The federal seat for Guelph is vacant right now. The incumbent, Liberal Brenda Chamberlain, retired in April. Sooner (probably) than later, Prime Minister Harper will have call a bye-election there. I wrote about the match-ups predicting that it could be the Liberals to lose although the Conservatives believe they have a shot at it.
The NDP, however, are very high on this riding and their candidate, Tom King.
In fact, the NDP is putting the full-court press on Guelph tomorrow:
OTTAWA – NDP Leader Jack Layton will join local candidate Tom King and several prominent members of the party’s Ontario caucus in Guelph on Friday to meet with local leaders and tour the city in advance of upcoming by-election.
The City of Guelph is another Ontario community that will be hard hit by the current crisis in the manufacturing industry, with 18 per cent of local jobs coming from that sector. The NDP has long been pushing for a green jobs plan that would not only help limit greenhouse gases but would also help to restore Ontario cities that are seeing layoff after layoff.
“Green-collar jobs are the future for cities like Guelph,” said Layton. “We need to support the growth of good quality, sustainable jobs that will help us clean up our environment and build for the future of Canada’s communities.”
MPs joining Layton in Guelph are Brian Masse (Windsor West), Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain), David Christopherson (Hamilton Centre), Irene Mathyssen (London Fanshawe) and Peggy Nash (Parkdale-High Park).FRIDAY, JUNE 13 GUELPH
8:00 AM Breakfast with City Councillors, Chamber of Commerce and Labour Council Members
Delta Hotel 50 Stone Rd. West
10:00 AM Press Conference
Bookshelf Café Green Room
41 Quebec St.11:00 AM
CAW Plant Tour Hitachi Construction Truck Manufacturing
200 Woodlawn West12:00 PM Lunch with Environmental Groups
Diana Restaurant
141 Wyndham St. North2:00 PM
MPs Meet with Local Civil Society Groups
Evergreen Senior Centre
683 Woolwich St.4:00 PM
Meet and Greet with Volunteers
Tom King Campaign Headquarters
104-141 Woolwich St.4:30 PM
Mainstreeting with Tom King
104-141 Woolwich St.
The Conservatives, too, will soon bring some relatively big guns to support their candidate, Gloria Kovach:
Meet Gloria Kovach, candidate for Guelph
Meet special guests, including Ministers, Senators, MPs, and a few surprises, including:
The Hon. John Baird, Minister of the Environment
The Hon. Diane Finley, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration
The Hon. Consiglio Di Nino, Senator for Ontario
The Hon Michael Chong, P.C., M.P. for Wellington-Halton Hills
Gary Goodyear, P.C., M.P. for Cambridge
Bev Shipley, P.C., M.P. for Lambton-Kent-Middlesex
Dave Van Kesteren , P.C., M.P. for Chatham-Kent-Essex
Jeff Watson, P.C., M.P. for EssexMeet the campaign team, mix and mingle with friends, and Enjoy!
Saturday, June 21, 2008
2:00 to 6:00 p.m.
Exhibition Park, Guelph