Serendipity Update
Serendipity updated to 1.1-aplha1 . Think I will try this every day. The Templates work better here.
Liberal Party of Canada Leadership
Here is an article from The Globe and Mail's Jeffery Simpson:
Liberal leadership lineup starts in Toronto
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
Friday, February 10, 2006
Toronto — The Liberal leadership race has not formally begun, what with big-name candidates declining to run, yet two trends are already making it unique in the party's history.
Nine of the possible candidates are from the Toronto area, reflecting how Toronto has become the party's power base.
Also, for the first time, the Liberal race will not be among parliamentary frontbenchers.
------------- End of snippet
You have to be an insider to read the rest
Liberal leadership lineup starts in Toronto
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
Friday, February 10, 2006
Toronto — The Liberal leadership race has not formally begun, what with big-name candidates declining to run, yet two trends are already making it unique in the party's history.
Nine of the possible candidates are from the Toronto area, reflecting how Toronto has become the party's power base.
Also, for the first time, the Liberal race will not be among parliamentary frontbenchers.
------------- End of snippet
You have to be an insider to read the rest
At the heat goes on in the New CONservative Party
Emerson Called Traitor by constituents say Globe and Mail. Article below:
Emerson called a traitor by constituents
Canadian Press
Vancouver — Hundreds of people angry at David Emerson's defection from the Liberals to Conservatives chanted "traitor" at a protest rally.
They packed a high school auditorium Saturday in the Vancouver-Kingsway riding to vent their anger and frustration, saying their votes in the Jan. 23 federal election had been rendered meaningless after Mr. Emerson crossed the floor to accept a position in the Conservative cabinet two weeks later.
Kerry Galloway, who admitted to not voting regularly, said after much consideration and lots of research, he decided to vote Liberal.
"Then, a couple of weeks later, I found out that my vote was switched, that I had been disenfranchised, that my vote had been converted for a vote for a set of policies which are the diametric opposite than I selected by putting that X in that box " he said to cheers.
Alice Edge said the situation has made her ashamed as a mother. She told of badgering her sons to vote only to result in what she said is an undemocratic outcome.
"When my two young sons came home and they said to me: 'What is going on?' I got to tell you that my credibility as a mother has just been set back many, many years," she said.
"I want a by-election and I want it tomorrow," Mr. Edge said.
One man who spoke in defence of Mr. Emerson, who is now the international trade minister, was drowned out in a chorus of angry boos at the event, organized by the New Democratic Party.
But, the ongoing furor does not seem to have swayed Mr. Emerson.
In an interview with the CBC on Friday, he said: "No, I'm not going to quit."
"We've got at least three, perhaps more, members of Parliament who have crossed the floor or opted to sit as an independent," he said. "Frankly, my circumstances are not any different than those. As, and when, Parliament changes the rules to apply to all members of Parliament, I will abide by those rules."
Vancouver-East New Democrat MP Libby Davies said Mr. Emerson's arrogance has enraged his constituents.
"I don't think Mr. Emerson has heard anything yet in terms of the way people feel," she said.
The NDP has formally asked the federal ethics commissioner to investigate Mr. Emerson's defection.
New Democrat MP Peter Julian said Prime Minister Stephen Harper could be in violation of Parliament's conflict of interest guidelines, which prohibit members from acting to advance their own or other MP's private interests.
Mr. Julian has the support of fellow New Democrat Ian Waddell, who finished second to Mr. Emerson in his effort to make a political comeback.
Mr. Waddell has said of those who cast ballots in the riding, 80 per cent voted against the Conservative Party.
Mr. Emerson received 43.5 per cent of the vote as a Liberal while Tory Kanman Wong got 18.8 per cent. Mr. Waddell garnered 33.5 per cent of the vote.
Mr. Waddell served as New Democrat MP for Vancouver-Kingsway three times between 1979 and 1988 and as the member for Port Moody-Coquitlam from 1988 to 1993.
The fracas has also revealed rifts in Conservative caucus.
Ontario MP Garth Turner hopes to push ahead with legislation that would deter future David Emersons and Belinda Stronachs from switching political parties but admits he has probably limited his future in the Conservative Party.
---------- End of Article.
Looks likes the CONservative Party Grass Roots disapprove.
Garth Turner (early in this blog) is not happy.
From The Globe and Mail :
Turner says he'll move bill to stop MPs jumping parties
GLORIA GALLOWAY
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
Ottawa — Despite a tongue-lashing from the Prime Minister, Conservative Garth Turner says he will proceed with a private-member's bill that would force MPs such as Trade Minister David Emerson to resign and run again when they switch parties.
Mr. Emerson, who has been the subject of intense public criticism since being appointed to the Conservative cabinet on Monday — two weeks after being elected as a Liberal — was unavailable for comment yesterday even though the calls for his resignation continued.
Mr. Turner, the MP for Halton, Ont., said he was castigated by Mr. Harper for telling reporters on Thursday that Mr. Emerson should resign his seat and run again. But the financial-management-expert-turned-politician was unrepentant yesterday.
“I cannot stand and support something in Ottawa that I would not in a town-hall meeting in north Oakville,” he wrote on his web log. “Not even when it is the PM asking — or demanding.”
And, despite the censure from above, he said he will put forward a private-member's bill to force politicians who change political allegiances to resign their seat and ask their constituents for a new mandate.
“I do believe that voters are jaded today,” Mr. Turner said, “And one of the reasons that they are jaded and they feel they don't matter is that people get to be part of the government who never ran to be in that government.”
That's also true of Conservative campaign co-chair Michael Fortier, the new Public Works Minister who will be sworn in as a Senator because he did not run for a seat in the House of Commons, Mr. Turner said.
In his blog, he said he expected to be assigned an office in renovated washroom “somewhere in a forgotten corner of a vermin-infested dank basement” and a seat in the Commons that will be visible only during lunar eclipses.
It has been a bad first week for the Conservative government that came to power on a promise of accountability and was quickly lambasted from all parts of the country for moves that suggest the opposite. They include Mr. Emerson and Mr. Fortier's appointments to Cabinet and the appointment of former defence lobbyist Gordon O'Connor as Defence Minister.
Asked if he were feeling uncomfortable in his own party, Mr. Turner replied: “I can't answer that to the extent that my party is feeling uncomfortable with me. I regret that because, to me, it is a basic role of a Member of Parliament to voice concerns and opinions and convictions.”
Last night, Mr. Harper said his government will move quickly to implement its campaign promises, chiefly lowering the GST and “cleaning up our own government” with accountability legislation.
In his first speech as Prime Minister, he also said the government will toughen the criminal justice system and give child-care subsidies to parents. Mr. Harper was speaking at a tribute in Halifax to outgoing Nova Scotia Premier John Hamm, in which he praised the departing leader, saying that if all politicians had his integrity, no accountability legislation would be needed.NDP MP Peter Stoffer, who represents the Nova Scotia riding of Sackville-Eastern Shore, proposed a private-member's bill during the previous session of Parliament that would have forced political floor-crossers to quit and run again. He plans to re-enter it when the House returns and said he is glad to hear of Mr. Turner's plans for a similar bill. “He is more than welcome to second my bill and I would be honoured to second his,” Stoffer said
Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay defended Mr. Emerson yesterday saying he was obviously disillusioned with the Liberals and that makes his situation different to that of people such as Belinda Stronach who defected from the Conservatives to take a seat in cabinet at a time when the Liberal government needed her vote to stay alive.
“What David Emerson did, I would suggest, is different, in the sense that he has done this early after the election in hopes of continuing the important work that he was doing inside a government which he was obviously very disillusioned with,” Mr. MacKay told CBC Newsworld. “Unlike other moves, it didn't happen at a critical juncture that propped the government up. There wasn't that sense that there was strict reward or leadership ambition.”
But that view is not shared by Peter Julian of the NDP or Wayne Easter of the Liberals who have separately asked Ethics Commissioner Bernard Shapiro to investigate whether Mr. Emerson violated the MPs' code of ethics by switching parties.
Both MPs point to the ruling Mr. Shapiro made in the case of Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh who was accused by Conservative MP Gurmant Grewal of offering him benefits as an inducement to become a Liberal. Mr. Shapiro said any attempt to further Mr. Grewal's private interests would have been “an extremely serious” breach of the code.
With a report from Jane Armstrong
------------- end of article.
I am certain the CONservative Party is suffering from meltdown, and not a light dose of it.
Emerson called a traitor by constituents
Canadian Press
Vancouver — Hundreds of people angry at David Emerson's defection from the Liberals to Conservatives chanted "traitor" at a protest rally.
They packed a high school auditorium Saturday in the Vancouver-Kingsway riding to vent their anger and frustration, saying their votes in the Jan. 23 federal election had been rendered meaningless after Mr. Emerson crossed the floor to accept a position in the Conservative cabinet two weeks later.
Kerry Galloway, who admitted to not voting regularly, said after much consideration and lots of research, he decided to vote Liberal.
"Then, a couple of weeks later, I found out that my vote was switched, that I had been disenfranchised, that my vote had been converted for a vote for a set of policies which are the diametric opposite than I selected by putting that X in that box " he said to cheers.
Alice Edge said the situation has made her ashamed as a mother. She told of badgering her sons to vote only to result in what she said is an undemocratic outcome.
"When my two young sons came home and they said to me: 'What is going on?' I got to tell you that my credibility as a mother has just been set back many, many years," she said.
"I want a by-election and I want it tomorrow," Mr. Edge said.
One man who spoke in defence of Mr. Emerson, who is now the international trade minister, was drowned out in a chorus of angry boos at the event, organized by the New Democratic Party.
But, the ongoing furor does not seem to have swayed Mr. Emerson.
In an interview with the CBC on Friday, he said: "No, I'm not going to quit."
"We've got at least three, perhaps more, members of Parliament who have crossed the floor or opted to sit as an independent," he said. "Frankly, my circumstances are not any different than those. As, and when, Parliament changes the rules to apply to all members of Parliament, I will abide by those rules."
Vancouver-East New Democrat MP Libby Davies said Mr. Emerson's arrogance has enraged his constituents.
"I don't think Mr. Emerson has heard anything yet in terms of the way people feel," she said.
The NDP has formally asked the federal ethics commissioner to investigate Mr. Emerson's defection.
New Democrat MP Peter Julian said Prime Minister Stephen Harper could be in violation of Parliament's conflict of interest guidelines, which prohibit members from acting to advance their own or other MP's private interests.
Mr. Julian has the support of fellow New Democrat Ian Waddell, who finished second to Mr. Emerson in his effort to make a political comeback.
Mr. Waddell has said of those who cast ballots in the riding, 80 per cent voted against the Conservative Party.
Mr. Emerson received 43.5 per cent of the vote as a Liberal while Tory Kanman Wong got 18.8 per cent. Mr. Waddell garnered 33.5 per cent of the vote.
Mr. Waddell served as New Democrat MP for Vancouver-Kingsway three times between 1979 and 1988 and as the member for Port Moody-Coquitlam from 1988 to 1993.
The fracas has also revealed rifts in Conservative caucus.
Ontario MP Garth Turner hopes to push ahead with legislation that would deter future David Emersons and Belinda Stronachs from switching political parties but admits he has probably limited his future in the Conservative Party.
---------- End of Article.
Looks likes the CONservative Party Grass Roots disapprove.
Garth Turner (early in this blog) is not happy.
From The Globe and Mail :
Turner says he'll move bill to stop MPs jumping parties
GLORIA GALLOWAY
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
Ottawa — Despite a tongue-lashing from the Prime Minister, Conservative Garth Turner says he will proceed with a private-member's bill that would force MPs such as Trade Minister David Emerson to resign and run again when they switch parties.
Mr. Emerson, who has been the subject of intense public criticism since being appointed to the Conservative cabinet on Monday — two weeks after being elected as a Liberal — was unavailable for comment yesterday even though the calls for his resignation continued.
Mr. Turner, the MP for Halton, Ont., said he was castigated by Mr. Harper for telling reporters on Thursday that Mr. Emerson should resign his seat and run again. But the financial-management-expert-turned-politician was unrepentant yesterday.
“I cannot stand and support something in Ottawa that I would not in a town-hall meeting in north Oakville,” he wrote on his web log. “Not even when it is the PM asking — or demanding.”
And, despite the censure from above, he said he will put forward a private-member's bill to force politicians who change political allegiances to resign their seat and ask their constituents for a new mandate.
“I do believe that voters are jaded today,” Mr. Turner said, “And one of the reasons that they are jaded and they feel they don't matter is that people get to be part of the government who never ran to be in that government.”
That's also true of Conservative campaign co-chair Michael Fortier, the new Public Works Minister who will be sworn in as a Senator because he did not run for a seat in the House of Commons, Mr. Turner said.
In his blog, he said he expected to be assigned an office in renovated washroom “somewhere in a forgotten corner of a vermin-infested dank basement” and a seat in the Commons that will be visible only during lunar eclipses.
It has been a bad first week for the Conservative government that came to power on a promise of accountability and was quickly lambasted from all parts of the country for moves that suggest the opposite. They include Mr. Emerson and Mr. Fortier's appointments to Cabinet and the appointment of former defence lobbyist Gordon O'Connor as Defence Minister.
Asked if he were feeling uncomfortable in his own party, Mr. Turner replied: “I can't answer that to the extent that my party is feeling uncomfortable with me. I regret that because, to me, it is a basic role of a Member of Parliament to voice concerns and opinions and convictions.”
Last night, Mr. Harper said his government will move quickly to implement its campaign promises, chiefly lowering the GST and “cleaning up our own government” with accountability legislation.
In his first speech as Prime Minister, he also said the government will toughen the criminal justice system and give child-care subsidies to parents. Mr. Harper was speaking at a tribute in Halifax to outgoing Nova Scotia Premier John Hamm, in which he praised the departing leader, saying that if all politicians had his integrity, no accountability legislation would be needed.NDP MP Peter Stoffer, who represents the Nova Scotia riding of Sackville-Eastern Shore, proposed a private-member's bill during the previous session of Parliament that would have forced political floor-crossers to quit and run again. He plans to re-enter it when the House returns and said he is glad to hear of Mr. Turner's plans for a similar bill. “He is more than welcome to second my bill and I would be honoured to second his,” Stoffer said
Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay defended Mr. Emerson yesterday saying he was obviously disillusioned with the Liberals and that makes his situation different to that of people such as Belinda Stronach who defected from the Conservatives to take a seat in cabinet at a time when the Liberal government needed her vote to stay alive.
“What David Emerson did, I would suggest, is different, in the sense that he has done this early after the election in hopes of continuing the important work that he was doing inside a government which he was obviously very disillusioned with,” Mr. MacKay told CBC Newsworld. “Unlike other moves, it didn't happen at a critical juncture that propped the government up. There wasn't that sense that there was strict reward or leadership ambition.”
But that view is not shared by Peter Julian of the NDP or Wayne Easter of the Liberals who have separately asked Ethics Commissioner Bernard Shapiro to investigate whether Mr. Emerson violated the MPs' code of ethics by switching parties.
Both MPs point to the ruling Mr. Shapiro made in the case of Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh who was accused by Conservative MP Gurmant Grewal of offering him benefits as an inducement to become a Liberal. Mr. Shapiro said any attempt to further Mr. Grewal's private interests would have been “an extremely serious” breach of the code.
With a report from Jane Armstrong
------------- end of article.
I am certain the CONservative Party is suffering from meltdown, and not a light dose of it.