Ottawa Centre's cabinet minister looking for repeat
CBC News | Posted: September 11, 2019 8:00 AM | Last Updated: October 20, 2019
Region's smallest geographic riding had one of Canada's highest turnouts
The area's only cabinet minister is looking to keep Ottawa's core red after an upset in 2015.
Liberal Catherine McKenna took Ottawa Centre from the NDP in 2015 by more than 3,000 votes, becoming environment minister.
The voter turnout of 82 per cent was one of the highest in the country.
This race pits McKenna against:
- Shelby Bertrand of the Animal Protection Party;
- Conservative Carol Clemenhagen, who's run national hospital organizations and worked with grassroots environmental groups in the Thousand Islands region;
- Libertarian Coreen Corcoran;
- Independent Chris Jones, who's worked in child health and has a PhD in political economy;
- Former nurse and journalist Marie-Chantal Leriche of the Christian Heritage Party;
- economist and eco-friendly B&B manager Angela Keller-Herzog for the Greens;
- Stuart Ryan of the Communist Party of Canada;
- Public servant and self-described LGBTQ activist Merylee Sevilla for the People's Party;
- Lawyer and activist Emilie Taman for the NDP;
- Independent Giang Ha Thu Vo.
The ballot is 80 per cent woman, rivalled only by Kanata-Carleton at the same percentage.
Candidates are included in this riding profile once they've been listed as a confirmed candidate by Elections Canada, chosen as the winner of a nomination contest or who were the chosen candidate by a party that got at least one per cent of the national popular vote in 2015.
Ottawa Centre in 2015
Candidate questionnaires
CBC Ottawa sent every candidate running in eastern Ontario or western Quebec seven questions via their party or a publicly available email address.
They were asked to stick to 25 to 100 word answers, depending on the questions.
Their answers have not been edited by CBC.