{"id":291,"date":"2008-09-16T19:23:35","date_gmt":"2008-09-17T00:23:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/election08.cusjc.ca\/?p=291"},"modified":"2008-09-16T20:00:20","modified_gmt":"2008-09-17T01:00:20","slug":"a-lot-of-people-think-its-hopeless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/?p=291","title":{"rendered":"A lot of people think it’s hopeless"},"content":{"rendered":"

Matthew Pearson<\/strong><\/p>\n

Trevor Hach\u00e9 wants to be a locksmith.<\/span><\/p>\n

The NDP candidate in Ottawa-Vanier is hoping to break open the ironclad lock the Liberals have had on the riding for decades.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It won\u2019t be easy. Ottawa-Vanier, which was called Ottawa East until 1973, has elected Liberals in every election since the federal riding was created during the Great Depression.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mauril B\u00e9langer, the riding\u2019s current MP, won in a 1995 by-election with 61 per cent of the vote. His margin of victory has gradually decreased in the four general elections since, but his grasp on the riding has never faced a serious challenge. On the face of it, nothing short of a catastrophic collapse of the Liberal Party nationally would put the seat in the play for the other parties.<\/span><\/p>\n

But that doesn\u2019t deter them from trying.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people think it\u2019s hopeless and yet, when you actually look at the numbers, this is the second best riding in the Ottawa area, maybe all of Eastern Ontario, for the NDP,\u201d Hach\u00e9 said.<\/span><\/p>\n

He added the party has to focus on ridings it doesn\u2019t currently hold, in addition to running strong campaigns in its 30 incumbent ridings, including Ottawa Centre.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to build in the places that have potential to be built up,\u201d he said. About 50 volunteers have already signed on to help Hach\u00e9 and a recent blitz was designed to drum up even more campaign workers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ottawa-Vanier isn\u2019t the only riding of its kind in Canada. The Mount Royal riding in Montreal has steadily elected a Liberal since 1940, while in Alberta, Conservative Myron Thompson has clobbered the competition in the Wild Rose riding, winning more than 70 per cent of the vote in the last three elections. NDP MP Bill Blaikie has held his Winnipeg riding since 1979. He and Thompson are not running in this election.<\/span><\/p>\n

Katherine Graham, a political scientist and dean of Carleton University\u2019s Faculty of Public Affairs, said incumbent parties and candidates have a natural advantage over other candidates. But over time, voters might also develop a habit.<\/span><\/p>\n

In order for the habit to be broken, Graham suggested a sitting MP would either have to behave egregiously or belong to a government that affronts the party\u2019s base with its behaviour in power.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the meantime, she said some voters might feel shut out.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor those people who maybe don\u2019t share the view that either the dominant party or the candidate are the best deal for them or think their vote is wasted, the sentiment might emerge, \u2018Why bother?,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Conservative candidate Patrick Gl\u00e9maud said some voters in Ottawa-Vanier \u2014\u00a0which he described as a \u201cbread and butter riding\u201d \u2014\u00a0are tired of Liberal representation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are starting to get the message that, \u2018well, maybe we should have some change, maybe we should have someone who will be working for the people in the riding but in government,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

While French is still the primary language for about one-third of the riding\u2019s residents, Mr. Gl\u00e9maud added an influx of new Canadians and young families has changed the demographics of Ottawa-Vanier. B\u00e9langer and Gl\u00e9maud are both bilingual, while Hach\u00e9 is not.<\/span><\/p>\n

With such a historic grip on the riding, one might think B\u00e9langer and the Liberals could take it easy on the campaign trail. But B\u00e9langer said that\u2019s not the case. He will spend long hours canvassing the riding and talking to voters.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI will not be accused of slacking off,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Back at his campaign office, Hach\u00e9 said he remains optimistic in spite of the odds stacked against him.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cStranger things have happened,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a matter of us being able get our message out to voters and if we\u2019re able to do that, I\u2019m sure that message is going to resonate with people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Matthew Pearson is a Master of Journalism student at the School of Journalism and Communication at Carleton University.<\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Matthew Pearson Trevor Hach\u00e9 wants to be a locksmith. The NDP candidate in Ottawa-Vanier is hoping to break open the ironclad lock the Liberals have had on the riding for decades.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-election2008","category-election-2008-student-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=291"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":299,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291\/revisions\/299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}