Shall we file a missing persons report?

So, having used the kitchen table for something other than a political platform, it was time to do a little snooping. First, check out the CBC election site and look at who is running in BC. (Just a random pick).

Something struck me as a little odd, so over to the Conservative website to check the same information. Funny, the Conservative list of ridings is two three shorter than the CBC list.

One would think, given that Harper has been quacking about an election for the past several weeks and the fact that he had a weak minority which could have been brought down at any minute that the Conservative election machine would have been 100 percent ready.

Apparently not.

The missing BC ridings? Vancouver East and Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo.

The Vancouver East incumbent is NDP Libby Davies. It may be something of a problem riding for the Harperites. It isn't just an NDP stronghold; it is THE NDP stronghold. Davies slaughtered her opponents in the last election leaving Conservative Elizabeth Pagtakhan in a distant third spot. In fact, Davies cleaned up with a higher percentage vote, (56.6%), than any other elected MP in the country. *Correction below* Vancouver East, since its inception in 1933 has sent a CCF/NDP member to parliament in every election except two. It has never sent a Conservative of any form to parliament - ever. Could it be that the Conservatives are having trouble convincing someone to stand and have themselves cut off at the knees?

Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo is a different story. Until today, K-T-C was represented by one of the most useless individuals in the Conservative party - Betty Hinton. Hinton suffered from delusions of granduer and was caught out when she told Kamloops city council that she was a cabinet minister. That illusion lasted for all of one minute when a reporter put the question to her directly. The result was a local media assault that fell just short of calling Hinton an outright liar. Her last term had her at odds with local governments which found her to be less than helpful and at times, obstructive. Hinton moved out of the riding, something which the local press discovered, then announced that she was not running in the next election. She pleaded a medical condition (thyroid) as her reason for dropping out but speculation had been running high that, as she approached her eighth year of parliamentary attendance, she had accomplished her goal - a gold plated MP's pension. During her tenure as the K-T-C MP the running joke in the riding, (still available as a bumper sticker), was Where's Betty? A reference to her unexplained absences, lack of approachability and her penchant for being unavailable to answer critical questions. The Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo Conservative Riding Association has had plenty of time to nominate a replacement but seems to be having some difficulty (cough) making a decision.

The interesting part in all this is the fact that the Conservatives actually went into this election without a full slate of candidates firmly in place.

I guess the candidates don't matter all that much. It is, after all, all about Harper. Everyone else is just cannon fodder.

Error, error! Dr. Frink, in comments, points out that Vancouver Kingsway is also absent from the Conservative list of ridings. Yes, well, that would be the former riding of the now infamous sleazeball David Emerson. So, in fact, there are three ridings in BC which do not have a Conservative on the ballot as yet. It should be interesting to see which Conservative wants to become a sacrificial hog in Vancouver Kingsway.

Skeena-Bulkley Valley. You can probably guess what's coming. Yes kidz, Sharon Smith is running as the Conservative candidate. You might remember that Sharon got a little publicity when Dick Harris, Harper's Conservative BC lieutenant, appointed Smith the "go to" person, subverting the elected MP, without her ever having, you know, stood for election. In fact she got a lot more international attention after she won the mayoralty race in Houston, BC. Shortly after her win there were the celebratory photo shoots. Except one of them was Smith buck-naked, in the Mayor's office, in the Mayor's chair, wearing nothing but the Mayor's chain. It's interesting that, despite her long being considered the annointed one for the Conservatives in Skeena-Bulkley Valley, at the time of writing she has no candidate's profile on the CBC election site. In fact, she doesn't have a picture. I suppose she's looking for something a little less revealing than this. (It's the tamer version). One can only imagine the photo shoot that will take place if she wins a seat in parliament.

Correction: Libby Davies did not have the largest percentage majority. That seems to rest with Monte Solberg in Medicine Hat where he took the riding with 79.7% of the vote. Of course Solberg announced that he won't be running again, something which shocked most everyone. Solberg was a Reform heavyweight sitting in a Conservative stronghold. The Conservatives could run an unnamed locust and win that seat.