By Allison Wilton
Provincial parties in Ottawa Centre are gearing up for the next election, which may take place as early as next spring.
Incumbent Liberal MPP Richard Patten has already announced his decision to seek re-election, despite concerns over his health.
Two years ago, Patten was diagnosed with cancer and underwent chemotherapy.
Now cancer-free for a year, the long time MPP says his health is no longer an issue and he is ready to serve the community for another term.
But first, Patten must wait to see if he will be challenged for the Liberal nomination. A nomination meeting is scheduled for Nov. 28 at 7 p.m. at St. Anthony’s Church hall, located at the corner of Booth Street and Gladstone Avenue.
“I was inspired by the kinds of actions [the Conservative] government is taking on Ottawa,” says Patten, referring to the province’s decision to take local control away from the Ottawa Hospital and the Community Care Access Centre, as well as the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board.
More recently, Patten publicly condemned the Tory proposal to relocate the CHEO heart surgery unit from Ottawa to Toronto.
That, according to Patten, reinforces the Toronto-centred focus of the provincial Tories.
“The ministers of the government aren’t fighting for Ottawa and we need someone to fight for the people of this area,” he says.
Though recent polls and surveys show Dalton McGuinty and his Liberals leading in public opinion polls with as much as 45 per cent of support among decided voters, some observers believe that a Liberal return to office is not a guarantee.
“Because there was such a good three-way split in the last election, the Tories have labeled Ottawa Centre as a very winnable riding,” says Ray Kostuch, PC candidate in Ottawa Centre in the 1999 election.
According to Kostuch, the provincial Tories plan to “pick up” four additional ridings in Eastern Ontario in the next election in what he anticipates will be the party’s third consecutive majority government.
A date for the Tory nomination meeting has not yet been set and Kostuch has not ruled out the possibility of running again.
In 1999, only 2,500 votes separated a victorious Patten from Kostuch, a surprise second-place finisher.
NDP candidate Elisabeth Arnold was third with nearly 6,000 fewer votes than Patten.
Vicky Smallman, riding association co-president of the Ottawa Centre NDP, says the party is now actively seeking a candidate for the next election.
“Any member of the party is welcome to run,” says Smallman. “We have specific achievable plans and proposals that we think can improve the quality of life for people in Ontario and Ottawa and hope to schedule nomination meetings by the end of fall or beginning of winter.”
The NDP’s local political concerns focus on education and hydro.
“They are key issues because the government’s actions, such as the takeover of the school board and its attempts to deregulate and privatize hydro, have caused major concern. People in the area are really worried about it,” says Smallman.
Green Party candidate Chris Bradshaw, who ran fourth in the last election, has decided to run again and is unopposed.
Bradshaw garnered the highest number of votes of any Green party candidate in Ontario, and he hopes to expand awareness of the environmental party across Ontario in the next election.
“Fortunately, I have the luxury in knowing that I am in the running again,” says Bradshaw, who does not have to face any nomination meetings.
The next election must be called by the summer of 2004. It is widely expected some time next year, although Premier Ernie Eves, reflecting the low standing of the governing Conservatives in the opinion polls, has recently mused he may not call the election until 2004.