Conservatives telling constituents I quit, Liberal MP Cotler says

The Conservative Party is engaging in dirty tricks, calling residents of the riding of Mount Royal and telling them there is about to be a byelection, Liberal MP Irwin Cotler charged Wednesday.

Rising on a point of privilege in the House of Commons, Cotler said his office has received calls from a number of constituents in recent days saying they have received calls from a firm saying it was calling on behalf of the Conservative Party and asking if they intend to support the Conservatives in an upcoming byelection because Cotler had stepped down, or was about to step down.

“The very fact that I am standing here in this place, and otherwise discharging my responsibilities, clearly illustrates that there is no vacancy in the electoral district of Mount Royal and thus no pending byelection,” Cotler told the House.

Cotler called on Speaker Andrew Scheer to rule the phone calls constituted a breach of privilege, saying the calls have sown uncertainty in the minds of his constituents and are affecting his ability to do his job as an MP.

“Constituents are asking my office and myself when will this imminent — but as I said, non-existent — byelection, in fact, be occurring? Calls have come in asking – and constituents are surprised, if not shocked, by this — whether I am still serving. Such questions cause damage to my reputation and credibility and would do so to any member of the House.”

The phone number recorded by some of the constituents who received calls is answered by a recorded message identifying the firm as Campaign Research located on York Street in Ottawa.

While Cotler, who has an international reputation for his human rights work, has often been rumored to be on the brink of quitting as an MP, in an interview with iPolitics, Cotler said he has no plans to quit and has not been offered any positions or appointments.

Cotler’s riding of Mount Royal was once considered a Liberal bastion with Cotler being returned to office time and again with some of the biggest majorities in the country.

However, Cotler’s percentage of the vote has dropped from 75 per cent in 2004 to 41.4 per cent in the May election, nudging out Conservative candidate Saulie Zajdel, who garnered 35.6 per cent of the vote and NDP candidate Jeff Itcush who got 17.8 per cent.

Mount Royal was also one of 10 “very ethnic” ridings targeted by the Conservatives in the election, according to a document prepared by Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney’s office and accidentally leaked to the NDP MP in March.

The Conservatives went on to win seven of those 10 ridings in the May election.

Conservative Party spokesman Fred DeLorey has not yet returned a message from iPolitics.

Origin
Source: iPolitico