Former MPs running again, want back in the House

They want an encore. Some 20 former MPs are running in this federal election, some under new political stripes. Former five-term Conservative MP Inky Mark, who stepped down in 2010 and now is running as an Independent MP in the riding of Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa, Man., said he’s running again because “people basically are sick and tired of Harper,” and his “trained seal” Conservative incumbent Robert Sopuck. Mr. Mark, who has been unhappy with his former party since 2010, said Prime Minister Stephen Harper acts like a “dictator.” So Mr. Mark is running against Mr. Sopuck, who was first elected in late 2010 in a byelection after Mr. Mark resigned his federal seat. In the last election, Mr. Sopuck won with 63 per cent of the vote. Mr. Mark had also won it with comfortable double-digit margins. “I basically handed him the job when I retired,” Mr. Mark said. Mr. Sopuck’s campaign had initially agreed to make the incumbent MP available for an interview with The Hill Times last week, but later called to say he was unavailable. The Hill Times was able to identify 15 former Liberal MPs, two former Conservatives MPs, two former NDP MPs and one former Canadian Alliance-turned Independent MP who are standing as candidates in the current election campaign. Of the 15 former Liberal MPs, Jack Anawak has abandoned his party and running for the NDP in the riding of Nunavut. The former two-term Chrétien-era Liberal MP, who now uses the hash tag #OrangeIsTheNewJack, represented this riding from 1988 to 1993 and is running against Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq, Liberal Hunter Tootoo and Green Party candidate Spencer Rocchi. Controversial former two-term Reform Party-turned-Canadian Alliance MP Jim Pankiw, is running for the Canada Party in the riding of Saskatoon West, Sask. He represented the riding of Saskatoon-Humboldt from 1997 to 2004. Mr. Pankiw sat as an Independent MP before losing his seat in the 2004 election to then-new Conservative MP Brad Trost. Mr. Pankiw is now running against Conservative candidate Randy Donauer, NDP Sheri Benson, Liberal Lisa Abbott, and Green Party candidate Glendon Toews. Former NDP MP Olivia Chow is trying to make a federal comeback in the GTA riding of Spadina-Fort York, Ont., and former NDP MP Laverne Lewycky is running in Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa, Manitoba. Ms. Chow, widow of late-Jack Layton, won three back-to-back elections—2006, 2008 and 2011—in the riding of Trinity-Spadina but stepped down in March of last year to run unsuccessfully in the Toronto’s mayoral election. She lost to John Tory. Ms. Chow was not available for an interview last week, but through a campaign spokesman said that she’s running again to help her leader achieve the NDP’s central campaign promises to create a $15-a-day childcare and improve transit services for Canadians. “I’m running because a very principled leader, Tom Mulcair, asked me to bring my experience to his team to create $15-a-day childcare and better transit in Canada’s first NDP government,” said Ms. Chow in an email to The Hill Times. Because of the redistribution of electoral boundaries, the riding of Trinity-Spadina has been rejigged and renamed to Trinity-Fort York. Ms. Chow now is running against Liberal MP Adam Vaughan who succeeded her in the June 2014 byelection. The Conservative candidate in this riding is Sabrina Zuniga and Green Party has chosen Sharon Danley to carry the party’s banner in this election. This is one of the hottest ridings to watch in the country and is expected to be a close contest. Mr. Lewycky represented the riding of Dauphin-Swan River from 1980 to 1984, but lost the 1984 election to the now defunct Progressive Conservative Party candidate Brian White. As of deadline last week, Mr. Lewycky did not respond to interview requests. In this election, Mr. Lewycky is facing off against Mr. Sopuck and Mr. Mark. Mr. Mark said that, as an MP, he had an annual MP’s office budget of about $300,000 and because of the large geographical size of the riding, he had opened up 10 riding offices to help his constituents out but now the office budget is around $400,000 and Mr. Sopuck has only one constituency office. Former four-term Yukon Liberal MP Larry Bagnell, meanwhile, is challenging incumbent Conservative MP Ryan Leef to reclaim his old riding. Mr. Leef won the riding in 2011 by 0.9 per cent of the vote. In the last federal election, there were a total of 52 ridings that were won by a margin of five per cent or less and the Yukon riding was the sixth closest in terms of margin of victory in the country. Mr. Bagnell told The Hill Times that he decided to run again in this election on the request of a number of constituents who liked his constituency work as an MP and wanted him back. “A lot of people asked me to run again. They were really happy with the way of how I helped them when I was in Parliament,” said Mr. Bagnell predicting that, based on his interactions with constituents in this campaign, he has a “very good chance to win this riding” on Oct. 19. He said that as a former four-term MP, he has a high name recognition and when he goes for door knocking “about 75 per cent” of people greet him with “Hi Larry.” Mr. Bagnell also pointed out in the interview that in The Hill Times’ annual Politically Savvy surveys, he had been voted as the hardest working and best constituency MP multiple times by his peers and Hill staffers. Mr. Leef did not respond to an interview request from The Hill Times. Former three-term Liberal MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj is also returning to electoral politics to reclaim his old riding of Etobicoke Centre that he lost to Conservative MP Ted Opitz by a margin of 26 votes. In an interview last week he also said that he’s running again on the request of numerous constituents in the riding. Mr. Wrzesnewskyj first won the riding in 2004, succeeding outgoing Cabinet minister Allan Rock, with a margin of 30 per cent of the vote. After that election, the margin of victory with each subsequent election shrunk culminating in a loss in 2011. Last week, he said the reduction in the margin was related directly to his party’s drop in popularity nationally. The riding is also considered one to watch nationally. The NDP has nominated Tanya De Mello in this riding while the Green Party candidate is Shawn Rizvi. Former five-term Conservative MP Bill Casey is now running as Liberal candidate in the Nova Scotia riding of Cumberland-Colchester. He’s running against incumbent Conservative MP Scott Armstrong. The NDP candidate is Wendy Robinson and Green Party has chosen Jason Blanch to carry the party’s banner. arana@hilltimes.com The Hill Times 20 former mps running again Former MP Name Riding 1. Omar Alghabra Mississauga Centre, Ont. 2. Navdeep Bains Mississauga-Malton, Ont. 3. Larry Bagnell Yukon 4. Joe Peschisolido Steveston-Richmond East, B.C. 5. Bill Casey Cumberland-Colchester, N.S. 6. Sukh Dhaliwal Surrey-Newton, B.C. 7. Mark Holland Ajax, Ont. 8. Bob Nault Kenora, Ont. 9. Rob Oliphant Don Valley West, Ont. 10. Denis Paradis Brome-Missiquoi, Que. 11. Yasmin Ratansi Don Valley East, Ont. 12. Pablo Rodriguez Honoré-Mercier, Que. 13. Anthony Rota Nipissing-Timiskaming, Ont. 14. Borys Wrzesnewskyj Etobicoke, Ont. 15. Gordon Kirkby Prince Albert, Sask. 16. Jack Anawak Nunavut 17. Olivia Chow Spadina-Fort York, Ont. 18. Laverne Lewycky Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa, Man. 19. Inky Mark Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa, Man. 20. Jim Pankiw Saskatoon West, Sask.

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Former MPs running again, want back in the House

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