Crossposted to Bow. James Bow.

Last but not least in my riding-by-riding profile of Waterloo Region is Cambridge. The riding of Cambridge takes in the city of Cambridge and the rural township of North Dumfries.

Cambridge has always been a world apart from Waterloo Region. Although it exists in the same same county as Kitchener and Waterloo, it was a reluctant partner in the creation of the region, and Highway 401 acts as an effective psychological barrier between it and Kitchener. Its own identity has been somewhat mixed up, as it is an amalgamation of three distinct towns with three distinct characters (Galt, Preston and Hespelar). The city has a large manufacturing base, but is also a growing bedroom community for Toronto, thanks to its proximity to the highway.

Although the NDP finished second here as late as 1988 (as well as in 1984, 1980 and 1979), the riding has shown a more conservative bent. From 1979 to 1993 it was held by the Progressive Conservatives and although the Liberals held the riding from 1993 to 2004, their primary competition has been either the Reform Party or the Canadian Alliance.

Gary Goodyear beat Liberal MP Janko Peric in 2004 by just over 200 votes, after which he was named the Ontario chair of the Conservative Party caucus. Goodyear increased that margin to almost 6000 votes in the 2006 rematch against Peric. In that election, he received endorsements from Vote Marriage Canada and the Canadian Islamic Congress.

Goodyear is currently embroiled in a minor controversy surrounding the Procedure and House Affairs Committee. Originally selected to chair this committee, the opposition majority on committee voted him out in a motion of non-confidence, choosing Conservative MP Joe Preston instead. The work of the committee, which includes investigating the so-called “In and Out scandal”, was suspended on March 6, and the Conservatives refuse to allow it to continue until Goodyear is restored as chairman.

Goodyear returns this election, and faces off against newcomer Gord Zeilstra for the Liberals. Zeilstra has his own controversies to overcome. His nomination as candidate for the riding was hard fought, with some members of the riding association accusing his campaign of using improperly obtained membership lists. The central office investigated and, although it found an “unintentional breach” of the rules, “there is no evidence that Mr. Zeilstra obtained a numeric or tactical advantage through the use of riding membership forms.” He received a minor fine, but bad feelings remained. By and large, however, neither Goodyear nor Zeilstra’s controversies have been highlighted during this campaign.

Of the two remaining candidates, Max Lombardi is competing for the New Democrats, and Scott Cosman for the Greens.

Here’s the full list:

Gary Goodyear, 50, (Conservatives): Gary Goodyear has an MP website which is separate from his campaign website, which tells us a bit more about the man and the riding; certainly more than what we’ve received from Peter Braid and Stephen Woodworth’s campaign sites.

Goodyear was born in Cambridge and educated at the University of Waterloo, majoring in Biomechanics and Psychology, becoming a doctor of chiropractic medicine. He developed his practise up to 2004 when he gave it up to run for office. He has also maintained connections with the immigrant community, working to get the Canadian government to formally recognize the Armenian genocide, chairing hte Canada-Armenia Parliamentary Friendship Group and acting as an executive member of the Canada-Portuguese Group.

Recently, Goodyear has promised to become one of the first Members of Parliament to go carbon neutral, with the carbon emissions of his Cambridge and Ottawa offices offset through the planting of trees through Cambridge and North Dumfries.

Gord Zeilstra, 36, (Liberal): With the departure of Janko Peric, the Liberals have turned to a young businessman working in Waterloo Region’s tech sector. He is one of the founding employees of the job-finding site Monster.ca and is currently a regional vice president of Vurv Technology, a company which finds qualified new hires for high tech companies. Outside of his work, Zeilstra calls himself “a participant in many campaigns”. His degree is a Bachelor of Arts in communications and political science. He’s young, energetic, but inexperienced. Conservative party supporter Greg Staples said of him during a recent all-candidates’ debate: “he was a bit unsteady in his answers, being a rookie, but the Liberals should not be embarrassed with him as their flag bearer. Once he grows into the role he will be a tough opponent next time around.”

Zeilstra is married to his wife of fourteen years and has two young daughters.

Max Lombardi, 40, (New Democrats): It’s proven hard to get detailed information about Max Lombardi and his contributions to the political life of Cambridge. The NDP website barely calls him more than “a long-time Cambridge resident”. He currently works as an Information technologist for NEBS Payroll Service Limited. The bulk of his campaign has been about the loss of manufacturing jobs in Ontario, which should get a receptive ear from the large manufacturing sector in Cambridge.

Scott Cosman, 55, (Green): Cosman has lived in Waterloo Region since 1955, graduating from Wilfred Laurier University with a business administration degree. He has worked for thirty years in sales and marketing for such firms as Neilson’s Ltd, Carnation Inc, and Bell Mobility. His most recent work has been for Miser Lighting, a company dedicated to selling high efficiency lightbulbs to businesses.

Given Gary Goodyear’s advantage of incumbency, and the riding’s conservative character of late, I expect that this one will remain in the Conservatives’ column this election.

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Further Reading

• Greg Staples reviews the Cambridge all-candidates’ debate.

Kitchener-Conestoga is the main rural riding of Waterloo Region, wrapping around the east, north and west of the cities of Kitchener and Waterloo, and swallowing a bit of suburban Kitchener on its southwest side. While the area was represented by Liberal Lynn Myers from the nineties up to 2006, Conservative Harold Albrecht defeated Myers in the last election by just 1,400 votes.

Albrecht is on record as opposing same-sex marriage, but he won the riding in 2006 by downplaying his opposition to the measure, only responding when asked by reporters, and tempering his defence of traditional marriage with talk of civil unions. This contrasts with the 2004 election when Conservative candidate Frank Luellau got into hot water for anti-gay comments made at a local all-candidates’ meeting.

Since the 2006 election, Albrecht has represented his riding quietly, without controversy. In Ottawa, he chairs the BioCaucus, a group of MPs promoting the production of agricultural and renewable technologies, and he sits on the Government Operations and Estimates committee and the Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development committee. He favours stiffer sentences for youth offenders committing violent crimes.

Notable by their absense in this riding, almost, are the New Democrats. The party only managed to nominate Rod MacNeil eight days after the election was called. And while the other parties were busy plastering the roadsides with big campaign signs, New Democratic signs were nowhere to be seen. When MacNeil’s campaign workers finally managed to get some signs up on the arterials, they unfortunately selected small, garden-style signs rather than the larger ones the other three parties were using. As a result, the New Democrats look dwarfed here.

The New Democrats’ loss might be the Green Party’s gain, as their candidate Jamie Kropf roared out of the gate on the date of the election call, and got large Green Party signs up as fast as Albrecht’s campaign workers could get Conservative blue signs to match. The subconscious appearance of a three-party race here could well elevate Kropf to third place come election night.

The Liberal candidate, Orlando DaSilva, was a little slow in starting his campaign, but caught up, matching Albrecht and Kropf sign for sign. Now, heading out along Homer Watson, Courtland Avenue or Ottawa Street, you can typically see patterns of Blue, Red and Green, Blue, Red and Green, with occasional specks of orange.

But Kitchener-Conestoga has been the one riding in the area that I’ve noticed significant campaign sign vandalism (in my admittedly limited experience). DaSilva’s signs would appear to be the target more often than not, suggesting that the fight for the riding is still quite passionate.

Here’s a list of who all is running

Harold Albrecht, 58 (Conservatives): Albrecht has lived in Kitchener all his life. He is a former pastor, educated at Waterloo Lutheran University (now Wilfred Laurier) and has also owned a private dental practise for 27 years. He left dentistry to become a pastor for the Brethren in Christ church, and left that job in 2005 to seek the Conservative Party nomination for the riding. Albrecht has also gone on a number of Christian missions to the third world. He is married and has three adult children and seven grandchildren. He also owns and operates a 75 acre farm.

Orlando DaSilva, 40 (Liberals): This long-time Liberal has served as a legal representative in the Ontario ministry of the Attorney General. Born and raised in Kitchener to a Cape Breton mother and a Portuguese father, DaSilva helped found Ontario Students Against Impaired Driving while still in high school. His work since has remained in the legal field, including acting as treasurer for the Ontario Bar Association and a founding member of the Portugese Canadian Lawyers Association. Da Silva is married and has a 9-year-old daughter.

Rod MacNeil, 48 (New Democrats): A long-time Kitchener resident, MacNeil only became a card-carrying member of the NDP a year ago. He and his wife Suzy own two businesses, Karaoke Kommotion and Curious Creations, and he is a certified reflexologist. The New Democrats quickly built a web page for him, but he clearly speaks from his heart when describing why he’s running.

Jamie Kropf, 55 (Greens): Kropf has also lived in the area all his life, working in sales and management within the information technology sector for thirty years. He graduated from the University of Waterloo with a Bachelor of Mathematics, and has a Masters of Business Administration from Wilfred Laurier. With his wife of 32 years, he has three adult children and one grandchild. His website looks a little thrown together, but at least he has one, and at least it is detailed.

I expect that Albrecht will hold this riding, despite a strong challenge from DaSilva. More interesting will be where Kropf places against MacNeil.

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Further Reading

• A similar interesting battle was had for Kitchener-Conestoga during the 2007 provincial election. In that case, the Liberal won.

In part two of my profile of the ridings of Waterloo Region, crossposted to my blog, I move north from Kitchener Centre to talk about the urban riding of Kitchener-Waterloo. This riding takes in the north end of Kitchener and all of the City of Waterloo. The average income in this riding is higher, and it encompasses two universities and their associated students and faculty.

Whereas Kitchener Centre has been described as a safe Liberal seat, I believe Kitchener-Waterloo’s representation has favoured incumbency. Federally, Liberal MP Andrew Telegdi has served the area since 1993, but provincially, Progressive Conservative MP Elizabeth Witmer won the riding in 1990 during the Bob Rae landslide, and she’s continued to hold it through the rising and falling fortunes of her party. Both Telegdi and Witmer have a long history of serving their community at the municipal and school board level, and it seems likely that they’ll continue to represent the area for years to come.

That said, the diverse urban population of Waterloo makes for competitive elections. The Green Party and the New Democrats retain a presence, and Green candidate Cathy MacLellan has received excellent reviews of her performance at a recent all-candidates’ debate.

Here’s a brief list of the candidates that are running in this riding:

Andrew Telegdi, 67 62 (Liberals): Andrew Telegdi has represented Kitchener-Waterloo since the riding was created in 1997. He was first elected to parliament back in 1993 and has a political resume going back to the 1970s when he served on the University of Waterloo’s student council. His outspoken nature has made him a number of enemies. Warren Kinsella still hasn’t forgiven Telegdi for speaking out against Prime Minister Chretien in the drive to strip suspected war criminal Helmut Oberlander of his Canadian citizenship, and this prominent Liberal campaigner publicly endorsed Telegdi’s opponents during the 2004 election. Much was also made of his use, in 1975, of a racially charged term in a non-racist context while serving as part of University of Waterloo’s Federation of Students. For his part, Telegdi has called Kinsella “a cancer on the party”. Telegdi has weathered these controversies, however, and has been re-elected handily each time. At present, things appear to have been patched up, or at least quietly set aside.

Peter Braid, 44 (Conservatives): Peter Braid brings with him some experience in public service, especially as part of the Immigration and Refugee Board. His most recent job was as Director of Operations at Sun Life Financial in Waterloo. Braid lives in Waterloo and has a family with two teenage daughters.

Braid shares his problems with campaign-mate Stephen Woodworth in terms of his web presence. His website is anaemic, and the campaign news section doesn’t mention Stephen Harper’s visit to the region. It’s becoming clear to me that, in Waterloo Region at least, the Conservative candidates’ web presence is being tightly managed by the national party campaign. This is, I believe, to the candidates’ detriment, as it doesn’t allow prospective voters much of an opportunity to warm to the individuals who are running.

Cindy Jacobsen, 49 (New Democrats): Like her campaign-mate Oz Cole-Arnal, Cindy Jacobsen is a Lutheran minister committed to her cause of social justice. She became Reverend Jacobsen and earned her doctorate in 2007 at Wilfred Laurier University, which it would seem is fast becoming a hotbed of Lutheran radicalism (ha ha). Born in Wisconsin, she became a Canadian citizen in 1998 and has served her community through St. Mark’s Community Ministry Program, helping the working poor make ends meet.

Jacobsen has a decent web presence, detailing her life work and political interests. She is also on Facebook.

Cathy MacLellan, 47 (Green Party): Cathy MacLellan has strong humanitarian and environmental experience, working for the Mennonite Central Committee and a hospice volunteer. Her humanitarian work has taken her to India, Burkina Faso, and Rwanda. She and her husband run ARISE Technologies, a publicly traded company “committed to taking solar energy mainstream.” MacLellan also has an effective web presence, including her own blog.

Kyle Huntingdon (Canadian Action Party): Wilfred Laurier student Kyle Huntingdon is hoisting the banner for this left-leaning nationalist party. His web presence is slight, but reviews suggest he conducted himself well in the all candidates debate, effectively talking up CAP’s main plank: monetary reform. While he earned the respect of people in attendance, it seems unlikely to me that the CAP platform will resonate enough with local voters to translate into much success at the ballot box.

Ramon Portillo, (Communist): Born in El Salvador, Ramon Portillo is running for the Communists, which today appear to be primarily an anti-Free Trade party. He was no web presence to speak of, but participated in the recent all candidates’ debate.

Jason Cousineau, (Libertarian): Jason Cousineau carries the banner that believes in less government interference for everybody, everywhere, but he has no web presence, and skipped out on the recent all candidates’ debate. Perhaps his disdain for government includes a disdain for political campaigning? Understandable, but ultimately self destructive, don’t you think?

Mark Corbiere, (Independent): Rounding out the list is independent candidate Mark Corbiere, a youth organizer who ran independently in Kitchener Centre during the 2004 general election. Not much is known about him, as he doesn’t appear to have a web presence, but he was a loud voice in the audience at the 2006 Kitchener-Waterloo all candidates debate, as he heckled the other candidates and the moderator.

Braid took an early lead in the sign wars, but Telegdi’s support has shown itself too. One also does not have to look hard for New Democratic or Green Party supporters waving their colours. The riding should be competitive, although I fully expect incumbent Telegdi to win it, yet again.

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Correction: Kitchener CentreIn my profile of Kitchener Centre and its candidates, I accidentally left one individual out. Martin Suter is running for the Communists once again. This truck driver ran for this party in the 2006 and 2000 elections. He has no web presence, and was able to find out more about him from this profile done for the 2000 election by the Globe and Mail.

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Further Reading

• Waterloo Region Record’s report on the K-W Debates.

This post has been crossposted to my blog.

I have been asked to blog at Democratic Space as part of their coverage of the 2008 campaign. My goal is to provide a eye to the campaign from my corner of the world, the Regional Municipality of Waterloo.

The Region of Waterloo takes in the cities of Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge, along with the rural townships of North Dumfries, Wilmot, Wellesley and Woolwich. Its urban areas are a hotbed of manufacturing and high tech industry and the area leads the province in having one of the lowest levels of unemployment. The Perimeter Institute, two universities and Conestoga College make this a strong academic centre as well, with Waterloo being named as one of the “most intelligent” cities in the world. And yet, the rural townships with their Mennonite communities, still have an influence in the character of the cities. We don’t have to drive far for countryside, and we are still known for our farms and food processing. Oh, and we have the largest Oktoberfest in the western hemisphere.

In 2004, the region passed a small milestone when the sprawling riding of Waterloo-Wellington was cut back to the region’s borders, forming the riding that would become Kitchener-Conestoga. This move gave the region four distinct ridings — the same as Prince Edward Island, the smallest province in Confederation (even though Waterloo Region has four times the population). It’s a small point, but it highlights the region’s growing sense of self — almost a provincialist sense of self, here.

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