What’s the Real Story Behind Doherty’s Departure from the 2015 Games?
One of the major problems of employees leaving office, and in particular public office such as the Canada Winter Games, is the fact that if they were terminated just what sort of compensation package did they receive and under what circumstances did they leave their work?
The departure of Todd Doherty from the Canada Winter Games is one of those cases.
There are, however, more questions than answers when it comes to his departure , given the circumstance surrounding his leaving.
Doherty left the Winter Games on a high note, in a presentation to City Council a few weeks ago, it was pointed out that the revenue generated was at the 94.1 per cent mark, of the overall goal. Keeping in mind that the ticket sales, and merchandizing sales had yet to be factored into the mix.
Now you don’t fire an employee who has done that sort of job and one would think that you don’t quit the position unless you are subject to a lot of heat from somewhere.
One might also draw the conclusion that the Winter Games would not be interested in cutting an employee who was more than meeting expectations. So the question remains, what happened?
We do know that within a week of word leaking out that he was going to seek the Conservative nomination for the Cariboo-Prince George riding should the sitting MP Dick Harris decide to retire, Doherty was no longer working for the Canada Winter Games.
Several top flight City Hall employees have gone the way of the Dodo bird in the past year and until we get to look at the salaries sheet in June of 2015 , we don’t know the details of those compensation packages. Doherty would receive a fraction of what they got given his contract position with the Winter Games.
Well it is no longer any secret that Doherty is seeking the nomination for the Conservative party in the riding occupied by Dick Harris. He is however not alone. TJ Grewal, Nick Fedorkiw, Gerald Caron and sitting Mayor Shari Green are also in the mix.
Green as Mayor is head of the Winter Games, not that you can paint anything into that, but it does raise some questions. As long as Doherty was doing his job, during his working hours, what prevents him from doing some politicking for the Conservative nomination on his own time? It is not unlike Mayor Green attending say for example the Vanderhoof Air Show, or the Williams Lake Stampede, you may be there as a representative of the city, but it does help to get your name out assuming you are taking a run at the nomination.
Green has yet to announce she is seeking the nomination, but looking back over the past six months, one gets the feeling that she has more than a passing interest.
In May of this year a new Board of Directors was elected for the Conservative Riding of Cariboo- Prince George. Those elected to the board came with a little blue book which listed who they should vote for. One staunch Tory who was in attendance said “most of the faces were not familiar, 99% of them I had never seen before”. Elected to the Board was Shari Green along with a number of persons who had been connected to her last campaign . The new President of the Riding is now Cameron Stolz, a staunch supporter of Green at the Council table. He isn’t viewed by many as a poster child for city council after he failed to pay his property taxes while sitting on the Finance and Audit Committee . He also had failed in his attempt to garner the Federal nomination for Prince George- Peace River, running last in that bid. Green on the other hand is not seeking re- election and you can read into that whatever you wish..
The new board does have several advantages, it has access to the list of who holds a membership card. There is also the benefit of watching to see which candidate is signing up members and from where. It does help if you know what your opposition is doing.
The final call however will come from sitting member MP Dick Harris. He has yet to announce that he is not running in the next election and of course he also can decide when he wants to pull the plug.
What led to Doherty leaving the Winter Games remains a mystery, well at least up until this point. I am sure I, along with many people, would like to see the Record of Employment , that little piece of paper will shed a lot of light on just how and why Doherty departed the Winter Games.
I’m Meisner and that’s one man’s opinion.
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Comments
Interesting how the oddest things happen under Queen Greens watch. Take it from there!
I have heard through the community that Ms. Green’s husband has been heard saying that she wants the federal politician job for the healthy retirement package it provides.
I think that you might be stringing together bits here Ben but with Ms. Green in the mix, who knows what can/could happen.
Interesting thoughts.
Interesting Ben
I’m a little confused however. Being a long term Conservative member I didn’t get a direct notification prior to the AGM in May. I’ve spoken to my business contacts down the riding and they say the same. Most, like myself, read about it the next morning in the newspapers and were shocked that Shari’s team had taken all the seats on the EDA. This is quite concerning…
Interesting that a story that’s supposed to be about Doherty’s departure turns into a Green bashing piece.
yeah, I guess you’re right axman! I’m sure Shari Green was absolutely thrilled when she heard Mr Doherty was considering a run at the nomination for PG Cariboo…
Doherty has already announced he is running and last week word has it did a call out to the conservative membership for a big meeting announcing his candidacy. Seems some conservatives were called and others were not, so he has access to at least a partial list of members.
Word is he even has a campaign team assembled. So he is running for sure. I think Doherty and Green will be drawing from the same well and likely Grewal will win the nomination.
Good point of consideration would be any severance pay for the games. One would think if you quit then you don’t get severance pay or EI.
Anyway to further previous my point… scanning the Conservative Association constitution, its pretty clear on the process of AGM notification. I do have to point out that a reminder ad in local newspapers is NOT a notification, its a reminder only. Two different things entirely when you read item 12 in the Conservative Association constitution. Here is the link http://www.conservative.ca/media/2012/06/EDA-constitution-2011-E.pdf
Eagleone, I am confused by your statement and the relavance. Should not all candidates have access to the list or am I just confussed. Which I could be, I am not really familiar with the prosess. If they are not then it would seem an unfair process. I could also see why they would want to take over the office. Maybe you could clarify.
Sorry Eagletone but what do you think Mayor Green has been doing for the last 6 months?? Surely, rewriting her less than impressive resume…
Not that I would phone Cameron Stolz for anything besides to yell at him to pay his taxes but are there others that did not receive AGM notification?? If so, we have a problem. Roberts Rules of Order prevails here. I’m sure the EDA membership director at the time should be able to produce the original email or written letter and put this to rest, because there has been a lot of grumbling about it lately throughout the riding…
They are all infighting about who gets the nomination for one of the surest MP seats in the nation. Wouldn’t it be a riot if voters here would give a candidate from one of the other federal parties a mandate and leave these seemingly entitled ones in the dust wondering what happened?
Its time for all the conservative members in this riding to step up and ensure that this riding is not hijacked by Stoltz/Green. Its amazing how these people think that they are the centre of the universe and have all the answers to all the questions.
No for Stoltz/Green!!!! The sooner they are gone from Council the better!!!
I agree with Palopu, let’s make sure by getting involved.
Absolutely Palopu! I’ve been a conservative member for over 30 years and have never felt so ashamed on how the riding association is doing business. With the Green/Stolz dysfunction, potentially heading to Ottawa… I say wake up people! The past is always a perfect indicator of the future…
Editor’s note:this comment has been edited to remove an allegation.
Ain’t politics wonderful?
Its my understanding that the membership list is only shared with the directors of the Cariboo-Prince George riding. Candidates are NOT suppose to have access to this list. I would suggest that any candidate who has friends on the board, my have access to information about the membership list, that other candidates may not??
A strategy for any candidate would be to hold onto their membership forms as long as they can, not sharing them with this current Cariboo-Prince George Riding board of directors.
It would be interesting to find out what role Mayor Green played in the departure of Mr. Doherty, as her behavior in the past makes his departure some what suspect!
How come none of the eventual candidates has yet to announce they will challenge Dick Harris if he does run again. What’s this about running only in case Harris will not run. Let’s all make sure to be involved to make sure the cliquey pre-arranged handover of the nomination does not happen, and don’t be intimidated by the recent hijacking of the local constituency.
Why should Sherry green have her name as mayor of the games in February when she leaves office in November?
I guess Doherty must of been a nai sayer. Green may have told Doherty to move on to greener pastures.
Lildigger – she shouldn’t she will no longer be the mayor.
I agree with “8”,she either told him to move onto greener pastures or “he can’t have his cake and eat it too”!This one I heard the other day when she was on the CBC talking about all the people who opposed the Kinder Morgan Pipeline.
Lol. Took me a while to understand. I guess all of is naysayers in in pg in Shari’s eye should move to greener pastures. Does that go for councillors too?
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