Topping the three-person ticket is Elmwood MLA Jim Maloway, who finally made it official Friday and confirmed his intention to leave provincial politics and make a bid for a seat in Ottawa.

Of the approximately 1,000 NDP members in the riding, Maloway says he's sewn up about 750.

But rival Lorene Mahoney, a nurse and longtime party volunteer, said she has been campaigning for more than a year and Maloway doesn't have a lock on the nomination.

"There are a lot of undecided voters," she said.

The third candidate vying for the NDP nomination, Canadian Union of Public Employees Manitoba president Kevin Rebeck, couldn't be reached for comment.

Maloway, a maverick backbencher in Premier Gary Doer's government, has been elected seven times as the MLA for Elmwood, most recently in May 2007.

"I've been through a lot of elections and sometimes things can turn real weird on you," Maloway said. "So on that basis, you want to have someone with a proven track record who can organize and win elections."

If Maloway wins the nomination, he's bound by law to resign as MLA for Elmwood, which triggers a byelection. Doer controls the timing of byelections and he's traditionally been fairly quick to call them.

Blaikie, the party's elder statesmen, will be the featured speaker at the nom inating meeting, slated for the evening of Sept. 7 at the Canad Inns Club Regent Hotel. Blaikie has represented
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/subscriber/local/story/4220147p-4813497c.html

Maloway seeks nod to run in Transcona

By: Mary Agnes Welch

Updated: August 30 at 12:35 AM CDT

the eastern corner of Winnipeg for nearly 30 years and is the deputy speaker of the House of Commons.

Meanwhile, the Tories are grappling with whether to hold a nomination meeting in Elmwood-Transcona or appoint what several in the party claim is a star candidate whose name is familiar to all Manitobans. The Tories have tried to hold nomination meetings twice with no success. The Liberals have yet to name or nominate a candidate.

Maloway seeks nod to run in Transcona

By: Mary Agnes Welch

Updated: August 30 at 12:35 AM CDT

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Originally posted by wmale20:
More than a year after he announced his retirement, Elmwood-Transcona MP Bill Blaikie will pass his mantle to another New Democrat next weekend as the party gathers to nominate its candidate in the looming federal election.

Topping the three-person ticket is Elmwood MLA Jim Maloway, who finally made it official Friday and confirmed his intention to leave provincial politics and make a bid for a seat in Ottawa.

Of the approximately 1,000 NDP members in the riding, Maloway says he's sewn up about 750.

But rival Lorene Mahoney, a nurse and longtime party volunteer, said she has been campaigning for more than a year and Maloway doesn't have a lock on the nomination.

"There are a lot of undecided voters," she said.

The third candidate vying for the NDP nomination, Canadian Union of Public Employees Manitoba president Kevin Rebeck, couldn't be reached for comment.

Maloway, a maverick backbencher in Premier Gary Doer's government, has been elected seven times as the MLA for Elmwood, most recently in May 2007.

"I've been through a lot of elections and sometimes things can turn real weird on you," Maloway said. "So on that basis, you want to have someone with a proven track record who can organize and win elections."

If Maloway wins the nomination, he's bound by law to resign as MLA for Elmwood, which triggers a byelection. Doer controls the timing of byelections and he's traditionally been fairly quick to call them.

Blaikie, the party's elder statesmen, will be the featured speaker at the nom inating meeting, slated for the evening of Sept. 7 at the Canad Inns Club Regent Hotel. Blaikie has represented

the eastern corner of Winnipeg for nearly 30 years and is the deputy speaker of the House of Commons.

Meanwhile, the Tories are grappling with whether to hold a nomination meeting in Elmwood-Transcona or appoint what several in the party claim is a star candidate whose name is familiar to all Manitobans. The Tories have tried to hold nomination meetings twice with no success. The Liberals have yet to name or nominate a candidate.

[email protected]

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The demographics suggest a safe NDP seat, but the Tories scored a surprisingly healthy 32% last time while Blaikie benefitted from a collapse in the Liberal vote.

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Originally posted by Stockholm:
People I know in Manitoba tell me he is absolutely the lowest quality and most talentless person in the Manitoba NDP caucus. There is a reason why he has never been appointed to anything by Doer. I hope one of the other contenders wins.

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Originally posted by ghoris:
As someone posted on previous thread, Jim Maloway is the Tony Ruprecht of Manitoba politics.

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But on the plus side, I don't think the Tories can win this one, although it might be a bit closer this time around

[ 03 September 2008: Message edited by: genstrike ]

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Originally posted by ghoris:
As someone posted on previous thread, Jim Maloway is the Tony Ruprecht of Manitoba politics.

The demographics suggest a safe NDP seat, but the Tories scored a surprisingly healthy 32% last time while Blaikie benefitted from a collapse in the Liberal vote.

Make no mistake, even with a mediocre candidate like Maloway, the NDP would be the odds-on favourite to win. But I expect a closer result than last time.

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quote:

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Originally posted by genstrike:
They know they'll never win on the issues so they're trying to win it like it is a popularity contests.

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Unfortunately, I think that's often how Winnipeggers vote. Mayor Sam Katz, for example. Political credentials: owner of a baseball team. There's a bit of that old-style, small-town boosterism still detectable in Winnipeg. It's charming until you see it affecting civic policy and direction.

[ 08 September 2008: Message edited by: jas ]

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Originally posted by jas:

Unfortunately, I think that's often how Winnipeggers vote. Mayor Sam Katz, for example. Political credentials: owner of a baseball team. There's a bit of that old-style, small-town boosterism still detectable in Winnipeg. It's charming until you see it affecting civic policy and direction.

[ 08 September 2008: Message edited by: jas ]

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Originally posted by genstrike:
But fortunately Transcona is a pretty safe riding

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Not anymore, it would seem.

NDP 14,355 45.8% (-5.0)
CPC 12,776 40.7% (+8.6)

What I've heard from folks back home who live in the riding is that although Steen had a lot of name recognition, most people felt he was a pretty weak candidate. However, Maloway was also regarded as pretty mediocre. I have heard from some reasonably reliable sources that there was a lot of grumbling among NDP/Blaikie supporters in the Transcona part of the riding, and a lot of them sat this one out, which could explain the closeness of the result. I have yet to see a poll-by-poll breakdown, but I'd wager dollars to donuts that Maloway did well in the western part of the riding but Steen won Transcona.

While its true that the NDP won Selkirk off and on in the 60s and 70s - in those days the seat included a big chunk of northeastern Winnipeg that is now Elmwood-Transcona. The NDP was never competitive in west Winnipeg - that was always true blue Dan McKenzie country.

quote:

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Originally posted by Stockholm:
While its true that the NDP won Selkirk off and on in the 60s and 70s - in those days the seat included a big chunk of northeastern Winnipeg that is now Elmwood-Transcona.

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The NDP was never competitive in west Winnipeg - that was always true blue Dan McKenzie country.

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Au contraire. Cyril Keeper won Winnipeg-St. James in 1980 and the NDP finished a close second in 1979 and in 1984. Mackenzie's Winnipeg Assiniboine seat was the southern half of what is today Charleswood-St. James-Assinobine and the western half of Winnipeg South Centre, ie Charleswood, Tuxedo and River Heights. You're right that the NDP has never been competitive there, but it was won St. Charles, St. James-Assiniboia, Kirkfield Park and Westwood federally in the past (and now holds all the provincial seats in that area).

[ 05 November 2008: Message edited by: ghoris ]

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Originally posted by Stockholm:
I think its fair to say that the federal NDP was stronger in Saskatchewan in the 80s than it is now. I'm not so sure about whether you can say that about Manitoba or Alberta.

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quote:

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Originally posted by V. Jara:
P.S. Now that the Liberals have twice lost Winnipeg South (by progressively larger margins) and given that the provincial NDP has several strong (all female!) MLAs representing the riding and given that Rod Bruinooge is bit of a conservative zealot with anti-choice views, isn't it about time the Federal NDP took a real shot at that seat?

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Not under the current boundaries. The northwest portion of this riding includes very wealthy Winnipeg neighbourhoods (along with portions of the provincial seat of Manitoba PC leader Hugh McFadyen). They might go Liberal if the candidate was far enough right economically, but wouldn't go NDP. I know the NDP thought the Liberals would win and that they could push Bruinooge into third. Instead Bruinooge won by a larger margin than when he defeated Alcock.

[ 08 November 2008: Message edited by: Aristotleded24 ]