Federal politics is about to get very interesting.
Shortly there will be what is purported to be a major cabinet shuffle in Ottawa.This will result in the usual amount of retirements and those who say they will not run in the 2015 federal election.
Evidence of this is the quick retirement of Cabinet Minister Vic Toews.
Soon after the shuffle , the new federal boundaries will be announced. This will result in the number of ridings increasing in Canada from 308 to 338.
I would expect this announcement sometime in the fall.
The Prime Minister has already gone on record saying there will be open nominations in all ridings. This did not happen in 2011 because of the minority government situation.
Already the chirping has started with the folks in Alberta up in arms over who runs where.
I think that what goes on in the rest of Canada will be pale in comparison to what will go on in BC, specifically Surrey.
Take the riding I live in, the potentially named West Langley-Cloverdale.
Already former MP Gurmant Grewal has announced his intention to seek the seat.
That was followed by the announcement of “never been more than a back bench MLA ” Dave Hayer retiring from provincial politics ( likely because he thought the BC Liberals were going to lose the last election) and declaring he will also run.
On top of that we now hear rumors that former Federal Liberal supporter and Sukh Dhaliwal backer ( you remember Sukh, he was a former MP turned MLA wanna be who the BC Liberals tossed for forgetting to file his taxes) Paul Brar is telling local folk that he too will contest the seat.
I have also heard rumors of other potential entrants into the fray. Current Langley E.D.A. President Tako J.van Popta‘s name has been bandied about.
That’s 4 potential contestants already and it’s only 2013. ( I haven’t even mentioned that this is the EDA that current Surrey-White Rock MP Russ Hiebert calls home)
This by the way won’t restrict itself to my beloved Conservative Party.
Election Mania will run rampant as soon as the new ridings are announced.
Hear a rumor? Let me know, confidentially of course, and I’ll check it out and share it with everybody via the blog!
