Federal Election 2015 Nickel Belt

Morning North1:44:07CBC Nickel Belt debate

Morning North host Markus Schwabe moderates a candidates debate in front of about 100 voters at Club 50 in Chelmsford.

Nickel Belt is one of many seats in northeastern Ontario the NDP will attempt to hold on to in 2015, after first wrestling it away from the Liberals in the "Orange Wave" of the 2008 election.

That's when Claude Gravellefirst became MP, taking the seat of retiring Liberal Ray Bonin. In the last election, Gravellegot double the votes of the second place candidate whowas a Conservative, with the Liberals coming in third in Nickel Belt for the first time in decades.

Claude Gravelle - NDP

A retired Inco employee who was active in the United Steelworkers and previously served on council in the former Town of Rayside-Balfour and twice lost in runs at the MP seat in 2004 and 2006.In his seven years on Parliament Hill, Gravellehas served as NDP critic for mines, natural resources and official languages.

Aino Laamanen - Conservative

Laamanenimmigrated from Finland when she was 10 and has lived in the riding since 1967. She has a background inaccountingand business ownership, as well as serving on several local boards and volunteer organizations. She says she is bilingual in Finnish and English and has studied French.

Stuart McCall - Green

The owner ofMcGrow's Farms in Garson, McCallhas been active in the local food movement in the Sudbury area, sitting on the boards ofEat Local Sudbury Co-operative and the Greater Sudbury Food Policy Council.

Marc Serre - Liberal

Serre has a long history working in the telecommunications industry, as well as public service, being previously elected as both a school board trustee and a town councillor in West Nipissing. His father Gaetanwas Liberal MP for Nickel Belt from 1968 to 1972 and his uncle Benoit was also a Liberal MP for the area from 1993 to 2004.

Dave Starbuck- Marxist-Leninist

A retired math teacher at Cambrian College, Starbuckis a familiar name to Sudbury area voters, having run for the Marxist-Leninists several times since 1979. The last time he was on the ballot was in the 2006 federal election in the Sudbury riding, when he captured 77 votes.