With the call of four by-elections by the soon-to-be ex-PM Stephen Harper, we need to face the reality that David Orchard is our best hope to win Gary Merasty's seat in the House back for the Liberals.
Call the nomination Sask Liberal Party. Call it today. I'm betting Ms. Beatty wouldn't dare enter the race at this late stage. We need organized, seasoned veterans ready to fight in the trenches. David Orchard is that person.
8 comments:
Canadians should start lobbying the green-light committee in SK.
Well Said!!
During the leadership campaign & convention I met several David Orchard folks working hard for Dion. (From Ontario no less, because "David asked them to").
I believe that it was the non traditional-type liberals like myself, Orchard supporters (and finally ex-NDP Rae supporters on the final ballot) who made the difference for Dion.
Not that blind loyalty is appropriate. Rather it is these folks that will make the difference in a tight election. I disagree with some of Orchard's views but can share a party with him.
If the news reports about this nomination controversy in Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River are true ... ie stopping Orchard's nomination via a recently elected NDP-MLA parachute candidate - then IMHO, Dion will lose crucial support not just in SK but across the country. And better someone that won the nomination becomes our candidate rather than a parachute candidate. (Orchard is not a shoe-in, he has a very credible opponent.) Given the recent history of appointed candidates in by-elections .... let democracy rule!
..Ron
Liberals belie any concern for the well-being and fair representation of First Nations communities by suggesting a white male would best represent the concerns of the northern SK First Nations population in the Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River riding.
David Orchard would be a parachute candidate in this riding. He owns a track of land in it, but truly resides far south. He has no other attachment to it. Joan Beatty represents a provincial riding located inside this federal riding, plus she has a track record, is well known, and of Aboriginal heritage. Plus she'd help with Dion's goal of ensuring more women in winnable ridings.
If Orchard is such a loyal player, he should accept Dion's wishes (should Dion decide he wants Beatty) and organize for elsewhere, perhaps in the riding in which he lives.
Orchard has a history of quitting when things don't go his way and getting all upset. Wouldn't it be nice if Orchard accepts Dion's choice and decides to be a team player on his new team? I'd have a lot more respect for him were he to be so magnanimous.
Brrrrr,
Mr. Orchard is quite familiar with your riding and has been an activist for Aboriginal rights. see my previous post with a letter from Mr. and Mrs. Iron.
Matty,
David only wants to fight a nomination. He's not parachuting anywhere. His maternal grandmother owned a farm (and David owns it now). Secondly, I'm not certain Dion is really favouring or, for that matter, asking Ms. Beatty to run.
The NDP have been non-existent in this riding losing by more than 6000 votes in the last election. Contrast that to our 67 vote victory over the Cons and that equates to a bigger need for David to tap into Conservative voters.
I'll take a card-carrying Liberal over a sitting NDP MLA any time.
Matt Guerin writes: "Orchard has a history of quitting when things don't go his way and getting all upset."
What are you actually referring to, Matt, when and what did David Orchard quit? Can you give one or two examples of such a "history," please? As it stands now, your comment amounts to a casual smear of David.
As for Orchard's "attachments" to the riding. Joseph Iron's letter speaks volumes.
Marjaleena Repo
Saskatoon
(Saskatchewan chair o tephane Dion's leadership campaign.
Campaign manager and senior advisor for David Orchard)
Let me re-phrase. David has a history of not being a team player. I remember his stubborn refusal to drop off the final ballot in the 1998 PC leadership race when it was clear Joe Clark would win it. He refused and forced another vote. Already a maverick in the PC party for holding anti-free trade positions, it certainly didn't endear him to his colleagues in the old PC party. It's true, he didn't quit, quite the opposite. My apologies.
He wasn't much of a team player in the PC party. I'm hoping that he is more of one now in the Liberal Party. I want the Libs to run the best candidate for the riding with the best chance of winning it.
"He wasn't much of a team player in the PC party."
This is more of the same, Matt. Badmouthing without substance, as you will find no evidence of David Orchard NOT being a "team player" in the PC Party (or anywhere else, for that matter).
As for Joe Clark, in the 1998 leadership vote he did not get a majority on the first ballot and would have been a vulnerable leader with less than 50% support from party members. David staying for the second ballot — which his supporters unanimously urged him to do — allowed Clark to increase his majority considerably and also strengthened David Orchard's hand. That was a win-win situation, and politically astute on Orchard's part.
You can read all about the reasons for David Orchard staying in the fight to the end (rather than quitting prematurely)in "DAVID ORCHARD STAYS IN THE RACE
(Transcript of David Orchard's press conference in Ottawa Friday, October 30, 1998) which can be found at www.davidorchard.com, under the section 1998 PC Leadership race.
As for "free trade", Orchard has never been opposed to trade or even the notion of "free trade" (in its original meaning), but has been a tough-minded and well-informed critic of the ACTUAL SIGNED CONTRACTS called Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement(FTA) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Unlike a lot of people who have never touched, never mind read, the Agreements, Orchard has, chapter and verse, and has written a well-researched book, The Fight for Canada: Four Centuries of Resistance to American Expansionism, (2 editions, translated into French), dealing ,among other things, with the Free Trade Agreements, and which I recommend to Matt Guerin as primary research material. (By the way, Mulroney, along with all other PC Leadership candidates, except John Crosbie, in 1984 were STAUNCHLY OPPOSED the very idea of free trade with the United States. In 1988 Liberal John Turner called the FTA the "Sale of Canada Act" and Pierre Elliott Trudeau has described it as "a monstrous swindle". Looks like Orchard has been true to the best pro-Candian traditions and thinking in both parties!)
P.S. I misspelled my "credentials' in my last entry. It should read: (Saskatchewan chair of Stephane Dion's leadership campaign.
Campaign manager and senior advisor for David Orchard)
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