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.