Week of December 13, 2006, Issue #582
FRONT
Duncan wants a rematch in Edmonton-Strathcona
ROSS MOROZ / ross@vueweekly.com
Linda Duncan clearly believes in second chances, and she’s hoping voters in Edmonton-Strathcona agree.After losing to Conservative incumbent Rahim Jaffer by slightly less than 5 000 votes in the 2006 federal general election, the local environmental lawyer announced this week that she plans to again seek the NDP nomination in the hotly contested riding.
In a statement released to media on Dec 7, Duncan claimed that she was “finally spurred to again take on Jaffer” because of her opposition to his government’s environmental policy, the so-called Clean Air Act.
“We have ratified a lot of environmental agreements and conventions and protocols, and we are quickly eroding our international reputation by not living up to them,” Duncan told Vue after announcing her candidacy. “I am fed up with putting friendly federal-provincial relations ahead of Canadians’ health and environment. I plan to run a campaign for a strong Canada.”
Duncan has thrown her hat into the ring fairly early: as of press time, the riding’s NDP association has not even scheduled a nomination meeting (Duncan is not yet officially the party’s candidate, although no other hopefuls have emerged as of yet), and there has not yet been any formal indication that Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government has any intention of calling an election in the near future. However, because the 2006 election resulted in a minority Parliament, the next election could conceivably come at any time, although conventional wisdom seems to point to a spring vote.
“There are rumours afloat that an election might happen in the spring,” Duncan agreed. “The logical time for some party to decide to bring the government down is during the budget, and the vote on the budget will likely happen at that time.”
In light of the riding’s characterization as an area popular with artists and progressives, not to mention the fact that it includes the University of Alberta and surrounding neighbourhoods popular with students and academics, it might seem a little odd that Edmonton-Strathcona has been represented by the Conservative party or one of its various component parts for over three decades.
Jaffer has represented the riding for almost 10 years, having first been elected as a member of the Reform party in 1997. Previously, former schoolteacher Hugh Hanrahan had represented the riding as a Reform MP since 1993, and before that the Progressive Conservative party had held Edmonton-Strathcona since the early ’70s. Duncan, however, says she is not deterred by the fact that the NDP have never held the seat there.
“Well, provincially it sure isn’t a Tory riding,” she laughed. “The entire area is represented by Liberal and NDP [MLAs], so I guess it’s just a matter of time until we get the message out that we can also have a bit of representation federally.”
Duncan also said she is not worried about the prospect of seeing her support shift to the Green party, although she is well aware that the 3 000 or so votes that party’s candidate earned in the 2006 vote would have gone a long way to helping Duncan topple Jaffer.
“Frankly, the message from the Green candidate in this riding last time was, at the end of every forum, ‘I hope my votes don’t keep you from getting elected.’” Duncan revealed.
“I guess I would say to Green supporters: do you want to have a strong environmentalist elected, or do you just want to raise more money,” she continued. “I would say, if you want to support the Greens, send them a donation, but vote for me, because I have the best chance of beating Rahim Jaffer.” V