Paul Martin is seeking a “mandate”

timhortons.jpgWith every day that passes, it seems more and more likely that we’ll be heading into an early spring election. Indeed, Paul Martin was on the pre-campaign trail today looping through eastern Ontario ‘pressing-the-flesh’, as they say. Indicative of any campaign is the round-table discussions with Canadians at the local Tim Hortons. Whenever a politician “meets and greets” at Tim Hortons he/she is campaigning.

People in the Prime Minister’s Office are saying that spring is a good time to go (for an election) and that it will be an ideal time for the Liberal Party to form a new government. What an outrage! Elections should serve Canadians so that they can give the popular party a mandate that is truly handed down by the people. In this case, as National Post columnist Andrew Coyne says, the Liberal Party is asking for a verdict before the trial. The ruling Liberal Party is sinking deeper and deeper within their scandal and Liberal strategists believe that an early election is the best way to stop the bleeding. Canadians deserve to know how deep the Liberal corruption goes before the Liberals ask them if they are deserving of another term.

We need fixed election dates in this country so that elections serve the people instead of the party in power.

Conservative membership by the numbers

graph.jpgThe numbers are out today and all of our efforts have not been in vain. The membership of the Conservative Party of Canada has gone from 142,000 on December 7th 2003 to 251,759 today (March 1st). This means that 109,759 new memberships have been purchased by Canadians. Detractors of the Conservative Party have said that the whole would be less than sum of the parts. Today, these numbers show that this is completely untrue. The unified Conservative Party membership is actually greater than the sum of the memberships of the two formative parties (the PC and the Alliance).

I’m glad to see that our efforts have paid off to grow this national party which now stands as a viable alternative to the ruling Liberal Party. Of course, we’re not done yet; memberships are still for sale!

Media Day

What a day! Final memberships to vote for leader of the new Conservative Party of Canada and to vote for my nomination are due tonight at midnight. As I’ve been working selling memberships for my nomination, I had the opportunity to speak with both the Kingston Whig Standard and to Rex Murphy on Cross Country Checkup on CBC Radio One.

The Whig reporter called today to find out a little bit more about who I am and why I’m running. I mentioned that the new Conservative Party represents a chance for previously sidelined conservatives to be heard and that the formation of the party represents “a real opportunity for democratic change in this country”.

On Rex’s call-in show, Rex introduced me to the country and again to Stephen Harper. Subsequently, I asked him the following question, “Hi Mr. Harper, I’m seeking the Conservative nomination here in Kingston and the Islands. I’m 23 years old and when we had the opportunity to meet and discuss the issues we didn’t have the chance to discuss youth issues. Now, I think that this new party can be the party of youth in this country and I’ve been working hard to realize this goal. I’d like to ask you what your commitment is for the sustainment of a youth wing of the party and whether you’ll be seeking youth input if you’re the leader.” Now, I know what I said, but I can’t begin to present Mr. Harper’s response without a transcript, so I’ll present the exchange when it becomes available from CBC.

Update:I can do one better than a transcript. Here’s the audio of the interview with Stephen Harper. I’m on the air at around the 44 minute mark.

Click here to listen to the audio

Busy day…