BRUCE COURT GOT SLAUGHTERED!!!!! WHAT DOES THIS MEANS????

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NB Telegraph-Journal | Politics
As published on page B1/B2 on April 27, 2006

Knudson wins Liberal nod in a walk
Candidate in last election will carry party banner in Saint John Portland


By Jeff Ducharme
Telegraph-Journal

Colleen Knudson demolished the competition in winning the Liberal nomination for Saint John Portland by taking 81 per cent of the vote.

Ms. Knudson, who won 313 of the 384 votes cast, will now carry the Liberal banner and try to knock off incumbent Conservative and Environment Minister Trevor Holder in the next provincial election.

Premier Bernard Lord contends the election won't be held until the fall of 2007. But Liberal leader Shawn Graham says he won't miss an opportunity to bring the government down and force a snap election.

"It doesn't get better than that," Mrs. Knudson said after winning the nomination.

"I was confident in the room "...but you're never really sure."

Ms. Knudson was a nurse at the Saint John Regional Hospital for more than 36 years. She is currently working at the hospital as a planning consultant for community programs.

Ms. Knudson - the Liberal candidate in the last provincial election - faced little competition, but a stirring speech by Bruce Court left some wondering if there might be a second ballot. But even Mr. Court's fiery speech couldn't sink the Knudson political juggernaut.

Mr. Court took to the stage second after Mrs. Knudson delivered the slickest speech of the evening to the approximately 500 people at the Centre Communautaire Samuel de Champlain.

His tough words about stopping the natural gas pipeline through Rockwood Park and about stamping out poverty brought cheers from the crowd. His salvos fired in the premier's direction further revved up the partisan gathering.

"We do not need the premier speaking out of both sides of his mouth . . . building golf courses for his buddies in Moncton to buy more votes," Mr. Court said.

But his entrance song, Thunderstruck by AC/DC, and the tough words weren't enough to shake Mrs. Knudson from delegates' minds when they marked an X at the ballot box.

Mrs. Knudson almost won the seat in the 2003 provincial election narrowly losing to Mr. Holder, who won by a narrow margin of 169 votes - 2,476 to 2,307.

A political neophyte in the last election, Mrs. Knudson said this time she'll be much better educated in the rules of the political game.

"I know how to run a campaign, for one thing," she said.

Sylvia Sparks, executive director of PRUDE Inc., was the third candidate in the race.

Former Saint John police chief Clarence (Butch) Cogswell bowed out of the race just days before the nomination meeting. He was touted as one of the favourites, but offered no explanation as to why he chose to pull out of the race.

Mr. Holder has held the Saint John Portland seat since 1999 and was appointed to cabinet in 2005. The nomination meeting coincided with an announcement in the legislature by Mr. Holder that he would be tabling a pollution initiative that would directly benefit Saint John.

Provincially, the Liberals have said they are going to run a campaign that shows their leader, Shawn Graham, as down to earth and Mr. Lord as aloof and out of touch with the common voter. In the opinion polls, the best Mr. Graham has been able to do is equal Mr. Lord's popularity with the province's voters.

Mr. Graham, 16 Liberal MLAs and federal MP Paul Zed attended the event.

Before Mr. Graham took to the stage to pump up the crowd, the MLAs lined up on stage. When Mr. Graham hit the stage, he high-fived each MLA like he had just hit a home run and was crossing home plate.

"You can feel it in this room tonight," said Mr. Graham. "There's a buzz, an excitement, an energy."

Mr. Graham thinks Saint John Portland is a seat the Liberals can take.

"For the past seven years we've had a Conservative government that's been on cruise control," he said.