The Battle for Georgetown is on.

Halton Hills - Halton: The incumbent Conservative has the advantage in this riding. Chong, who Liberal's have come to identify with as a 'red conservative' is perhaps one of the greatest personalities to hit these parts in sometime. He is young, enthusiastic, educated and extremely personable. Many in the community will tell you; he's done a great job reaching out to community members. However, the Conservative's will definitely be facing a challenge this race from a new Liberal front man who's bound to gain popularity from the changing of its old guard.

The Liberal riding association has united themselves behind their new candidate, Mayor of Erin - Rod Finnie. NHL referee Bruce Hood was a long time favourite by many, but recently succeeded by the Erin mayor who is currently on leave of absence until the federal race concludes. It appears it was time to shuffle the deck as hopes are high of closing the Liberal Conservative 2004 gap in this riding. The Liberal's will no doubt gain popularity in Erin and its surrounding areas. Everything else pivots on Finnie's impact in Georgetown South where the Liberals feel there's a lot to be gained. At any rate, this is going to be probably one of Halton Hills - Wellington's most interesting races to watch unfold as the election dates grow closer and closer. If the Conservatives lose their seat in this riding, none of their seats will be safe east of Saskatchewan.

The NDP are lacking any presence. The party has a lot of work to do closing the confidence gap in the community. Many in Halton Hills, including NDP’ers remember the failures and lack of any presence or influence from riding front man Noel Duignan. Some feel he wasn't influential as an MPP when elected to Rae's government back in the 90's, and it appears those attitudes have not changed. The NDP could have definitely benefited from the same changes the Liberal's recently went through in this ridding. It's apparent through the lack of any visual support, the NDP have failed to make any lasting impression in this region for sometime now. And any mechanic knows; if the machine is not working as it should, it's time to take a close look at some of the parts.

Brent Boutellier is the candidate for the Green Party in this region. Despite not much being known about him or the party, in 2004 Brent managed to persuade 2725 votes his way. Most analyst feel those votes came from disenfranchised NDP'ers.

Mike Wisniewski is running in the riding as an independent. Not much is known about the 21 year old Fergus man but we hope to soon hear what his platform is.

2004 Results:

• Conservative - Mike Chong - 21479

• Liberal - Bruce Hood - 19173

• NDP - Noel Duignan - 5974

• CHP - Pat Wood - 826

For more information on the candidates visit their websites:

Conservative MP - Michael Chong...

Liberal candidate - Rod Finnie ...

NDP candidate -Noel Duignan ...

Green Party candidate - Brent Boutellier ..

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