mike watkins dot ca : Conservative National Councillor Byng Giraud

Conservative National Councillor Byng Giraud

Byng Giraud violates spirit of his mandate as a National Councillor and should be sanctioned

Quoted in the weekend Vancouver Sun (Anti-Emerson drive continues) is Byng Giraud, who along with Ray Leitch are BC’s representatives to the Conservative Party’s governing body, the National Council. Giraud is a long time conservative who has been active in regional and federal conservative parties including Social Credit, Mulroney’s conservatives, the United Alternative, the Canadian Alliance, in addition to holding one of the highest leadership positions in the current incarnation of my party.

Twenty people cross the floor every decade. That’s not unusual. That’s two a year. And we’ve never seen anything like this. To put up signs and to raise money requires an activist community. That this would spontaneously came out of the people who live there is a bit rich. Byng Giraud, National Councillor – BC, Conservative Party of Canada

Its sad and disappointing to see one of my party’s national councillors paint what Harper did in collusion with Emerson as just another crossing of the floor, when clearly the issue is much more fundamental than that – and Giraud ought to know that, with over 20 years of political experience under his belt. What Harper enabled and Emerson did has undermined the integrity of our democracy and electoral process and can not be allowed to stand.

Not only is Giraud on the wrong side of the issue, his criticism of the people in my riding is itself bit rich. First off, he is the very definition of partisan, trying to paint others as the same. Secondly, in his professional life outside of party politics, Giraud is in a conflict of interest in commenting on anything to do with David Emerson.

Giraud is a Victoria-based lobbyist who works for federal and BC lobby Earnscliffe Strategy Group, and according to the Canada Lobbyists Registration System, Giraud is using his knowledge of and influence in government to advance the cases of a number of companies and organizations intimately tied to David Emerson and the files he is responsible for.

  • International Forest Products (Emerson link: the peek-a-boo MP is responsible for the softwood lumber and other international trade files)
  • Forest Alliance of British Columbia (Emerson link: Emerson was CEO of Canfor, the largest lumber producer in Canada. Canfor is a member, as is International Forest Products. Canfor, Interfor and other lumber producers stand to lose or gain billions depending on the ultimate resolution of the softwood lumber dispute with the United States)
  • 2010 Legacies Now (Emerson link: 2010 Olympics and building programs worth billions. When Emerson finally returned to BC after his Feb 6th appointments, a local camera crew caught Emerson’s first visitor at his home early one morning – none other than well known real estate developer and 2010 Chairman of the Board Jack Poole.)
  • Translink (Emerson link: he is responsible for the federal participation in the “Pacific Gateway”, a program which includes major lower mainland highway infrastructure building projects worth billions)

Since motives are the base of Giraud’s argument against the widespread public uproar over the Emerson affair, why were not Giraud’s political and business ties cited to underscore his own bias?

Perhaps next time we BC Conservatives elect a National Councillor we’ll reflect on what type of person Byng Giraud is vs what he claims to be. When Giraud was running for the position in early 2005, he answered the question “what kind of conservative am I?” in part by citing Russell Kirk’s Ten Conservative Principles.

In defending the indefensible, Giraud runs afoul of more than one of Kirk’s ten principles, but principally:

A state in which an individual or a small group are able to dominate the wills of their fellows without check is a despotism, whether it is called monarchical or aristocratic or democratic. Russell Kirk

There are many in my party who claim to stand up for Canada but really are posers who are willing to trade principle for power at the first opportunity and thus Byng Giraud has joined Stephen Harper and David Emerson in this regard. Its time that Conservatives put a stop to the despotism some in my party so willingly embrace.