Weekly Round-Up: August 2

Today, CIVIX provides a digest of the major events in Canadian and international politics. For ongoing updates, follow us on Twitter at @CIVIX_Canada.

Ontario by-election results

Five provincial by-elections were held in Ontario yesterday, and a total of 40 candidates ran to represent their respective electoral districts at Queen’s Park. When all was said and done, the Ontario Liberals won two seats, the Ontario NDP won two seats, and the Ontario PC won one.

Final results will soon be released by Elections Ontario, but here’s a quick recap of the winners:

• Liberal John Fraser is the new MPP for Ottawa South
• Liberal Mitzie Hunter is the new MPP for Scarborough-Guildwood
• Peggy Sattler of the NDP is the new MPP for London West
• Percy Hatfield of the NDP is the new MPP for Windsor-Tecumseh
• Progressive Conservative Doug Holyday is the new MPP for Etobicoke-Lakeshore.

The Liberals still have a minority government, despite having previously held all five seats.

Who will replace Bob Rae as Toronto Centre MP?

July 31 was Liberal MP Bob Rae’s last day representing Toronto Centre. Rae has held many positions over a long political career that began in 1978: Member of Parliament, Interim Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, Member of Provincial Parliament, Premier of Ontario, and Leader of the Ontario NDP.

The race to replace Rae is now underway, and several candidates have already announced their intention to run. Journalist Chrystia Freeland intends to run for the Liberal nomination, while former MuchMusic VJ Jennifer Hollet will seek the NDP nomination. Pirate Party leader Travis McCrea will also run in the riding.  A date for the by-election has not yet been announced.

CIVIX’s own Katie Reidel lives in Toronto Centre. Be sure to check out her tips to prepare for a by-election. 

What should we call the August civic holiday?

Monday is a holiday for many Canadians. The “civic holiday” goes by many names: Heritage Day in Alberta, Natal Day in Nova Scotia and PEI, and Simcoe Day in Toronto, to name just a few (our blog has a more detailed list).

The Globe and Mail wants your suggestions on how to rename the holiday so it can be “truly national.” Comedian Rick Mercer provided his suggestions by recounting a fictional barbecue with the likes of Jason Kenney, Justin Trudeau, Mike Duffy, Peter MacKay, Naheed Nenshi and Rob Ford.

Premier Clark sworn in as Westside-Kelowna MLA

The BC Liberal Party, led by Premier Christy Clark, surprised pollsters when they won the provincial election in May. Clark, however, was unable to win her own seat in Vancouver-Point Grey.

Clark tried again last month, and easily won a provincial by-election in Westside-Kelowna on July 10. Liberal MLA Ben Stewart stepped aside so the premier could take a seat in the legislature. Clark was officially sworn in as MLA on Tuesday.

Posted in News, Weekly Round-Up |

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.