of Ontario residents, Arnold estimates the province could generate an additional $375 million, which would be pumped back into health care.
“The NDP has the only viable alternative plan,” she says. “The Liberals haven’t really put much forward.”
Education will likely be another contentious issue in the election. Tuition to post-secondary institutions has skyrocketed, and local schools, particularly McNabb, have been closed in order to satisfy new provincial guidelines.
Both Arnold and Thompson say they expect an election call before summer.