Saint John 2008 Election Buzz Begins

The Buzz

UPDATE - Check out this page for the latest information on the campaign!

Today’s Telegraph Journal has started the election buzz on who will be running in the upcoming election in May 2008. I’m am getting quite excited for this next election, and I am glad to see people are starting to declare where they are when it comes to running or not. Ivan Court said it best, “You’re going to stay, you’re going to move up, or you’re going to move out.”

When it comes to the Mayor, it looks like Norm McFarlane and Ivan Court are definitely running. Michelle Hooton hasn’t officially said if she will run; but, she has been openly considering it. My guess is that she will run, making this a very interesting race.

Councilors who will be running again include: Peter McGuire, John Ferguson and Stephen Chase. Because of the Ward system vote, these individuals will need to decide if they will run in their ward or at-large. So far, only McGuire has stated what he will do - he intends to run in the West ward. Chase has said he is conflicted between running in a ward, something he was a strong proponent of, and allowing new people to have the opportunity. He also has a lot of city wide support, previously finishing in 2nd place behind Hooton in the last election, which would allow him to run at-large.

Other councilors who have said they are not going to run again include: Glen Tait and Jay-Young Chang. Glen Tait has stated in the past that if the ward vote passed, he would not run again. This was confirmed once the ward vote concluded. The question is - will he run regardless of what he said? Chang has stated that he is frustrated with the hold up on several issues.

The Recap

Only time will tell who will run again. I am, as always, looking forward to this next election as it will hopefully introduce a lot of new faces in a new mixed-ward system and allow people to vote in a person on their merit - not their name! I’m interested to hear your thoughts and any gossip you may have heard! Comment away.