TRURO - Central and Northern Nova Scotia will have its new member of Parliament in five weeks time.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced four byelections, including Cumberland Colchester Musquodoboit Valley, yesterday.
"We have been getting ready for this for months and months," Conservative candidate Scott Armstrong told the Truro Daily News yesterday. "We're ready to go."
The Tory machine that sent Stanfield, Coates and Casey to Ottawa during the past 40 years was at it early yesterday as at least 10 signs were posted on front lawns on Smith Avenue before lunch time.
Armstrong is looking to return the traditional Tory seat to the Conservative fold after a strong message was sent with last October's election landslide victory by Independent Bill Casey, who received 69 per cent of the vote. The riding's longtime Conservative MP was kicked out of caucus for voting against his party's budget, which altered the Atlantic accord.
He resigned in April to take a position with the provincial government.
Green Oaks dairy farmer Jim Burrows says people haven't forgotten what Harper did.
"They are very upset with how he is running the country, how he has treated Canadians and people in this riding," the Liberal candidate said. "(People) are looking for a place to park their vote, they're looking for a candidate to vote for and I think they'll choose me."
If that happens he will be the first Liberal to hold the seat since Dianne Brushett who served the region from 1993 to 1997.
Armstrong, who has taken an unpaid leave of absence from his duties as a Truro school principal, said the government has a strong track record for improving the country.
He said the top issue during the campaign will be who is best suited to represent the region's interest in Ottawa.
"No matter who wins this byelection the Conservatives will still be in power in Ottawa and I think the Conservative candidate will be the best positioned to deliver things for this riding," Armstrong said.
Mark Austin will be trying to harness the power that saw the NDP elected in three provincial seats in the riding.
Jim Hnatiuk is representing the Christian Heritage Party and Jason Blanch the Green Party.
jmalloy@trurodaily.com
Federal byelection set for Nov. 9
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Comments
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- Skeptic
- - January 18th, 2010 at 10:16:41
Yeah, nice one.
The rep. for the Party that finished first (Casey and independent) gets one line at the bottom and no call for comment. -
- Biased
- - January 18th, 2010 at 10:13:50
I have to agree with the comments above on the piece being biased. Was this part of being ready ie. get the first slanted article out?
I hope the 10 signs on Smith Avenue are not what drive the vote. Do people in Amherst do a sign count on Smith Ave? Read the resumes of the candidates and see who could best understand and voice the concerns of this area. (See last line of article for other candidate's names).
There seems to be a sense of entitlement to this seat that doesn't sit well with me. I will not automatically follow those who yell the loudest or appear to be the most polished (how deep is polish?). -
- Doug
- - January 18th, 2010 at 10:13:08
Did Scott Armstrong believe the best person to represent us should have been a Liberal during all those years Bill Casey was in opposition?
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- Anderson
- - January 18th, 2010 at 10:10:54
I'm just wondering if Scott Armstrong took unpaid leave while he was making political phone calls in the principal's office.
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- norm
- - January 18th, 2010 at 10:09:29
And this isn't bias??
A 30 line report,8to the letter ,covering the actual event and 16 of the remaining 22 devoted to the promotion of the conservative candidate.
Don't tell me the other candidates were not available as I know it to be fact that one was for sure and The TDN had his bio with contact info as if he wern't(golly what a thought)in the phone book.
Apparently things have not changed at all in respect to a level playing field in federal politics in this area,since the time I was assured in the 06 election that equal coverage was of utmost importance and then saw nothing close to such. -
- Sam
- - January 18th, 2010 at 10:04:47
I hate it when a candidate from the same party as the one in power in Ottawa comes out with the same old line, time after time:
No matter who wins, the Conservatives will still be in power in Ottawa and I think the Conservative candidate will be the best positioned to deliver things for this riding,
It's like he's putting a gun to our collective head. Yo, vote for me if
ya know what's good for ya!
It's a weak candidate who relies on this crutch to get elected. -
- Dairyman
- - January 18th, 2010 at 10:04:27
I agree with Norm. This is the 3rd time I have seen a Jason Malloy article written do more promotion of Scott Armstrong then anything else.
I have a feeeling that Malloy is a good buddy of Armstrong because he sure likes pumping him up.Where are the real facts???
Unpaid leave??? And what you think the other candidates aren't losing money by committing themselves to a 5 week campaign. -
- TES
- - January 18th, 2010 at 09:59:40
If someone can manage the start-up of a school as poorly (forget to order library items, get playground eqp., etc.) as SA did, then God help us if he has to run a constituency that runs from Amherst to the Halifax Airport.
Then again, he'll probably do quite well in politics as that's all he's been focused on in recent years and likely the reason the school start-up process has been a shambles. -
- dave
- - January 18th, 2010 at 09:57:12
a pox on them all! they all want to spend more of our money to keep themselves in power. they say they care...and want to do the best for the area - well, if that was true they would leave us all alone instead of dictating, stealing and generaly just getting in the way from ottawa.
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- flogger
- - January 18th, 2010 at 09:56:07
The last time I looked, Jim Burrows had lots to say in this article. And if my memory serves me correctly, Jim Burrows has lots of press time in past articles too.
The lefties on this DB sound like a bunch of sore losers to me. Want to make a difference for your Liberal candidate? Get out and chip in, instead of whining about the TDN. -
- Morgan
- - January 18th, 2010 at 09:55:18
The NDP and Liberal boobirds are certainly at work today! There is absolutely nothing wrong with that story.
Scott has been a tremendous worker in our Community and he would make a great representive in Ottawa. Let's have a vigerous and respectful campaign! -
- Micki
- - January 18th, 2010 at 09:51:43
Most of this riding is orange provincially. With Taylor and Muir on the sidelines. Better be careful TDN.
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- Derek
- - January 18th, 2010 at 09:49:53
Scott Armstrong would be a great MP, but he'd be a vote for Stephen Harper in the House of Commons, unfortunately.
I wish him luck, and hope he performs more like Bill Casey than Peter MacKay. The PC's need to reorganize and run under a new name to properly represent the east, similar to what the BLOC does in Quebec. Thei sell-out to the Reform/Alliance hasn't yielded a majority, and may never do so. -
- Garth
- - January 18th, 2010 at 09:48:52
The Grit apologists are out in full force this
AM. Mr Armstrong will out work and out hustle his opponents everyday. Surely hard smart work is a much needed attribute in any public servant. -
- Moriarty
- - January 18th, 2010 at 09:44:32
TDN, ADN and the the whole TransCon organization can flog the Tories all they want...this seat is going NDP! Hands down!
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- Barton
- - January 18th, 2010 at 09:43:12
The Conservatives had Mr. Armstrong in place as a candidate five months ago, why did it take the NDP and Liberals to finally get around to nominating candidates over the last three weeks? It looks like the Conservatives and Scott Armstrong are taking this by-election much more seriously than the Liberals and NDP. When the election takes place Scott will have campaigned for just over six months, the Liberals for 7 weeks, and the NDP to my knowledge havent even started campaigning yet. I would prefer to vote for someone who has shown the drive and commitment to politics and public service.
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- Sam
- - January 18th, 2010 at 09:42:58
I am rather confused after reading this piece. Is it about the upcoming election in our area or about the Conservative candidate running in it?
I'm glad to hear that hes ready to go and already has 10 signs up on Smith Avenue. How about his opponents? What do they have to say How many signs do they have up already? At least the TDN was decent enough to at least print the names of the other two major party candidates.
This unbalanced piece is anopther example of the weak editorial policy of the TDN. This is the type of policy I'd expect if the TDN was a small locally owned newspaper. That said, the bias and/or self serving focus I see in pieces that appear in the TDN do not reflect the content I would expect to see in a corporately owned newspaper
Finally, you will notice I am not calling this an article but instead chose to describe it as a piece . I think anyone with any intelligence can figure out why I chose that discripter. -
- Moriarty
- - January 18th, 2010 at 09:40:35
Ya know, I'm seeing the junk about Armstrong was nominated first, so he's going to win all over the net today.
Perhaps the person(s) who's making these posts better think through that logic a little more.
If we follow it to its conclusion we would see Armstrong finish first...that Christian Heritage guy second...The Liberals third...the Greens 4th and the NDP fifth...
How likely is that???!!
It doesn't take much effort to find a few old time Tories to stick up some lawn signs, that doesn't change the fact Tories around here suffer from the idea that they don't need to work for the vote.
I don't, and neither should the TDN, anticpate that changing.
