Ridings to Watch: Portage la Prairie

Given the recent developments in a couple of the ridings on my ridings to watch list, I will change the order in which they will be profiled. This post will examine the riding of Portage la Prairie. Tomorrow’s post will examine the riding of Brandon West and the Probe poll.

The riding of Portage la Prairie has been represented by the PC party since 1977 and by David Faurschou since 1997. While it has traditionally been a safe seat, the race was tight in 2007.  Faurschou and the PCs won the riding with 3,344 votes (48.16%). The NDP’s candidate, James Kostuchuk, was only 400 votes behind with 2,935 (42.23%) of the votes. The Liberals were a distant third with 643 votes (9.25%).

As I mentioned in earlier posts the PCs need to be able to retain all their seats if they want a chance to form government in 2011. The fact that a long-time incumbent is not running again and that the NDP have been closing the gap in every election in the past decade, makes this riding an important one for both parties. In the 1999 election, the split between the two parties was roughly 800 votes (10%) but by 2007 this lead had been cut in half. The NDP closing the gap can be attributed largely to a collapse in the Liberal vote. The Liberals vote went from 14% in 1999 to 9% in 2007.

Today the PCs acclaimed, Ian Wishart, former Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP) president, as their candidate for the riding. As a first comment, I have to say I am surprised this nomination went uncontested. There are pros and cons to having a contested versus an uncontested nomination. A contested nomination often reinvigorates the membership in the riding but it can lead to a fractured membership. An uncontested nomination can often bring a big name to a riding with a unified membership with it.

I think the fact this nomination went uncontested is more of a reflection of Wishart’s strength as a candidate rather than a lack of interest in the riding.  Being a former president of KAP, Wishart is already a household name in the agricultural community and any challenger would have faced a huge challenge in the nomination.

I think Wishart’s relatively high profile in the agricultural community and the area will help offset the lack of a contested nomination for the Tories.

I’ve yet to find or hear anything about the NDP’s or the Liberal’s candidate.  Given Kostchuk success in the last election, it would make sense for his to give it another shot. From my understanding, he is a popular teacher at the local high school and was a recipient of the Prime Minister's Award for teaching excellence in 2009.

I would also like to take this chance to thank David for his years of dedicated service and wish him all the best in his future endeavours.  Faurschou was the PC caucus representative to the Legislative Internship Program for many years and his dedication to the program enriched the experience immensely.