Conservative strategists that I ran into this week after the Economic Update were in a pretty good mood. They'd delivered on their promised GST cut at least a year, if not two, ahead of schedule and found that the federal treasury could make them look even better with a bevy of corporate and personal income tax cuts to boot.
During the 2006 campaign, many were given to wearing “5%” buttons or stickers — a reminder that they were the party that stood for bringing the GST down to five per cent.
At an Ottawa nightspot on Tuesday night, I was joking with one senior Conservative about those “5%” stickers as we started talking about his party's electoral chances in Toronto. “Those buttons represents our chances of winning a seat in Toronto …” he joked. I said I thought Maureen Harquail might have a chance in Jim Petersen's old riding in Willowdale. “Nope,” said the strategist I was with. “Not a chance.”
So, if some of Harper's closest current and former advisers think urban Canada is not exactly going to be fertile ground during the next election, why start yanking candidates?
Mark Warner, who had won the right to lead what would most likely have been a futile Conservative charge against Liberal Bob Rae in the riding of Toronto Centre (formerly held by Bill Graham), has been told that his services are no longer required:
Red Tory Fired from Downtown Toronto Electoral Race
“Federal Conservative Party has no interest in engaging with urban Canada”
TORONTO — October 31, 2007 – Today, after ten months of campaigning, Mark Warner, the Federal Conservative Candidate for Toronto Centre, withdrew as the Conservative Candidate for Toronto Centre in the upcoming Federal
election/by-election.Over the objections of leaders of the Toronto Centre riding association Mr. Warner was removed by the Party's National Campaign Manager, Doug Finley, and its National Council President Don Plett, of Landmark Manitoba for trying to tailor the Party’s message to be relevant to Toronto Centre. Mr. Warner said that “this decision made no sense” and explained that “every brand manager knows that even McDonald’s offers lobster rolls in Nova Scotia and beer in France!”
One of a growing number of former Progressive Conservative candidates to be removed, Mr. Warner said that he “fought this arbitrary process to the end because of its importance to my supporters and volunteers in the Toronto Centre Riding Association and to the voters and community at large.”
An international lawyer who has worked around the world and holds Masters degrees in both law and economics, Mr. Warner expressed his disappointment.
Mr. Warner stated that while he expected the fight in Toronto Centre to be tough against his high-profile Liberal opponent, he never expected that he would be forced to spend so much of his energy campaigning against his own party's lack of interest in winning in Toronto Centre, and dealing with his own Party’s increasingly well-publicized “micro-management from a distance” as he attempted to “strengthen the urban voice that has been regrettably absent from our current national government”
“I joined the Party when Brian Mulroney was the strongest voice for Nelson Mandela’s freedom. Unfortunately, I have found that the Conservative Party today, by its actions, is not the inclusive Party that I once believed in. The Conservative Party today cynically pays “lip service” to diversity and outreach to minority communities in Canada.” [Warner is black – Akin]
Mr. Warner went on to express “his sincerest gratitude to all those who have volunteered and offered their support and encouragement since we began this journey in February. “I trust that they will exercise their vote accordingly to ensure that they obtain the best federal representation possible in the riding’s next election.”
The Conservatives have also told their 2006 candidate in Guelph, Brent Barr, that his services are no longer required. In Guelph, where incumbent Liberal Brenda Chamberlain is not running again, my sources tell me that the Conservatives want to run a local city councillor they feel is more popular and who is a woman. The Conservatives, even more than the Liberals, are under the gun to put more female candidates into the field and, they hope, more women into their caucus. Here's what Barr had to say:
Without doubt you have heard by now that the Conservative Party of Canada has opted to force me out as the Federal candidate for Guelph. Needless to say I am shocked and dismayed that they are pushing my elected nomination aside in such an undemocratic maneuver.
In an attempt to continue to serve the citizens of Guelph, I followed all the prescribed avenues of appeal through the National Council. The Honourable Dr. William Winegard and William Scott assisted me in this matter, but it was to no avail and late Tuesday afternoon the battle was lost. [Winegard, a former University president, was the last Conservative to win in Guelph in the 1980s and Scott is an educator who has long been active in local PC circles in Guelph. – Akin]
…The Conservative Party I know would not remove a duly elected candidate that has done nothing to embarrass or denigrate the party. Simply, I was accused and convicted of not doing enough to strengthen the party locally. A false statement, as I have been going door to door, engaging in various events and conversations and volunteering my time to build a better community for everyone on behalf of the party and my EDA.
At this point, bullied and in vehement disagreement with the process and result, I will walk away from front line politics. ..