Should Parliament fall…

As the possibility of fall federal elections goes up and down with each press conference by a major party leader in Ottawa this week, only the federal Liberal and Green parties of Canada seem ready to hit the ground running in the two main West Island ridings.

"Yes, (Lac St. Louis MP Francis Scarpaleggia's) nomination was last week," confirmed the Liberal incumbent's special assistant Ludmilla Von Hoyningen Huen.

Jean Raymond, assistant to Pierrefonds/Dollard Liberal MP Bernard Patry, said he would be the Grit candidate once again if an election were to be called, adding an official nomination is just a matter of time.

"It's just a question of procedure," he said. "It's the party that will decide when the nomination will be. It could be during the election, it could be before."

As for the Greens, veteran environmentalist candidate Ryan Young, who ran for Pierrefonds/Dollard last October, is making the switch to Lac St. Louis this time around, but with a caveat.

"I'm upset that there's a federal election right in the middle of Quebec municipal elections, because I have an interest in running for council in Ste. Anne de Bellevue," Young, a teacher at John Abbott College and filmmaker, said. He added he would wait to see if a federal election were inevitable before making up his mind on which race to run.

In Pierrefonds/Dollard, the Greens have a brand-new candidate in Jonathan Lumer, a law student at Université de Montréal who has been active with the party for two years but is tossing his hat into the ring for the first time.

"We wanted to be ready on all fronts," said Lumer, who cobbled together a website for the party's local branch upon nomination.

Lumer, a Dollard des Ormeaux resident, said there was not much competition for the spot. "It was kind of between me and my friend," he said. "It would have been nice to drum up that level of interest to have a real contest," he added.

He did not consider affiliating himself with the Greens until he realized they married a progressive attitude along with their environmental platform and a fiscally conservative nature.

"They're also willing to compromise with other parties, which is something that if we could see among the other parties right now, would avoid an election," he said.

In an area that overwhelmingly votes Liberal in both provincial and federal elections, Lumer remained realistic about his chances. "I think I'd have more chances of winning the lottery," he said, but added he was hoping to increase his party's status in Pierrefonds/Dollard by gaining more votes.

The Conservative Party of Canada's two ridings have not finalized candidate names yet.

"At the moment, several are being investigated," said Pierrefonds/Dollard riding association president Alex Bottausci, also a councillor in Dollard des Ormeaux. "From my understanding there were five or six originally, and now they're down to a couple of interesting candidates," he added.

Bottausci could not name any of those involved for now, but he said they were well-known in the community, with ties to affluent circles. "People would know their names looking at them," he said.

He expected a final decision within the next 10 to15 days.

"If an election is called, it could be a little faster," he said.

As for Lac St. Louis, its Conservative party riding association president Mike Randall said the party has one candidate ready to go if a 'snap' election is called. "If not, we'll have a race," he said.

Bloc Québecois spokesperson Karyne Duplessis Piché said candidates were interested in the ridings but no official decision has been made yet. "We do have several names, so I don't know if these people will want to go ahead and compete for nominations, I can't really say that yet," she said.

The New Democratic Party did not return telephone calls for comment as of press time.

In 2008, Scarpaleggia and Patry handily retook their seats, with 46.4 and 46.85 per cent of the popular vote in their ridings, respectively. In second place were the two Conservative candidates for the two ridings, Andrea Paine in Lac St. Louis and Pierre-Olivier Brunelle in Pierrefonds/Dollard. With 25.65 per cent of voters' ballots in his area, the latter finished as the Conservative with the second highest percentage of votes on the Island of Montreal.

NDP candidates in both areas finished in third place in 2008, with Daniel Quinn gaining 15.8 per cent of votes, and Shameem Sidiqqui 10.6.