Ready, set, go? Most Ottawa-area candidates in place for June election — but not all

Let the door knocking begin.

On Saturday, the Liberals filled out their slate of candidates vying for the eight Ottawa-area seats up for grabs in this June's provincial election.

The Progressive Conservatives have one more nomination meeting to go, while the NDP have five set for the upcoming weeks.

Liberal leader Kathleen Wynne made an appearance at yesterday's nomination meeting in Ottawa West-Nepean, which saw long-time MPP Bob Chiarelli acclaimed.

The event — held in a crowded section of a Merivale Road pool hall — served as the unofficial kick-off party for candidates and volunteers.

"I'm feeling very good about Ottawa," said Wynne, cheering on volunteers who'll begin door knocking in earnest as the campaign approaches.

"It's a strong team, and we have great new candidates."

New electoral map

This election will feature a new Ontario electoral map, one that more closely mirrors the federal map.

The number of ridings has jumped from 107 to 124, and as a result, the Ottawa region now has an eighth riding called Carleton. It serves the fast-growing neighbourhoods in the south and southwest suburbs and rural areas. 

Theresa Qadri was nominated last month to carry the Liberal banner in the riding, and said she's confident the party has a shot — even though a majority of polling stations within the new boundaries voted PC in the 2014 election.

"We've knocked on plenty of doors, but I also have 20 years of history in this community," said Qadri, a real estate agent and former business owner. 

She also has a family connection in elected office: her husband, Shad Qadri, is a well-known Ottawa city councillor.

Qadri said her experience volunteering has connected her to the community, but the new riding is vast — including urban areas like Stittsville and rural communities like North Gower.

And her chief competitor, the candidate for the PC Party, claims to have an enormous head start. 

'I want to help people'

"In the past 18 months since becoming a candidate, I've knocked on probably 10,000 doors," said Goldie Ghamari on Saturday, as she took a quick break from canvassing.

She said she's been campaigning since winning the nomination in November 2016.  

"I got involved in politics because I want to help people," said Ghamari, an international trade lawyer and small business owner. 

"You're essentially asking people to put their faith and their trust in you — to be their voice in government. And so how can you do that if you don't know what's going on? And that's why I've been doing this so long."

NDP still to nominate 5

The NDP, meanwhile, have yet to hold a nomination meeting in the new riding.

In fact, the party has yet to choose five of the eight candidates in the Ottawa region — having only picked candidates in Ottawa-Vanier, Ottawa South and Ottawa Centre.

NDP executive director Karla Webber-Gallagher said the nomination process follows strict rules to ensure a fair and inclusive process, and the goal is to make sure everyone's ready to go before the dissolution of the sitting legislature in Queen's Park.

"Certainly, we would like to have all our candidates nominated before the writ is dropped,'" said Gallagher.

Gallagher said the NDP candidates' advantage will be the popularity of leader Andrea Horwath, who has scored well in the most recent approval ratings (even though the same polls show a Tory victory).  

The Green Party is ahead of the NDP with five candidates in place in the Ottawa region, and a nomination meeting set for next week to settle a sixth.  

The PCs, meanwhile, have yet to set a date for their nomination meeting in Ottawa-Centre. The party is expected to give 21 days notice for the meeting sometime this week.

Ottawa's eight ridings include:

• Ottawa Centre
• Ottawa South
• Ottawa-Vanier
• Ottawa West-Nepean
• Orléans (previously Ottawa-Orléans)
• Nepean (previously Nepean-Carleton) 
• Kanata-Carleton (previously part of Carleton-Mississippi Mills, which has been split up and dissolved) 
• Carleton (new riding made up from parts of Nepean-Carleton, Ottawa South, and Carleton-Mississippi Mills)

There is technically a ninth riding, as well, that includes a portion of Ottawa territory. 

• Glengarry-Prescott-Russell (most of the riding lies outside Ottawa city limits but does include the communities of Cumberland, Vars and Navan).