There is still no date for the race to fill Liberal Bob Rae’s Toronto-Centre seat, but now there are candidates.
Journalist and author Chrystia Freeland formally announced Tuesday she wants to run for the Grits.
And former MuchMusic VJ Jennifer Hollett last week launched her bid for the NDP nomination.
Freeland was managing director and editor of Thomson-Reuters in New York, and a former columnist for the Globe and Mail. She also wrote a book about the middle class called Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else.
She’s backed by former Toronto Centre MP Bill Graham, who represented the riding from 1993-2007, and current MPP Glen Murray.
Hollett, a broadcaster who has a masters in public administration from Harvard University, has a background in human rights and social justice.
George Smitherman, who represented the riding provincially for the Liberals for more than a decade until 2010, recently announced he won’t run.
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Another name floating around for Liberal nomination is Zach Paikin, who bills himself as a grassroots Liberal activist and a Canadian political commentator. A mystery site dedicated to drafting Paikin, a global affairs Masters’ student at the University of Toronto and son of TVO host Steve Paikin, recently cropped up on Tumblr.
There are two other byelections in the works: Provencher in Manitoba, recently vacated by Conservative Vic Toews, and Bourassa in Quebec. Liberal Denis Coderre resigned his seat in June to run for Montreal mayor.
The Greens have announced a candidate in the Bourassa race: former NHL tough guy Georges Laraque. A spokeswoman said the party is preparing a nomination for Toronto Centre and will run a candidate in Manitoba but will “focus its energy” on the other two ridings.
It also appears Larry Rousseau, regional executive vice-president at the Public Service Alliance of Canada, intends to run for the NDP in Bourassa. He has been granted permission from the Public Service Commission of Canada to seek nomination as a candidate in the riding.
His website indicates he supports the NDP. When reached by phone, Rousseau said he has no comment but the NDP is expected to make an announcement next week. The party did not want to comment Tuesday on the byelections.
The government has until Nov. 30 to name a date for the Bourassa byelection, and until Jan. 11, 2014 to set one in Provencher. There is no deadline yet set for Toronto Centre.
A byelection can be called a minimum of 36 days after the deadline.
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