The Conservative Party of Canada ran a full slate of candidates in the 2004 federal election, and won 99 seats out of 308 to form the Official Opposition. Many of the party's candidates have their own biography pages; information about others may be found here.
Newfoundland and Labrador Rick Dalton (Avalon) Dalton received 9,173 votes (29.3%), losing to the region's incumbent, John Efford.
Wynanne Downer (Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte) Wynanne Downer lost to incumbent Gerry Byrne of the Liberal Party of Canada. Downer received 6,538 votes to Byrne's 17,820.
Downer sat on the Corner Brook City Council following there local election in September 2005 serving until she died of cancer in July 2007.
Merrill Strachan (Labrador) Strachan lost to Lawrence D. O'Brien of the Liberal Party of Canada, receiving 1,400 votes to O'Brien's 5,524.
Larry Peckford (Random—Burin—St. George's) Larry Peckford lost to Bill Matthews of the Liberal Party of Canada, receiving 4,820 votes to Matthews's 12,383. He is the younger brother of former Newfoundland premier Brian Peckford.
Norman Doyle (St. John's North) Norman Doyle defeated Walter Noel of the Liberal Party of Canada, receiving 15,073 votes to Noel's 13,343. Doyle is a former member of the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly serving from 1979 until 1993. Doyle was later appointed to the senate by Prime Minister Stephen Harper (2011)
Loyola Hearn (St. John's South—Mount Pearl) Loyola Hearn defeated Siobhan Coady of the Liberal Party of Canada, receiving 13,330 votes to Coady's 11,879. Hearn formerly represented St. John's West in the House of Commons and is a former member of the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly. Hearn was later appointed Canadian ambassador to Ireland (2010)
Prince Edward Island
Peter McQuaid (Cardigan) Peter McQuaid lost to Lawrence MacAulay of the Liberal Party of Canada. McQuaid received 6,889 votes to MacAulay's 11,064. McQuaid was long-time Chief of Staff for PEI premier Pat Binns
Nova Scotia Michael MacDonald (Dartmouth—Cole Harbour) MacDonald finished third. The winner was Michael Savage of the Liberal Party of Canada. MacDonald received 8,739 votes to Savage's 17,425.
Quebec Argenteuil—Mirabel: David H. McArthur David H. McArthur was an executive at the machinery company S.A. McLernon Inc. from 1995 to 2007. He later worked as a consultant and a director for an airline catering business. He received 3,460 votes (7.04%) in 2004, finishing third against Bloc Québécois incumbent Mario Laframboise. After the election, he was president of the Conservative Party riding association in Vaudreuil—Soulanges.Elizabeth Thompson, "Tory leader's musings divide party," Montreal Gazette, 21 October 2004, A11.
In 2009, McArthur was hired as special assistant to Chuck Strahl, the federal Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. He was promoted to chief of staff in August 2010, when John Duncan was appointed as Strahl's successor.
Brome—Missisquoi: Peter Stastny Peter Stastny is a businessman from Sutton Township, Quebec. A former co-owner of the Emporium store in Knowlton, he has also managed the Mont Glen ski resort and been president of the Brome Lake Chamber of Commerce.Maurice Crossfield, "Residents voice opposition to community centre/theatre project," Sherbrooke Record, 2 March 2000, p. 1; Maurice Crossfield, "Mont Glen rebounds after fire," Sherbrooke Record, 27 December 2002, p. 1; Maurice Crossfield, "Peter Stastny to run for Conservatives in B-M," Sherbrooke Record, 6 April 2004, p. 1. Before running for federal office, he promoted a tourist train project in Brome—Missisquoi.Maurice Crossfield, "Brome-Missisquoi tourist train concept chugging along," Sherbrooke Record, 15 March 2000, p. 5. He was the mayor of Sutton Township from 1993 to 1997 and supported a merger with the neighbouring town of Sutton. In the 1997 municipal election, he lost to an anti-merger candidate.Maurice Crossfield, "Studies, few mergers in near future in Brome-Missisquoi," Sherbrooke Record, 1 February 2005, p. 5. The Quebec government forced the two communities to merge in 2002.Maurice Crossfield, "Sutton Yes forces gear up for demerger campaign," Sherbrooke Record, 23 April 2004, p. 1.
Stastny was a Liberal until 2004, when he joined the Conservatives to run as the party's candidate in Brome—Missisquoi.Rhéal Séguin, "Can a Stastny win in the political arena, too?", ''The Globe and Mail, 18 May 2004, A6. Ironically, he was still on the Liberal Party's membership list when the election took place."Conservative Stastny's Liberal connection," Sherbrooke Record, 23 June 2004, p. 1. He was fifty years old at the time and was chair of the Eastern Townships Community Economic Development and Employability Committee."Conservative nomination meeting canceled," Sherbrooke Record, 14 April 2002, p. 2. During the election, he proposed to eliminate campaign signs on ecological grounds."Stastny wants to stamp out signs," Sherbrooke Record, 11 June 2004, p. 4. Considered a strong candidate for the Conservatives in Quebec, he received 4,888 votes (11.05%) for a third-place finish against Liberal incumbent Denis Paradis.Daniel Drolet, "Nail-Biters to watch in Quebec," Ottawa Citizen, 26 June, B6.
Stastny's family is of Slovak origin, and he is a distant relative of the former hockey player and current member of the European Parliament named Peter Stastny.Rhéal Séguin, "Can a Stastny win in the political arena, too?", ''The Globe and Mail, 18 May 2004, A6. The Canadian politician Stastny, however, was a supporter of the Montreal Canadiens rather than the Quebec Nordiques.
Richelieu: Daniel-A. Proulx
Daniel-A. Proulx has a diploma in administration from the University of Montreal. He was an administrator from 1999 to 2003 and later started a computer concepts firm. He has also been president of the Metropolitan Sorel-Tracy Chamber of Industry and Commerce.CBC: Canada Votes 2004, Ridings: Richelieu, accessed 11 August 2009. During the 2004 election, he acknowledged that the Conservative Party had only a minimal presence in his riding.Daniel A. Proulx se présente pour le Parti conservateur, SorelTracyregion.net, 31 May 2004, accessed 11 August 2009. He received 3,726 votes (7.65%), finishing third against Bloc Québécois incumbent Louis Plamondon.
Ontario Brampton—Springdale: Sam Hundal Sulakhan Singh (Sam) Hundal (born 1940) holds a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Bachelor of Teaching degree from Punjab University, a Commonwealth graduate's teaching certificate from the School of Education at the University of Leicester, and a Master of Arts degree in political science from the University of Windsor. He works as a real-estate agent and language interpreter. Hundal has been involved in several Brampton community organizations since moving to the city in the mid-1970s, and participated in the 1996 Team Mission trade mission to South Asia. He received a Governor General's 125th Commemorative Canada Medal in 1992, and was granted an Outstanding Contribution Recognition Certificate from the premier of Ontario in 1994.
Hundal campaigned for the Brampton City Council in 1982, but was defeated.The Globe and Mail, 27 October 1982. He was originally a member of the Liberal Party, and in 1990 challenged sitting Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) Carman McClelland for the Ontario Liberal Party nomination in Brampton North.Toronto Star, 6 June 1990. Hundal charged that McClelland was ignoring the concerns of Brampton's Sikh community. McClelland denied this, and noted that over 550 party members from Brampton North's Sikh community supported his renomination. McClelland won the challenge, 1,002 votes to 827, in a contest that was marked by open hostility between the candidates.Toronto Star, 12 June 1990.
Hundal later ran for the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in Brampton Centre in the 1997 federal election, and finished third against Liberal candidate Sarkis Assadourian. He was chosen as the Conservative Party's candidate in 2004 after it was discovered that Gurjit Grewal, the party's original nominee, had faced an assault charge in the early 1990s. He received 11,182 votes (27.53%), finishing second against Liberal candidate Ruby Dhalla.
Brant: Greg Martin Greg Martin is a professional firefighter."Brantford -- Ward 3 (Two to be elected)," Brantford Expositor, 8 November 2000, D7; "Martin seeks second term," Brantford Expositor, 29 March 2003, A3. As of 2010, he had served twenty-five years with Toronto Fire Services and held the rank of captain. He was a member of the Brantford city council from 2000 to 2010, representing the third ward.
After a failed bid in 1997, Martin was elected to council at age forty in the 2000 municipal election, defeating former mayor Bob Taylor for the ward's second seat.Ross Marowits, "Ward 3 voters are sure to show up on election day," Brantford Expositor, 21 October 2000, A13; Vincent Ball, "Persistence pays off for Ward 4's Wrobel," Brantford Expositor, 14 November 2000, A3. He was re-elected in 2003 and 2006, but lost in 2010. Martin became vice-chair of the health board in 2002 and later chaired the corporate services committee and the Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre expansion work group."New chairman for health board," Brantford Expositor, 21 February 2000, A3; "Brant councillor elected to head board of health," Brantford Expositor, 19 December 2002, A3' Michael-Allan Marion, "Brownfield money welcomed," Brantford Expositor, 24 February 2005, A1; Michelle Ruby, "Martin blames loss on article" , Brantford Expositor, 2010, accessed 14 February 2011. He attempted to replace Marguerite Ceschi-Smith as chair of the city's brownfield committee in 2004, but was defeated.Michael-Allan Marion, "Politicians squabble over post," 23 November 2004, A3.
Generally, Martin was known as a fiscal conservative.Richard Beales, "Veteran councillor to defend Ward 3 seat" , Brantford Expositor, 2010, accessed 14 February 2011. He was the only councillor to vote against a twenty-year downtown revitalization plan in 2002, saying that the region had already received too much money.Michael-Allan Marion, "Council backs core plan," 5 March 2002, A1. He was also the only councillor to vote against sending a trade delegation to Italy in 2005, and the following year he was one of two councillors to vote against continuing a grant to Laurier Brantford.Michael-Allan Marion, "Mayor hopes trade mission to Italy pays dividends," Brantford Expositor, 13 September 2005, A1; Michael-Allan Marion, "Have we done enough for Laurier?", Brantford Expositor, 22 February 2006, A3. Martin sat on the Finance Committee for most of his time on Brantford City Council and as chair, ushered in a service review program for city departments. He was successful in getting council to agree to a set time hiring freeze of municipal employees to help minimize property tax increases. He was also a proponent of intensive line-by-line study of operational and capital budgets during annual budget deliberations by council.