Seven candidates in LaSalle-Émard

LaSalle-Émard riding has an area of 21 square kilometres and has about 74,878 voters. The election officer is Mrs. Elena Amato and her office is located in the Cecil-Newman elementary school at 171 Orchard Avenue. Office hours are Monday to Friday from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm; Saturday from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm and Sunday, from 12 noon to 4:00 pm. Elections are on Tuesday, October 14 from 9:30 am to 9:30 pm. There will be advanced voting on Friday, October 3, Saturday, October 4 and Monday, October 6.

LaSalle Borough Councillor Lise Zarac will be running and representing the Liberal Party led by Stéphane Dion. Endorsed personally by Paul Martin, Mrs. Zarac is a long time member of the LaSalle-Émard Liberal Association. She is particularly interested in environmental and cultural issues as well as in ethnic communities.

Mrs. Béatrice Guay-Pepper will represent the Conservative Party led by outgoing Prime Minister Stephen Harper. A communications consultant, she was initiated into politics and has been promoting security and safety for citizens and the fight against crime.

Frédérick Isaya will be representing the Bloc québécois. He will be fighting for the rights of community organisations which, according to him, have been neglected. His mother is from Quebec and his father is African. He graduated from the University of Montreal after earning certificates in Sociology, Psychology and Communications, General Law and Intervention in Multi-ethnic communities. He has two sons.

Jack Layton’s New Democratic Party will be represented by Mrs. Amy Darwish. She is the Vice President of the Women’s Committee of NDP Canada.

Businessman Antoine Kaluzny is running as an independent candidate. A native of Normandy, France, he is married and has four children. He has a Ph.D from the Université Libre Ukrainienne in Munich and has considerable business experience: construction, rental and property management.

Other candidates running in LaSalle-Émard are Yves Le Seigle of the Marxist-Leninist Party and Kristina Vitelli of the Green Party of Canada.

During the January 23, 2006, Liberal Party leader Paul Martin obtained 48.4% of the votes. Results for the other candidates were: May Chiu of the Bloc québécois (28.7%), Conservative Georges-Alexandre Bastien (12.8%), Neo-Democrat Russ Johnson (6%), Serge Bellemarre of the Green Party (3.2%), independent Jean-Philippe Lebleu (0.6%) and Jean-Paul Bédard, Marxist-Leninist (0.3%).