While many Manitobans relax in the dog days of summer, provincial politicians — and those who hope to become them — are hard at work gearing up for a possible election call.

In the Wolseley constituency, Raven Thundersky has spent most of the summer pounding the pavement, selling memberships to Manitoba's Liberal party.

Thundersky is best known for her battle with the federal government over Zonolite, an asbestos-contaminated insulation used in her family's home on the Poplar River First Nation and in thousands of other homes across the country.  The fight is still in the courts.

Thundersky has lived in the Wolseley area for the past five years, and now wants to represent it in the legislature.

"The NDP have had their chance. The PCs have had their chance. And nothing has really changed," she said, adding that she doesn't think Wolseley issues get enough attention from the province's NDP government.

"Housing shortage, no day-care space, the welfare rates are low, minimum wage is very, very low," she said. "The rent is going higher and higher, and everything else remains the same."

Tough fight against MLA

Thundersky is facing off for the constituency's Liberal nomination against Frank Swark, whose experience runs the gamut from trucking to film to information technology.

The Progressive Conservatives haven't yet named a candidate for Wolseley.

But all opposition candidates in the constituency have their work cut out for them: the NDP won the area easily in the 2003 election, taking more than half of the popular vote.

MLA Rob Altemeyer isn't resting on his laurels, though.

"A week is a long time in politics, never mind three or four years, so I wouldn't take anything for granted. I never do," he said.

Election time: spring or fall?

The Conservatives have nominated six candidates in urban and rural constituencies from Brandon to Selkirk.  The Liberals have matched that, with six candidates named in Winnipeg areas.

The NDP lead the pack with nine candidates in place.

Altemeyer said the party is ready to go whenever Premier Gary Doer makes the election call.

Some political observers are betting on a fall election call, but a spokesman for Doer said he won't call a fall election unless there is a "significant public reason."

So far, Doer hasn't defined what that means.