Recall David Emerson on-line petition that I wrote of recently (available here) now has 14,485 entries. Its amazing how thoughtful most of the attached comments are. The public clearly is riled up. Good for us.
If you are actually a resident of Vancouver Kingsway, please also sign the electronic petition available at http://recalldavidemerson.com/, and don’t be too surprised if a paper (remember that stuff?) petition shows up in your neighborhood before too long (please sign that too)!
The resources page of the RecallDavidEmerson.com website seems to be, by default, the organizational focal point for this community effort. Check there for new protest events and other happenings of interest.
At yesterday’s Emerson protest rally I was the second or third of fifty people who spoke to the over 700 people assembled there. While there were a number of Conservatives in the audience that I recognized, and more that I didn’t, only one other self-identified Conservative spoke up.
I purposely got up near the front of the line to ensure that a key point was delivered early on – that the issue of Emerson’s betrayal of the majority of his electors is not an offense to partisans. I also wanted to make clear that public anger should not forget the root cause: Prime Minister Stephen Harper. For without Harper’s blessing and indeed his encouragement, Emerson would not be in a position to step into a Conservative cabinet.
For many years the issue of democratic reform and government accountability has been an issue with deep reasonance within the Reform then Canadian Alliance, and the Progressive Conservative parties, which all came together as the Conservative Party of Canada.
As one speaker said at the protest rally yesterday, the Harper-Emerson dealings, which started the very next day after the election, is as if someone took his ballot on voting day and cast it aside.
Concern over growing public cynicism over politics has been on the agenda for change, rising up out of the grass roots, of conservative-oriented parties for many years. Unfortunately the grass-roots is where political leaders apparently want to keep all the good ideas, while party and government leaders march to the tune of a different drummer.
A broken promise case in point: in an television interview in January on the french language service of the CBC (Radio-Canada), Mr. Harper was asked (paraphrased from the translation) “What will you do if you do not elect a member from Montreal? Will you appoint someone to cabinet?” To which Stephen Harper replied, smiling as he did so “No, I’ve always believed that cabinet positions should be filled from _elected members of parliament”.
Promise made, promise broken.
The David Emerson story just won’t die. In the Vancouver Kingsway riding yesterday a protest rally and public forum was held; over 700 people attended. I was one of them.
The meeting was largely organized by NDP MLA‘s for the area, but I found out about it from an email my wife received from non-partisan sources. This issue is not a partisan issue, which I took pains to state as one of the 50 public speakers at the event.
Mike Watkins, a Conservative who voted Green this time, said Tories in the riding are concerned with Emerson’s defection because of the ethical issues it raises.
“They’re quite upset, but they’re in a position where they can’t vocalize their displeasure,” Watkins said.
Watkins said he was struck that voters supporting all parties came up to speak to him afterward. “I don’t think it was a rent-a-crowd,” he said. “It was an honest expression of what’s going on in the riding.” (The Vancouver Province, Sunday Feb 12)
That quote is not quite right although I don’t think its reporter Ian Bailey’s fault but mine for talking about my vote in 2004 and 2006.
I voted Green in 2004 because I could not support the Conservative candidate Jesse Johl. In the recent election I actually voted for David Emerson – a strategic vote – because I wanted a highly effective opposition member representing me. While I know the CPC candidate Kanman Wong and truly admire the effort he put into this election, it was my opinion that he had no chance of winning. My strategic vote went to Emerson who I believed would be a better opposition member than Ian Waddell of the NDP.
Why vote for strong opposition? Because our system of parliamentary democracy depends upon this. I will never seek to elect a weak candidate of my party or any other party.