David Emerson: Media Watch
March 31 (Stephen Maher, The Chronicle Herald) Casey denies dissident tag but wonât change lumber stance
OTTAWA â Bill Casey says heâs no Tory dissident, even though a political website for Ottawa insiders describes him as one.
The MP for ‘Cumberland Colchester Musquodoboit Valley’ appears not to be in favour with Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Although Mr. Casey is one of the longest-serving Tories in the House and is consistently re-elected with commanding majorities, he did not receive a cabinet post or a job as a parliamentary secretary when the Tories took power. Not only that, but the party stripped him of his position as deputy whip.
“I do not consider myself a dissident, but from time to time I disagree with all my leaders â all eight of them,” Mr. Casey said Thursday.
Politicswatch.com pointed out that Mr. Casey, like Mr. Turner, objected to Mr. Emersonâs appointment as trade minister. Mr. Emerson had been freshly re-elected in Vancouver as a Liberal when Mr. Harper put him in cabinet.
Casey concludes by saying “Sometimes you have to speak up”. It seems Conservatives, like Casey, Garth Turner, and myself, who speak up for what is right are labelled dissidents. That’s clearly not a good term for what we do.
As a matter of interest, Bill Casey once spearheaded a drive within the Progressive Conservative party to bring animal feed from central and eastern Canada by train to then-drought stricken prairie farmers. Many party folks responded generously – I gave $400 to that effort myself. What Casey did then as now was the right thing to do, not the “dissident” thing to do.
March 31 (Shannon Kari, The Globe and Mail) Emerson loses connection with cyberspace
MPs rave about benefits of being on-line, but embattled Tory minister is absent
VANCOUVER—Since David Emerson defected from the Liberals to become a Conservative cabinet minister nearly two months ago, his critics have accused the International Trade Minister of not being accessible to his Vancouver Kingsway constituents.
Although Mr. Emerson and his staff have denied the accusation, it appears that he is somewhat elusive in cyberspace.
He is the only Conservative MP in British Columbia who does not have a website. Davidemerson.ca, his site as a Liberal MP, is not in operation. The only website directly related to the minister is emersoncampaign.ca, which was set up by the Campaign to De-Elect David Emerson.
Emerson’s staff are not being truthful. Legitimate civic groups within the riding have been trying to set up meetings with Minister Emerson – and his office has not even had the courtesy to acknowledge the meeting requests, much less schedule meetings. I’ll be writing more on this in the not-distant future.
[Jennifer Chiu, the spokeswoman for the International Trade Minister,] rejected any suggestion that Mr. Emerson is not accessible to his constituents and said the staff at his Vancouver Kingsway office is very capable dealing the concerns of constituents. “By and large, constituents know to get in touch with him,” she said.
We reject this as udder manure.
For weeks Emerson has not been available. Emerson has not scheduled a single constituency availability since the election. Who has been able to see him? Why none other than Jack Poole, 2010 Olympic Chair, who was caught on camera at Emerson’s home after he returned to BC after being sworn in as a minister of the Conservative government.
Emerson has plenty of time for the Premier, Sam Sullivan, Jack Poole, John Furlong – but zero for his constituents. We shouldn’t be surprised. The aforementioned don’t live in Vancouver-Kingsway and neither does Emerson.
For weeks – even before the election – Emerson hadn’t stepped foot in the constituency office. I’m informed by staff there that he’s now been in the office, for brief periods, exactly twice. Recently. This gives Emerson a “checkbox” filled in for appearances’ sake – he can legitimately say he’s been in his riding office, even if there is nothing legitimate about his representation of this riding.
Political observers have seen this before. Its called damage control. Reality: Emerson hasn’t been serving his constituents. Reality: He hasn’t been available. Reality: He said one thing day-in, day-out during the course of the election and then less than 24 hours after the last ballot was counted, was talking to former MP and arch-Conservative John Reynolds about jumping ship from the Liberals. In Emerson’s apology letter – which constituency staff have said was funded by “private backers” – Emerson as much as said ‘sorry, but I’d do it again!’.
Emerson has been a train wreck, thanks to his bad decision to accept Harper’s arrogant and undemocratic offer. In order to fix the “appearances” (instead of the problem) Emerson has been surrounded by communications, reputation management and media people. Well folks, whatever you are doing isn’t working so far.
No doubt we’ll see a sudden effort made by Emerson’s handlers to make him appear available, only to deflect legitimate criticism. No amount of spin will make him appear legitimate.