Hamilton (EON) – Justin Trudeau, son of former late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, has won his riding nomination for the Liberal Party of Canada in Papineau, Quebec. To win he needed 634 votes. He received 690.
This is his first attempt at running for politics since his father was Prime Minister of Canada in the 1960’s until the mid-1980s.
His two other competitors for the nomination were natives from the town; Mary Deros, a city councillor and Basilio Giordano, a former city councillor and journalist for a local Italian newspaper. Competitors for the other federal party’s have not yet been chosen. According to reports Deros received 350 votes and Basilio Giordano received 220.
He will run in the 40th Canadian federal election, which must be called no later than February 13, 2011.
“I’m a teacher; I’m a convenor; I’m a gatherer; I’m someone who reaches out to people and is deeply interested in what they have to say,” Trudeau said. “And people see that I’m not faking it. I’m actually genuinely committed to this dialogue that we’re opening up, and this understanding that needs to happen in order to be an effective MP.”
Trudeau does not live in Papineau. It is the poorest riding in Canada and the smallest. It consists of blue-collar residents.
The riding has a long history of Liberal MPs. In the 1949 federal election an Independent MP held the riding. Liberal Adrien Meunier was re-elected three times holding the riding from 1949 to 1962. Liberal Guy Favreau was re-elected once holding the riding from 1963 to 1965. Liberal André Ouellet was re-elected six times holding the riding from 1967 to 1984. Liberal Pierre Pettigrew was elected in 2004, he came in second to current Bloc Québécois MP Vivian Barbot, who won by 17,775 votes.
Trudeau, 35, is the second child born to a Prime Minister during his term in office to Canada’s first, Sir John A. Macdonald, who had a his daughter Margaret Mary Macdonald during his time in office. He has a Bachelor of Arts of English literature from Montreal’s McGill University and the Bachelor of Education from the University of British Columbia. He eventually became a teacher in British Columbia.
He married French-Canadian television personality Sophie Grégoire on March 18, 2005. In April this year they announced they are expecting their first child. Since his youngest sibling Michel Trudeau died in an avalanche in 1998, Trudeau has been an active campaigner for winter sports safety. His younger brother Alexandre Trudeau is a journalist. He put his support behind Liberal leadership candidate Gerard Kennedy during the Liberal Party of Canada leadership convention, 2006. Kennedy dropped out of the second ballet of voting and both he and Trudeau went on to support now leader Stéphane Dion.
Stephen McNeil, MLA for Annapolis, is now the head of an even bigger family.
McNeil, the 12th of 17 children, was voted the new leader of the Nova Scotia Liberal Party at the leadership convention on Saturday.
“For the people who said Liberalism in Nova Scotia is on life support, I say look at this room,†said McNeil. “The Tory government in Nova Scotia is on life support.â€
“We know with your support we can be the next government of Nova Scotia,†he said.
Just under 1400 delegates came out to the Dartmouth Sportsplex to vote for the new leader of the party. McNeil won the leadership on the second ballot, receiving 718 votes.
The second ballot came down to just McNeil and Diana Whalen, MLA for Halifax-West Clayton Park. Whalen finished with 650 votes.
McNeil is taking over from interim leader Michel Samson, who held the position after former leader Francis MacKenzie resigned after the dismal 2006 provincial election that left the liberal with only nine seats. MacKenzie had been leader of the party since 2004.
McNeil has a lofty task before him. The Nova Scotia Liberals have been stuck as a third party for the past eight years. The party has also struggled to fine unity and direction—this was the third Liberal leadership convention since 2002.
“I understand the awesome responsibility I asked for,†said McNeil. “This has truly been a great campaign and a rebirth of our party.â€
The first ballot required a majority of 699 votes to win. McNeil received 571 votes, Kenzie MacKinnon 169, Mike Smith 255 and Whalen 402.
After the results of the first ballot, fourth-place candidate MacKinnon marched his cheering supporters to the other side of the stadium to lend his support to Whalen.
There was a dramatic pause as delegates waited to see if Smith would stick around for the second ballot or free his delegates.
McNeil supporters stood in front on Smith’s section and tossed Smith supporters McNeil t-shirts in hopes of gaining their support. Whalen’s supporters cheered on the other side.
Then, in a move that surprised many of Smith’s supporters, he hugged Whalen and offered her his support.
However, unlike the MacKinnon supporters who waved both “Kenzie†and McNeil placards, Smith’s supporters were seen waving Smith/McNeil and Smith/Whalen signs. Support was split. But by the end of the first ballot, McNeil only needed just over a third of the bottom two candidates’ supporter’s votes to win.
McNeil thanked his competitors after the win, and said he hoped to see Smith and MacKinnon in the legislature after the next election. He also thanked his mother—the woman he credited with introducing him to Liberalism, and his constituency.
“To the people of Annapolis—look how far you’ve taken this country boy,†said McNeil.
During his campaign, McNeil also promised to hold a youth summit within 30 days on winning the leadership and a presidents’ summit within 90 days. He said tomorrow—after his son’s confirmation, he would begin work on these two events.
The leadership convention was hosted by the Nova Scotia Federal Liberal Caucus
Ottawa (eCanadaNow) – Justin Trudeau, son of former late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, is awaiting results of his riding nomination for the Liberal Party of Canada in Papineau, Quebec.
This is his first atempt at running for politics since his father was Prime Minister of Canada in the 80’s.
His two other competitors for the nomination are two natives from the town; Mary Deros, a city councillor and Basilio Giordano, a former city councillor and journalist for a local Italian newspaper. Competitors for the other federal party’s have not yet been chosen.
Trudeau, 35, does not live in Papineau. It is the poorest riding in Canada and the smallest. It consists of blue-collar residents.
The riding has a long history of Liberal MPs. In the 1949 federal election an Independent MP held the riding. Liberal Adrien Meunier was re-elected three times holding the riding from 1949 to 1962. Liberal Guy Favreau was re-elected once holding the riding from 1963 to 1965. Liberal André Ouellet was re-elected six times holding the riding from 1967 to 1984. Liberal Pierre Pettigrew was elected in 2004, he came in second to current Bloc Québécois MP Vivian Barbot, who won by 17,775 votes.
Ottawa (EON) -Â The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has issued border alerts for specific protein ingredients, imported from China, that may be incorporated into products destined for human consumption.
Inspectors from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) will hold products, such as wheat and corn gluten, as well as soy and rice proteins until they can be tested for melamine, the contaminant found to have sickened pets through its use in pet food. If determined to be free of melamine, the ingredients will be released to the intended recipient. Materials such as glutens and protein powders are used commonly in many forms of food products.
The CFIA said it was not acting on specific information, but rather taking a cautious approach to human protection. “That’s why we have the border lookout for the ingredient, so that we can proactively assess any potential that the product is contaminated,” Paul Mayers of the CFIA told CBC News.
Since the border alert for melamine is a new procedure, the government can’t be sure if the contaminant made it into the food chain previously. The CFIA acknowledged that the same Chinese company under suspicion in the tainted pet food affair had shipped wheat gluten to a Canadian company, which in turn used it in food for fish farms. Although the fish were subsequently eaten by people, the CFIA believes the health risk from such consumption would be low.
In related news, Canadian researchers at the University of Guelph believe they may have determined the mechanism of how melamine caused illness in cats and dogs.
Both cyanuric acid and melamine were found in urine samples from pets that died after consuming contaminated pet food. The two compounds react with one another to form crystals that may block kidney function, researchers at the university said. The researchers observed crystals formed in cat urine by the addition of melamine and cyanuric acid. The composition of these crystals matches those found in the urine of affected pets when compared by infrared spectroscopy (FTIR).
“You wouldn’t normally expect to find those compounds in pet food, and hence nobody was really looking for it,” said John Melichercik, director of analytical laboratory services. “It’s just another piece of the puzzle along the way in this particular pet-food issue.”
Toronto (EON) -Canadian Heritage Minister Bev Oda has appointed Timothy W. Casgrain as the new chairman of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).
“Mr. Casgrain’s credentials will bring strong leadership to the CBC,” said Oda. “I am confident that his experience and sound judgement will greatly benefit the CBC.”
Casgrain was born in Montreal, Quebec and studied at McGill University. In 1969, he served as a teacher in a small African town in Chad for two years. Some years later, he became an accountant. In 1976, he was chairperson of Skyservice Investments Inc., a Canadian aviation company and was Executive Vice President of the Brascan Financial Corp. In 1988, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of NBS Technologies.
Since then, Casgrain has served many other positions and has many other honours in his name. Casgrain is a member of the Order of Chartered Accountants of Quebec since 1976 and is the president of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame.