While it is true the NDP have held Hamilton East since 2006, I don't think it can be considered a 'safe' riding for them. Prior to Wayne Marsden's current eight-year run, the riding was consistently Liberal from 1962-2006, an impressive 44-year run.
That Liberal dynasty was interrupted mainly by the Liberal Party's sagging fortunes during the Martin/Dion/Ignatieff leadership periods, aggravated by the infighting among what was then a very divided Liberal party (recall how Shiela Copps, then a solid Chretien supporter, was squeezed out of the HoC during the 2004 riding re-distributions by pro-Martin candidates Stan Keyes in Hamilton Centre and Tony Valeri in Hamilton East). Now that the Liberal Party is solidly united under the leadership of Justin Trudeau, and the Layton-led Orange wave of 2011 has washed away, this riding is definitely back in contention heading into the 2015 election.
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"A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul"
-George Bernard Shaw
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