Article content

With the official start of the 2015 federal election campaign potentially only weeks away, the New Democrats still haven’t nominated candidates in four of the nine Ottawa ridings.

In fact, the party has yet to set the date for nomination meetings in three of the ridings: Ottawa West — Nepean, Ottawa — Vanier and the new riding of Nepean. A meeting is set for July 28 in Carleton riding to acclaim the sole candidate, K.C. Larocque.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or NDP still lacking nominated candidates in four key Ottawa ridings Back to video

By contrast, the Liberals and Conservatives have selected candidates in all nine ridings that include at least some portion of the city of Ottawa.

NDP officials say they are unconcerned by the delay in choosing candidates and maintain the party’s recent rise to the top of the polls is partly responsible.

“We’re not even close to late,” said party spokesman George Soule. “We’ve got all kinds of time.”

There is speculation that Prime Minister Stephen Harper plans to drop the writ for the Oct. 19 election weeks earlier than required — perhaps as soon as mid-August.