Frontenac News - Federal

Jeff Green | May 03, 2007

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Feature Article - May 3, 2007

Federal election?The parties are ready in LFL&A

by Jeff Green

With the selection Arif Jinha, a graduate student from Carleton Place as the federal NDP candidate, the four parties that received close to 98% of the votes in the previous election have chosen their candidates for a federal election, even as the timing of an election is as undetermined as ever.

In a meeting at Sharbot Lake, Jinha was acclaimed as the candidate in a unanimous vote by a small group of party members.

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Arif Jinha was born in the United Kingdom, and emigrated with his family to Canada at the tender age of 1. His family moved around when he was young, finally settling in Orleans, where he attended school. He graduated from the University of Ottawa with a BA and is currently working on his MA in Globalization and International Development. Global health is a major interest of his, and he has been involved with students and global health since 2001. He has been working on a development project in southern Sudan for seven months.

He purchased a house in Carleton Place with his wife Donna, a couple of years ago and says he “fell in love with Carleton Place” after moving there. Jinha hopes to travel around the riding over the summer, perhaps on pedal power, to get a handle on the issues as the people see them. He said that his experience with globalisation has taught him lessons about rural reality that will probably be applicable in LFL&A.

Arif Jinha joins previously selected candidates Dave Remington for the Liberals, Chris Walker for the Greens, and sitting MP Scott Reid of the governing Conservative Party.

With the exception of Green Party candidate Walker, all the candidates were acclaimed by their riding associations.

The riding was easily taken by Scott Reid in 2006, with over 50% of the vote. The Liberals finished a distant second, at 24.6%.

The provincial wings of the major parties will now concentrate on selecting candidates for an Ontario election, which is already set for October 10.

The Ontario Conservatives will select their candidate this Saturday in Perth.

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