The Conservative Party continues its search for a Thunder Bay – Rainy River candidate to run in the next federal election.
Election speculation has heated up over the past week, and a possible fall election appears to be more and more likely as that speculation continues. Despite the chatter, the Conservatives still haven’t been able to find a candidate for the Rainy River riding.
Richard Neumann, who carried the Conservative Party banner in the 2008 election, has said he won't seek the nomination again. Neumann finished third behind winning NDP candidate John Rafferty and runner-up Liberal candidate Ken Boshcoff.
Both Boshcoff and Rafferty will run in the next federal election. Conservative riding president Arie Grootenboer said he'd like to see a candidate in place soon, in order to build up some name recognition.
Grootenboer would not divulge any names of those seriously considering a run for the nomination. He said despite the recent election rhetoric, the Conservative Party of Canada has not given him any nomination timelines and has not asked the riding association to speed up the process of finding a candidate.
Grootenboer also said that he personally believes a fall election would be absurd.
As the Conservatives continue to search for a Rainy River candidate, the Green Party continues its search for candidates in both of Thunder Bay’s federal ridings.