David Emerson: Media Watch

Media Highlights for Monday March 6 2006 – David Emerson

David Emerson Media Watch is updated through the day, until the end of the day, as new articles are published. Revisit and refresh…

Mar 6 (CBC News) Easter pleased at investigation

Malpeque MP Wayne Easter [and one time Solicitor General of Canada] is pleased the federal ethics commissioner is following up on his complaint regarding whether the Prime Minister breached parliamentary ethics.

Easter was one of three MPs who asked for an inquiry into whether there was an ethical breach when the Conservative Party convinced David Emerson to leave the Liberal Party and join the federal cabinet.

Emerson left the Liberal Party just two weeks after the election.

Lets be clear: Stephen Harper, by his own admission, had his representative – then-MP John Reynolds – in negotiations with David Emerson less than 24 hours after the January 23rd general election ballots were counted.

Mar 6 (Tim Naumetz, CanWest News) Fortier said to have taken donations

New questions have arisen over Senator Michael Fortier’s appointment as minister for public works because he reportedly accepted donor cheques on behalf of the Conservative Party from supporters in Quebec during the election campaign.

[Un-elected] Michael Fortier, minister of public works and government services, applauds ex-Liberal David Emerson. CP Photo

A senior party fundraiser told the Ottawa Citizen that “one or two” party supporters informed him they had sent donation cheques to Fortier, whose appointment is being widely criticized because he’ll be unaccountable to elected MPs in the House of Commons.

“It does certainly raise accountability problems,” said Adam Taylor of the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation.

Duff Conacher, national co-ordinator of Democracy Watch, said he’s concerned because Fortier’s posts as public works minister and political minister for Montreal are the same ones held under the Liberals by Alfonso Gagliano, whom Gomery blamed for a lack of oversight in the sponsorship program. Gagliano was a fundraiser for the Liberals.

Conacher added it might appear to Canadians the Conservatives “are looking to boost the fortunes of their party in Quebec in the same way the Liberal Party attempted to do.”

While not directly related to the Emerson appointment, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s decision to appoint the un-elected Michael Fortier to cabinet by way of a patronage Senate appointment has raised the ire of many Conservatives who decry such un-democratic actions. Pragmatism and representation were cited as justification for the move. Party members would prefer we earn the support of the people rather than try to buy it.

Mar 6 (Gordon Towne, The Globe and Mail) Politics and ethics

Your editorial on the political tradition of “crossing the floor” fails to convince this reader. Stephen Harper, David Emerson and others who are attempting to defuse the ethics of this by characterizing it as good old political hardball only distance themselves from those who still care enough to take part in democracy.

The people are far ahead of the politicians on this issue.

Mar 6 (Peter McLaughlin, The Globe and Mail) Politics and ethics

The short response to your editorial It’s A Political Issue, Not An Ethical One (March. 4) is that there’s no such thing as a purely political act with no ethical aspect. Every political action is ethical or unethical.

Importantly, Harper’s actions in negotiating with Emerson the very day after the ballots were counted have cast our electoral system in disrepute. Canada sends election observers overseas to help promote democracy—where’s our moral authority on this issue if politicians so callously tread on the vote of the citizens?

Mar 6 (Michael Angus – Pickering, The Toronto Star) Call for minister to quit

I understand the federal ethics commissioner is to review the defection of David Emerson to the Conservative party and the role each of he and Stephen Harper played in this debacle. I also understand that in his wisdom, Harper has stated that he will not co-operate with the investigation.

It doesn’t really matter. The Canadian public knows what happened and is not at all impressed with either of these individuals. No Matter whether the commissioner will be able to prove what took place in those “private” conversations, the Canadian public is shrewd enough to know exactly what happened.

Public opinion on the streets of Vancouver agrees with the letter-writer.

Mar 5 (Susan Munroe, Canada Online) Ethics Investigation of Emerson Switch

Bernard Shapiro, the Ethics Commissioner for the House of Commons, is beginning a preliminary investigation into whether Prime Minister Stephen Harper complied with the Conflict of Interest Code for Members of Parliament when he persuaded his new International Trade Minister David Emerson to switch from the Liberals to the Conservative Party. Shapiro will also be investigating Emerson, who was elected as a Liberal in Vancouver Kingsway on January 23, but was sworn in as a Conservative cabinet minister just two weeks later.

One of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s historical legacies will be the fact that he is the first Canadian prime minister in our history to be under formal investigation less than one month after being sworn in.

Letters to Editor

A number of small-town papers that tend to serve a conservative audience printed a letter I’d originally written for the Ottawa-based The Hill Times.

While out of power, Conservatives hailing from both founding parties worked apart, and then together, ultimately to fashion a single party and a set of policies designed to bring back to Canadians an ethical and accountable government. We said we’d do things better. We’d clean up the mess. We’d treat Canadians with the respect they deserve.

Yet within hours of being elected, by appointing to Cabinet David Emerson and the unelected party insider Michael Fortier, Stephen Harper substantially broke four established party policies, one specific campaign promise, over a decade of Conservative policy development, and the trust of many Conservatives and most Canadians. [snip]

Reprinted in the St. Albert Gazette, The Airdrie Echo, and also in the Stettler Independent (letter now scrolled off into oblivion).

Political parties in state of deep decline

The Hill Times in its latest edition has published an interesting and timely article on the state of decline of political parties.

Vancouver-East CPC - Illegitimate President

Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2006 01:10:16 -0800
From: Michael Watkins
To: Jerra Byrne, Political Operations Officer – Western and Northern Canada, Conservative Party of Canada
Cc: Ray Leitch – CPC National Councillor, Marilyn Brown – Vancouver-Kingsway CPC EDA President
Subject: Vancouver-East – external director as President

Jerra, Ray:

I happened to note this letter in The Hill Times.

In his letter, Edward Sem identifies himself as a Vancouver-Kingsway voter and therefore a riding resident.

As Sem currently holds the position of President of the Vancouver East CPC EDA, his presidency is illegitimate under rules established by our National Council. I trust you will do the right thing and declare his presidency invalid, and instruct Vancouver-East’s board of directors to hold a nomination and election for a replacement president immediately.

After all, “accountability” is one of our key priorities and we ought to look inward first.

PS: While I have your attention, can you provide an explanation as to why there are no links to nor obvious location on the CPC website for:

• a listing of riding presidents and contact information. How are we to encourage party members to get more involved if we put roadblocks in their way to locating even this basic information?
• a listing of riding web sites
• a listing of the “political operations” officers and other riding and member oriented contacts within the party
• a listing of National Councilors and contact information. I had Ray Leitch’s contact info as I was once Secretary of Vancouver South EDA. I do not know who the other BC National Councillor is. Please provide.
• a listing of party documents including our constitution, the interim EDA constitution
• National Council rulings. Why are party members like myself unable to access rulings, particularly for issues of interest at the riding level?

Our party is stronger than ever; surely we have the resources to create a simple web page or two with the information our membership require. Surely transparency and accountability are notions we really believe in and will enforce upon ourselves, not just on others.

Thank you and best regards,
Michael Watkins
Vancouver Kingsway

This begs the question – does Edward Sem live in Vancouver Kingsway or Vancouver East, and has he deceived either the party or Elections Canada? Stay tuned for an answer…

Fortier and Emerson moves defy democracy

Published in this morning’s edition of The Hill Times, a letter I wrote in response to Edward Sem’s letter to The Hill Times last week. Maybe you can figure out from his letter what excuse Sem is using for supporting the unsupportable.

Is it that pragmatism trumps democracy? It surely doesn’t.

Is it that Chinese Canadians do not value democracy? Surely Sem doesn’t mean that. Sem should come out to our protests and witness first-hand the broad support from all cultures and economic strata.

The real question is not whether I actively support my party but why Sem is supporting such a patently undemocratic trick by our leader and Prime Minister.

For the benefit of those outside my party, Sem is the President of the Vancouver-East Conservative Party Electoral District Association. Its just a bit funny that Sem doesn’t identify himself as such in his letter to The Hill Times.

Its also disappointing to note that Sem doesn’t believe in following rules himself, for as a resident of Vancouver-Kingsway, his Vancouver-East presidency is illegitimate under party rules.

While the CPC EDA Interim Constitution allows for non-residents of a riding to participate on an EDA‘s board (we call them ‘external directors’), the Conservative Party National Council has issued a ruling which forbids external directors to hold an executive position.

Bottom line: Sem is not permitted to remain as president of the Vancouver East EDA and I shall be registering a protest to National Council immediately. Is that involved enough for you, Edward?

Democracy is built on rules and expectations that people will follow rules and conventions, Edward. The people expect political leaders to follow rules, not stretch them. And our party ought to do a better job at ensuring that its activists – like you – follow our own rules.