Conservative nomination in Cariboo-PG – For every action…
By Peter Ewart
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. So goes the Third Law of Motion formulated by the great English physicist, Isaac Newton in the 17th Century. The Third Law certainly applies to the physical world. But something like it can also apply to the political world.
On December 13th, the nomination vote for the riding of Cariboo-Prince George was concluded after months of controversy. Todd Doherty won on the first ballot, Nick Fedorkiw came in second, and former mayor Shari Green finished in last place.
As 250 News has pointed out, the action by the local executive of the Conservative Party riding association (dominated by Shari Green supporters) and the national office to exclude T.J. Grewal from running for the nomination had major repercussions. T.J. Grewal rallied his supporters (rumoured to be upwards of 1200 members) behind Todd Doherty and, along with the opposition of many other ordinary members of the riding association, the result was an ignominious defeat for Shari Green.
The irony in all of this is that Green would possibly have had a better chance of winning in a four person race (with some backroom horse-trading, of course) than what ended up being a three person race. In any case, one of the features of this particular nomination was the high degree of vicious personal attacks, innuendo and dirty tricks.
What was completely overshadowed in this nomination process was where these particular candidates stood on the host of important issues facing our riding and the country as a whole, whether it be the controversial Temporary Foreign Workers Program, impending mill closures in Quesnel and other towns, shutting down of mines and oil & gas operations, First Nations rights and title, health care issues in northern communities, shoddy treatment of veterans, muzzling of scientists, and the list goes on.
Will newly-nominated Todd Doherty, first and foremost, stand on the side of his constituents (if he is elected) or will he be pressured into being just another mouthpiece for the national party executive and the PMO? We can only guess at this point.
What has transpired in the Cariboo-Prince George Conservative nomination process over the last few months is a disturbing echo of what has happened to the political process at the national level. Over the last several decades, successive governments of whatever political stripe have pulled down national politics to an ever lower level. But the Conservative government of Stephen Harper appears to have outdone its predecessors in dirty tricks, character assassination, extreme partisanship, and sordid behavior to the point that the old system of federal party politics has completely degenerated and become dysfunctional.
This is an issue for all Canadians, whether we support or are members of the Conservatives, Liberals, NDP and other parties – or are fed up with them all. In effect, we have become trapped in a style of politics that is all about vicious factionalism, power, and virtual dictatorship by politicians in the pockets of financiers and globalized monopolies, and has nothing to do with expanding and renewing democracy and addressing the fundamental issues facing us as a people.
We need new politics in this country.
Peter Ewart is a columnist and writer based in Prince George, British Columbia. He can be reached at: peter.ewart@shaw.ca
Comments
Good article. I agree! It’s pretty hard not to be cynical about politics these days, or is this just my age showling?!?
Guess we know who won’t be voting conservative. Elaine you might want to read up on Elizabeth Warren for general interest.
You have to remember, Dick Harris was not exactly a star in Parliament. Highlights of his career include being a party whip for a short while, introducing a drunk driving bill (which I believe didn’t pass), and was essentially a backbencher for his 22 year career. He was more of a constituent’s representative than a parliamentary one.
Todd will need time to get acclimatized to Parliament Hill. I would guess he falls into a similar role as Dick Harris had, but time will tell.
“But the Conservative government of Stephen Harper appears to have outdone its predecessors in dirty tricks,…”
Even Canada’s international reputation has been severely undermined. On may issues Canada’s actions are predictably enough just carbon copies of what the policies of our neighbour’s to the south are. They can afford to practice “a stick in your eye” policies, whereas Canada can not.
It will take many years to repair the damage.
I agree that we didn’t really get a chance to know how each candidate stood on various issues facing our riding. What we also needed to know was would that person represent our region or just a few special interest groups. On that, Ms Green’s history spoke loud and clear and the rumoured voting count reflected that.
Strategically, for Ms Green, having Mr Grewal run would have split the vote giving her a better chance but who knows if it would have been enough to win. I am sure that she also lost votes just because of the underhanded way it appeared that her supporters in the executive squeezed Mr Grewal out of the race. Between that and the vote split maybe she could have had a chance? I am sure her supporters having been asking that same question.
Lets that all the PC’ have read your article Peter. Most are so blinded by their belief in the holly grail of capitalism that it binds their visions of a dictatorship.
Cheers
There is nothing wrong with Canada’s international reputation. When compared to some other Countries in the World ie; USA, Russia, China, Europe, South America, etc; we come out pretty good.
So lets quit putting out the BS that we are being slagged on the world stage, or that these other Countries actually give a s..t, what we think.
Most of the garbage being spewed is put out by those who are anti Conservative, and would love to have a Liberal or NDP Government in this Country. If the Liberals should get elected again, you can rest assured that the NDP, and Conservatives will be slagging the Liberals. That’s the way of politics.
There is a world of difference between a slagger, and a person who actually has the concerns of his or her Country at heart.
“the holy grail of capitalism” and your alternative is?
Unfortunately Palopu, there are few people who have “the concerns of his or her country at heart” once they get a taste of power. I don’t know Mr. Doherty at all, but I do know human nature. Unless they are Mother Theresa or the Pope, their newfound power will corrupt them. Just look at the recent Senate scandals, or Dick Harris’s travel expenditures as an example. I am not expecting much from our new to be MP.
BTW Palopu, people have the concerns of their family and loved ones well before their country.
C’mon Todd. Start lobbying to get PG’s main runway twinned. The world can’t find the one long runway, but if we twin the runway, man it will look cool flying by PG.
@johnnybelt……
Well it appears that johnnybelt has not used the airport in many years or he would have noticed that it has been greatly expanded assuring that when Prince George becomes a regular”tech stop” for many of the air freighters flying over everyday, the economy created as a result will be noticeable…..that airport expansion was delivered by our MP Dick Harris..
And gee how could johnnybelt miss all the work done on the boundary road project???…oh likely because that was delivered by Harris as well.
OK one more (of many)….
Harris delivered $100 million to Canfor to support a huge ECO transformation, resulting in a major decrease in air pollution, as well as a big reduction in the “mill odor” that we all have lived with for so many years.
Harris has also Chaired the Conservative National Forest Caucus since 2006, and if johnnybelt wanted to check with the leaders of Canfor, West Fraser,or Tolko, he would probably be very embarrassed by his ignorance of what Harris has done for the forest industry over many years.
Concerning the “drunk driver” motion that Harris got passed in Parliament when he was in Opposition….of course johnnybelt would not know that Harris convinced the governing Liberals to turn his motion into a government Bill, which led to major changes to toughen the penalties for convicted impaired drivers.
I could go on for a long time on this, but unfortunately it would likely fall on johnnybelts “dead ears” anyway. Which happens when one is stuck in an ideological straightjacket like johnnybelt, and will never admit anything done by a Conservative could possibly have merit.
Elizabeth May is doing one heck of a good job representing her riding while serving as Leader of the Green Party. Watch for majour gains while voters are sick and tired of politics as usual.
It is easy to slag what you don’t know, so I invite readers here to read the Global Green Charter http://www.globalgreens.org/globalcharter-english
I expect you will be delightfully surprised!
Whoa – what have you got against Todd Dig Imp, seriously? I am intrigued.
This will be the first time JB has ever been accused of not being on the far right of the political spectrum. gimmeabreak……are you new here ?
@Ibear…..do you ask every poster on here what they have against Shari Green or TJ Grewal, or Nick Fedorkiw or Todd Doherty or any other wannabe a somebody ? Is this just a specific concern for Todd ? Its a small town Ibear. I would have rather seen Shari Green or Nick Fedorkiw or TJ Grewal or Caron win that nomination over Todd Doherty. And that Ibear is my opinion.
Gimmeabreak. The money given to Canfor for the ECO Transformation was also given to every other pulp mill in Canada. The money was in effect to help them offset the cost of competing with US Pulp and Paper mills who were getting huge rebates from their Government because they allowed them to use the burning of diesel in their pulping process as a pollution reduction process,
The actual reductions didn’t really take place, but changing the process to allow diesel to be used in the process allowed the US Mills to reap millions in Government money. These mills always burned diesel, however it was changing the diesel, to make it a pollution reduction process that allowed them to get the money.
The Harper Government instituted a process that paid Canadian mills a certain amount of money based on the amount of diesel they used in their pulp process. The Canadian mills were only allowed to use this money to upgrade their plant, and decrease their pollution, which they would have had to do in any event, however they were allowed to do this work on tax dollars.
So you can give credit to the Conservative Government on the Northwood $100 Million, but Harris actually had very little if anything to do with it.
Did anyone ask the Conservative nominated candidates for an opinion on National Energy Policy, Foreign Policy including war, Ebola, starving children… Domestic Policy including Veterans, rail safety, climate change, retooling the energy sector, First Nations rights, food security, student debt, …
Did anyone ask about Conservative scandals? Senate, Duffy, et al; robocalls; Canada’s accessory to torture? Just wondering.
Just to let everyone know , if you are not on fb, should go there, I through my many friends, over 300 are con gratulating Todd, Todd is a breath of fresh air, Dick Harris was there for a lot of people in this region too, As I see it A MP, MLA, PM Mayor , etc are never going to please everyone, Some people have nothing better to do is complain, I as a Canadian am thankful for living in Canada, and we can voice our opinion and we will not be shot! Being in politics can be a thankless job, but I admire the ones that step up to the plate and can look you in the eye!!! Case closed! Hell yea Prince George, We have a new Mayor too! Go PG go
@John Grogan…..the race to be the conservative nominee for Cariboo- PG wasn’t about policies or issues that face us all. It was about being a friend of TJ’s and being an enemy of Shari’s.
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