We just got back from voting in the 2011 Federal Election in our new home of Riverview, New Brunswick. There was quite a crowd at the Riverview Boys and Girls Club at 50 Runnymeade where the voting was taking place, not a line-up but apparently when I asked it was steady and that would make sense since they said last week that for the anticipation-vote there was like 35 percent more voters than usual so whenwe got there and saw all the cars it felt like the 2011 Election was going to bring more people out than ever!
So after watching all the local debates on Rogers Community Television and passing the billboards on Whitepine as we drove to Tim Hortons, we had arrived to vote expecting to choose between:
Shawna Gagné for the NDP
Robert Goguen for the Conservatives
Brian Murphy for the Liberals
Steven Steves for the Green Party
Everywhere we go in Riverview we see their posters and big letters that these candidates are running in Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe so we were kind of working under the assumption that we would be choosing between these four candidates.
Surprise! When we got to the polling station we suddenly have the choice between:
Darryl Pitre for the NDP
Rob Moore for the Conservatives
Linda Wilhelm for the Liberals
Stephanie Coburn for the Green Party.
Cue the cartoon music: Whaaa whaaa whaaaaaaaaa.
What happened to our candidates? I never saw a poster for any of these folks beside the Timmy Hortons!!! What a deception!! It turns out that despite seeing posters for candidates in Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe we are actually in the Fundy Royal riding! Someone should have mentioned that to everyone campaigning as no-one in our family had even heard of these other four candidates…even Jasper who is one of the most informed voters in our household!
So we belong tp the Fundy Royal riding? News to us and maybe should be news to the people putting up signs all over their lawns listing candidates from another place, another planet! So just to help residents, especially new ones who have only lived in New Brunswick for less than a year: Parts of Riverview are in Fundy Royal! Taa-Daa!
According to the CBC Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe Riding,consists of the city of Moncton and the neighbouring towns of Riverview and Dieppe. Well some of Riverview…not all of it we just learned! The riding was established in 1966. In the redistributions of 1996 and 2004, about 10 per cent of the population was shifted to other ridings.I guess we are part of the 10%…woo hoo! Population: 89,334
The electoral district of Fundy Royal encompasses more than 7,500 square kilometres, with a population of 69,471 people. The riding includes the towns of Quispamsis, Hampton and Sussex, with the boundaries including Mispec to the south, Salisbury to the north, Waterborough to the west and the entire Bay of Fundy shore from just outside Saint John up to and including parts of Riverview. In 2008, 33,334 people cast ballots in Fundy Royal. Elections Canada’s voters list shows 56,196 eligible voters in the riding for the May 2 election.
Looking at the Electoral Maps of Fundy Royal and Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe it seems odd that our street makes us belong to a riding that includes St. John a few hours away. Anyway…since I am currently rocking the Fantasy NHL Hockey Pools and am a betting man I will make my predictions for the winners. And heck…I will do both of the ridings!
Here are my 2011 Election Results for my two Sedin Brother Twins New Brunswick Ridings because I live on the border of both I get to choose:
DAMI’S PICKS FOR THE 2011 ELECTION RESULTS FOR MONCTON-RIVERVIEW-DIEPPE
Out of 74,660 Eligible Votors
Shawna Gagné for the NDP – 28% or 20,645 votes (compared to 7,859 or 17% of votes in 2008)
Robert Goguen for the Conservatives – 40% or 29,151 votes (compared to 16,260 or 36% of votes in 2008)
Brian Murphy for the Liberals – 24% or 18,001 votes (compared to 17, 492 or 39% of votes in 2008)
Steven Steves for the Green Party – 16% or 6,863 (compared to 4,037 or 9% of votes in 2008)
Of course these assume that we have a 100% voter turnout….we won’t but we should have a good voter turnout so my predictions for the 2011 federal election results for Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe are:
Conservatives 40%
NDP 28%
Liberals 24%
Green 10%
DAMI’S PICKS FOR THE 2011 ELECTION RESULTS FOR FUNDY ROYAL
Out of 56,196 Eligible Voters
Darryl Pitre for the NDP – 18,337 votes (compared to 7,913 or 24% of voters in 2008)
Rob Moore for the Conservatives 27, 879 votes (compared to 17,220 or 52% of votes in 2008)
Linda Wilhelm for the Liberals 6,490 votes (compared to 5,776 or 17% of votes)
Stephanie Coburn for the Green Party. 3,490 votes (compared to 2,443 or 7% of votes in 2008)
Of course these assume that we have a 100% voter turnout….we won’t so my predictions for the 2011 federal election results for Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe are:
Conservatives 50%
NDP 33%
Liberals 12%
Green 7%
So those are my predictions…I will see tomorrow how close I was; I have a bet with Jasper and as long as I am within 5% either way on my picks I will win and Jasper will owe me a Shish-Taouk!! I don’t mind if I am wrong…I also picked Tampa Bay to win the Stanley Cup!
Comment from DAMI
Time May 3, 2011 at 11:20 am
Well….I guess I was close! The actual results for Fundy Royal:
Rob Moore Conservative 58%
Darryl Pitre NDP 27%
Linda Wilhelm Libera; 10%
Stephanie Coburn 5%
In Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe
Robert Goguen Conservative 36%
Brian Murphy Liberal 32%
Shawna Gagne NDP 29%
Steven Steeves 4%