Category: Politics/Conservatives

Robert Sopuck was elected the member of Parliament for the Manitoba riding of Dauphin-Swan River-Marquette in a by-election last fall after long-time MP Inky Mark decided to resign his sieat and run (unsuccessfully) for the job of mayor in Dauphin.

Mark (left), though, appears to be enjoying his freedom from the communications straightjacket he was forced to wear while he was an MP. The following letter, which Mark sent to several Manitoba newspapers, is the latest example of this former MP speaking his mind:

March 13th, 2011

Dear Editor:

Re: No Democracy in Dauphin-Swan River-Marquette

The Conservative Party nomination process again is a sham.  There was no real open nomination  to elect a real representative for the membership in the riding. For the second time Bob Sopuck has avoided an open and fair nomination process. Bob Sopuck  has been appointed again by Stephen Harper Party and Don Plett [Plett is the former party president, a Manitoban, and was recently appointed to the Senate by Harper – Akin]  to represent the party in the next general election. Brian Chita, current president of the riding is only  a rubber stamp for the party .  When will the 700 members of the Conservative Party  in the riding get to choose their own representative? One must ask the question: What value is there having a membership in a party that doesn’t respects it’s membership?  This lack of democracy at the local level is wrong.  It has taken western society 700 years to take the power away from the crown and put it in the hands of the commoner.  Today we have a system where the MP is appointed by the leader of the party, not the members of the party. Our young men and women are sacrificing their lives in the name of democracy around the world. Stephen Harper and Don Plett, in stead of paying lip service to democracy, it s time to give the membership in Dauphin-Swan River-Marquette the right to an open and fair nomination.

Yours sincerely,

Inky Mark, MP(ret.)

A few hours after we learned that Stockwell Day will not run in the general election, Prime Minister Stephen Harper tells us (below) that Chuck Strahl (left), the Transport and Infrastructure Minister, and Vancouver-area MP John Cummins have also decided not to seek re-election. All of these announcements come as Parliament Hill is at about DefCon 1 so far as a spring election is concerned. The practical effect of the resignations of Day, Strahl, and Cummins is that the ridings associations in those areas have about two weeks to find a candidate  — just in case.

Should we be surprised that any of these men are resigning? No. They have all three had long careers in Ottawa. Day is 60. Cummins turns 69 today. Strahl is 54 and living with an incurable and rare form of lung cancer that has been — thank heavens — largely dormant since its initial discovery in 2005.

Cummins and Strahl are also party of the infamous/famous “Class of 93”, the term used to describe that first wave of Reform MPs that washed up on Parliament's shore after Deb Grey had established them all a beachhead. It's now been more than 17 years since that 1993 election and many from that group have already bid adieu. Jay Hill said so long last fall. Jim Abbott, another BC MP from the class of 1993 still in the House, had already indicated he won't run. Rick Casson of Lethbridge  is also serving out his final months before retiring. Liberal MP Keith Martin first came to Parliament as a Reformer in 1993 but then switched sides. Martin is also retiring at the end of this Parliament. Monte Solberg, one of Strahl's best friends, was the big name among several Class of 1993 alumni who packed it in before the 1993 election.

There are still a few MPs, though, in the Conservative caucus to carry that torch that Reformers first rode into town with. They include Harper himself (though he would resign during his first term as MP and not come back to the Commons until 2002), Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Diane Ablonczy, Indian Affairs Minister John Duncan (he lost in the 2006 election but came back in 2008), and MPs Leon Benoit, Garry Breitkreuz, and Dick Harris,.

For the Conservative Party of Canada and its supporters, the departure of Strahl, Cummins, et al are part of a significant generational change as those MPs who fought those early battles as Reformers, Canadian Alliance MPs and then through the mergers of the parties of the right into government move on and those early battles fade back into history. Here's the PM statement:

“I would like to thank Ministers Chuck Strahl and Stockwell Day, as well as Member of Parliament, John Cummins for their extraordinary dedication to public service throughout the years. I look forward to working with them in the best interest of Canada until the end of their mandate.

“They have served Canadians and their constituents with distinction.

“Stockwell has an outstanding record of achievement throughout his time in Parliament. Since his debut in public service in 1986, as a Member in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Stockwell’s leadership has inspired all of us. From his role as Leader of the Official Opposition in 2000, to his success in several ministerial positions, Stockwell is respected and admired by all of his colleagues, his constituents and Canadians across the country.

“Since first elected to Parliament in 1993, Chuck has tackled each of his roles with passion and enthusiasm, and with tremendous achievement. Throughout his various ministerial positions, Chuck has worked tirelessly to improve the lives of Canadians.

“John has been a dedicated member of Parliament since 1993. Throughout this time, he has made an important contribution to Parliament, to our party and, in the last five years, our Government. He has earned enormous respect for his work on behalf of his constituents and all Canadians.

“I am both honoured and grateful to have worked with Stockwell, Chuck and John.

“Laureen joins me in expressing our gratitude, and wishing them and their families the very best in their future endeavours.”

Correction: An earlier version of this post said Edmonton's Peter Goldring was not running. That is incorrect. He is running in the next general election. My apologies to Mr. Goldring. 

A couple of “primary sources” which will likely be a useful reference down the road:

First, the “charging document” laid before the Ontario Court of Justice in which the Conservaitve Party of Canada, Senators Irving Gerstein and Doug Finley and two former party officials, Susan Kehoe and Michael Donison, are accused of violating Canada's election laws.

Charge Sheet for Conservative Party, Doug Finley, Irving Gerstein, Susan Kehoe, and Michael Donison

Second: The 57-page “Reasons for Judgement” released by the Federal Court of Appeal when it overruled a Federal Court of Canada judge in deciding that Chief Electoral Officer was right to withhold rebates for the expenses at the heart of the “in-and-out” affair. This Federal Court case is a different one than the case that will be heard at the Ontario Court of Justice. But though the issues before the court are different, both sides are expected to rely on some of the same evidence and some of the same arguments at the court of justice.

Federal Court of Appeal Reasons for Judgment (In-and-Out_

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has long been leading a concerted effort by the Conservative Party to reach out to first-generation Canadians, a group of immigrants that have historically been more likely to vote Liberal than Conservative. Kenney has had some success but, as the Conservatives now recognize in an accidentally leaked presentation, “Data Proves Hunch: We Are Losing” though, “We Are Losing Less Badly Now.”

For example: According to the data in the presentation, the Conservatives were once winning just 17.9 per cent of the vote in those polls in the Toronto with a 416 area code where 40 per cent of voters are Chinese. By the 2008, general election, the Conservatives had nearly doubled their support in those same polls to 33.3 per cent — a strong improvement but not enough to steal seats.

The Conservatives want to do better in the next general election which — as you'll see in the presentation below — they believe will begin in late March. And so the Conservatives are/were all set with a radio and television advertising strategy that would have a “heavy deployment” beginning on March 15 and running for two weeks. That information comes on a page – page 17 below — that is titled “TV Buy Costs – Pre Writ”, an indication that the Conservatives, at least, believe the country will be into a general election campaign two weeks after this ad buy starts. Any ad spending between now and the writ period, of course, doesn't count against the spending limits imposed during a campaign.

A note on the provenance of the information below: The information was distributed to members of the Parliamentary Press Gallery by the NDP. The NDP came to be in possession of this information because it and a cover letter seeking some help for a $200,000 fundraising campaign to pay for these ads was accidentally addressed and hand-delivered to NDP MP Linda Duncan who happens to have the same last name as Conservative MP John Duncan. The original set of documents from the NDP contained 29 pages but many of the pages were duplicates. I have removed the duplicate pages and presented these documents as distributed by the NDP. So far, we have heard nothing from the Conservatives to suggest these documents have been altered or are fake. Indeed, in a talking point memo distributed by the Conservative Party yesterday to all of its MPs, the Conservatives appear to make no apologies for this kind of approach to winning the support of “cultural communities”.

Jason Kenney presentation – Building the Conservative brand in cultural communities

One of Immigration Minister Jason Kenney’s political aides was forced to resign Thursday after accidentally sending confidential Conservative campaign strategies and a request for $200,000 in campaign funds to an NDP MP. The employee, Kasra Nejatian, had been Kenney’s director of multicultural affairs.

This evening Conservative MPs got the following message in their in-box from the Conservative Party of Canada message center/info-bot:

Today, a letter regarding Conservative Party business was mistakenly printed on House of Commons letterhead. The letter encourages riding associations to make a financial commitment for the next election.

• This is very serious and unacceptable.
• The employee responsible for this matter has offered the Minister his resignation and the Minister has accepted it.
• Minister Kenney has taken responsibility for this and has apologized for his former employee's actions.
• Using parliamentary or government resources for partisan activities is completely unacceptable.
• Minister Kenney will be raising this matter with the Speaker of the House, the Ethics Commissioner and the Board of Internal Economy.

If asked if Minister Kenney instructed this employee to send this letter:

• Minister Kenney gave the instruction to have riding associations contacted.
• But as is always the case in these matters, he fully expected that this would be done after hours and on the appropriate letterhead.
• As previously stated, this employee has offered Minister Kenney his resignation and Minister Kenney has accepted it.

If asked on the purpose of the deck:

• Since its creation, the new Conservative Party has made earning the support of Canadians of all ethnic backgrounds a priority.
• We will continue this important work and will make no apologies for it.

In what has to be one of the biggest single-day public relations offensives yet for a government, the federal Conservatives have dispatched more than half its caucus to various locations around the country to hold press events associated with the government's Economic Action Plan. The PMO says there are 80 press events scheduled around the country and there may well be. I only count about 70 media advisories in my e-mail inbox this evening, a handful of which are from MPs who are not Conservatives.

Meanwhile, the Liberals and NDP each hold a press conference in the National Press Theatre in Ottawa where they will try to keep the Bev Oda affair going. No word if the Bloc Quebecois have any events Thursday.

I must say: I do think it odd that for all the PR push of these 70-80 events, neither Prime Minister Stephen Harper nor Finance Minister Jim Flaherty — the two politicians most closely associated with the framing of the recession-fighting Economic Action Plan — have any public events scheduled Thursday. Instead, we have this list. (I have organized this by region and have converted ALL TIMES TO OTTAWA TIME as that's where I work)

NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR

08:30 SEN Elizabeth Marshall funding announcement St. John's NF

MARITIMES

11:00 MP Rodney Weston “important infrastructure tour “ Saint John NB

12:00 MIN VIC TOEWS – Crime prevention announcement Saint John NB

11:00 MIN ROB MOORE – Photo opp / funding announcement Sussex NB

10:00 MP Greg Kerr – Funding announcement Digby NS

13:30 MP Greg Kerr infrastructure event Yarmouth NS

14:00 MIN PETER MacKAY – Funding announcement New Glasgow NS

 

QUEBEC AND ONTARIO

08:30 MIN GARY GOODYEAR – Funding announcement Toronto ON

09:00 MP Bruce Stanton – Mariposa Folk Festival Orillia ON

09:00 MP Phil McColeman EAP Brantford ON

09:30 MP Lois Brown infrastructure announcement Newmarket ON

09:30 MP Pat Davidson infrastructure announcement Point Edward ON

10:00 MIN LISA RAITT infrastructure announcement Milton ON

10:00 MP Guy Lauzon infrastructure Cornwall ON

10:00 MP Paul Calandra infrastructure announcement Schomberg ON

11:00 MP Bob Rae – Bev Oda scandal presser NPT ON

11:00 MP Dave MacKenzie infrastructure Oxford ON

11:30 MIN ROB NICHOLSON Fort George tour Niagara-on-the-Lake ON

11:30 MP Paul Dewar – Bev Oda presser NPT ON

11:30 MP Stephen Woodworth “important economic update event” Waterloo ON

12:30 MIN GARY GOODYEAR AND MP Bob Dechert – Touring instructional centre Mississauga ON

13:00 LPC MICHAEL IGNATIEFF – Working families tour Toronto ON

13:00 MIN ROB NICHOLSON College tour Welland ON

13:00 MP Dave Van Kesteren “important infrastructure even” Chatham ON

13:00 MP Mike Wallace – CIDA announcement Burlington ON

13:30 MP Rick Norlock infrastructure event Cobourg ON

14:00 MIN JASON KENNEY and MP Pierre Poilievre infrastructure announcement Ottawa ON

14:00 MP Peter Braid tours infrastructure development Waterloo ON

14:30 MP Bruce Stanton and Patrick Brown Oro Station ON

15:00 MP Greg Rickford Infrastructure event Thunder Bay ON

09:30 MP Jacques Gourde – Infrastructure announcement Lotbiniere QC

10:00 MIN DENIS LEBEL will announce funding to Saint-Anthony's Hermitage Lac-Bouchette QC

10:00 MIN JOSEE VERNER – Infrastructure announcement Quebec City QC

10:30 MP Sylvie Boucher – skills funding announcement Quebec City QC

11:20 MIN JEAN-PIERRE BLACKBURN – Monument restoration Sherbrooke QC

15:00 MIN JEAN-PIERRE BLACKBURN – Speech to COOP federee Montreal QC

16:30 SEN Larry Smith infrastructure announcement Pointe-Claire QC

MANITOBA and SASKATCHEWAN

10:00 MIN GERRY RITZ – Funding for pig producers Winnipeg MB

11:30 MP Joy Smith “an update on the Gateway Recreation Centre projec” Winnipeg MB

12:30 MP James Bezan infrastructure announcement Stonewall MB

12:30 MP Shelly Glover infrastructure Winnipeg MB

11:00 MP Ray Boughen infrastructure Moose Jaw SK

12:00 MIN TONY CLEMENT – speech digital economy Saskatoon SK

12:00 MP Garry Breitkreuz infrastructure Melville SK

14:30 MIN GERRY RITZ and MP Kelly Block tour infrastructure project Saskatoon SK

16:00 MP Ed Komarnicki infrastructure event Moosomin SK

ALBERTA

10:00 MIN DIANE ABLONCZY infrastructure event Calgary AB

10:30 MP Chris Warkentin”important infrastructure event” Grande Prairie AB

11:30 MP Blake Richards “important infrastructure event” Canmore AB

12:00 MP Blaine Calkins infrastructure event Wetaskiwin AB

12:30 MP Lavar Payne tours infrastructure project Medicine Hat AB

13:00 MP Laurie Hawn – Identification of WWI soldier remains Edmonton AB

13:00 MP Peter Goldring tours construction site Edmonton AB

13:30 MP Tim Uppal – Heritage announcement Edmonton AB

14:00 MIN ROB MERRIFIELD ” important infrastructure event “ Whitecourt AB

15:30 MP Blaine Calkins event Wetaskiwin AB

17:30 MIN ROB MERRIFIELD infrastructure Mayerthorpe AB

20:00 MIN ROB MERRIFIELD “important infrastructure event” Onoway AB

BRITISH COLUMBIA and YUKON

12:00 MP John Weston Infrastructure announcement West Vancouver BC

13:00 MIN GARY LUNN and MIN LYNNE YELICH clean energy announcement Vancouver BC

13:00 MP Ed Fast Infrastructure Abbotsford BC

13:30 SEN Yonah Martin infrastructure event Vancouver BC

14:00 MIN CHUCK STRAHL – Infrastructure announcement Chilliwack BC

14:00 MIN JAMES MOORE holds Economic Action Plan Event Vancouver BC

14:00 MP Jim Abbott infrastructure announcement Cranbrook BC

17:00 MIN LYNNE YELICH – funding for film industry North Vancouver BC

17:00 MP Mark Warawa “important infrastructure event” Langley BC

18:00 MIN JOHN DUNCAN infrastructure Esquimalt BC

18:00 MIN LYNNE YELICH tours RiNC projects North Vancouver BC

14:00 SEN Daniel Lang infrastructure event Whitehorse YT

 

Just in from the PMO:

“Canada respects President Mubarak’s decision to step down in order to promote peace and stability in the country. The future of Egypt is for Egyptians to decide.

Canada wants to see free and fair elections; we want to see the rule of law and stability; we want to see respect for human rights, including the rights of minorities, including religious minorities; we want to see the transition to a democratic Egypt.

Our Government encourages all parties to move forward with a peaceful, meaningful, credible and orderly democratic reform process towards new leadership, including free and fair elections in order to build a brighter future for the people of Egypt.

Canada will continue to support Egypt in implementing meaningful democratic and economic reforms.  We will also continue to encourage and support Egypt’s efforts to promote regional stability and peace, including with Israel as well as continued respect for peace treaties in the Middle East.”

That's all of 153 words. Meanwhile, U.S. President Barack Obama went on for all of 850 words.