Today at 2pm, Stephen Harper, Belinda Stronach and Tony Clement will be debating the issues on CPAC. This is the final debate between the three candidates before the leadership vote on March 20th. Therefore, I encourage all Conservatives and indeed, all Canadians, to tune in.
For those of you without cable, you can watch it live online at 2pm today
CPAC live feed (please select language below to watch the debate live at 2pm)
English | Français
Former Liberal leadership hopeful Sheila Copps lost her nomination bid yesterday in Hamilton East-Stoney Creek. CTV’s Mike Duffy reported that the margin of votes that separated Ms. Copps and the victor, Tony Valeri, was 315 votes. There were 5,313 ballots cast.
It appears as if Paul Martin is making every effort to usher out his predecessor’s inner circle. When Mr. Martin was leadership runner-up to Jean Chrétien in 1990 he received a cabinet post as Minister of Finance. In 2002, Ms. Copps was runner-up to Mr. Martin in the Liberal leadership race and now she’s been tossed aside. At the height of her career, she was the Liberal deputy PM. Now her party has denied her the chance to run in the next election.
I’ve heard that Valeri’s scrutineers had close ties to the PM. About 400 Liberals were turned away from the meeting and were deemed ineligible to vote. Ms. Copps’ mother and the riding association president were also challenged according to Copps.
Ms. Copps has said that she’ll take a week to “consider her options”. Before the vote she remarked, “Tony, whatever happens in this fight, we’re all believing in the building of our great party and we’ll do it together”. We’ll see if she runs as an independent as the NDP has already deemed her “damaged goods”
With 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.