By ABBAS RANA |
“As you know, there is an open nominations process. We are surely noticing a lot of interest from people to run for the Liberal Party and are looking forward to the beginning of the nomination process,” wrote Ms. Lyne-Hallé.
“This also shows that the interest of Canadians for the Liberal Party and its leader Justin Trudeau across the country is strong and increasing and that Canadians are looking for a change in politics.”
Meanwhile, three-term former Liberal MP Sarkis Assadourian, who did not seek re-election in the 2004 federal election and has since been out of federal politics, is already running a nomination campaign in the Ontario riding of Richmond Hill against Elizabeth Wilfert, wife of former Liberal MP Bryon Wilfert.
Mr. Assadourian, 66, is seeking the Liberal nomination in the Ontario riding of Richmond Hill. Currently represented by Conservative MP Costas Menegakis, the riding was previously represented by five-term former Liberal MP Bryon Wilfert. He lost the last federal election and is now working for Tactix, a government relations and public affairs firm in Ottawa as a strategic adviser.
Mr. Wilfert told The Hill Times last week that he decided not to seek re-election because he’s in the process of receiving an honorary diplomatic appointment from a foreign country in Canada, which restricts him from seeking any political office in the country.
Mr. Assadourian served as an MP from 1993 until 2004. He was first elected in the riding of Don Valley North and then twice in Brampton Centre. Prior to the 2004 federal election, then-party leader Paul Martin appointed Ruby Dhalla as a “star” Liberal candidate who served until the last election when she was defeated by Conservative MP Parm Gill.
The Martin government appointed Mr. Assadourian as a citizenship judge in 2005. Currently, he’s a member of the Ontario Deputy Judges Council.
Mr. Assadourian ran unsuccessfully in the 2010 Richmond Hill municipal election, finishing fifth out of seven candidates for a council seat.
Ms. Wilfert is currently the president of the College of Dieticians of Ontario.
As of last week, no nomination date had been fixed but already potential candidates have been campaigning.
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The Hill Times