With John Baird’s stunning exit from politics earlier this month, a number of high-profile Conservatives are considering running for the party’s nomination, but some are complaining publicly that the new federal regional minister responsible for Ottawa, Pierre Poilievre, is discouraging them because he has a preferred candidate.Mr. Baird, who was the minister of Foreign Affairs and the regional minister for Ottawa, announced on Feb. 2 that after spending 20 years in provincial and federal politics, he was stepping down from Cabinet and resigning his seat to pursue other opportunities. Mr. Baird has represented Ottawa West-Nepean since 2006, but chose to run in the new riding of Nepean in the next election, a more Conservative riding, where he was the nominated candidate for the 2015 election.
Mr. Baird’s sudden departure led a number of local Conservatives to consider their options in the coveted new Nepean riding.
There has been some recent media speculation about a number of high-profile Ottawa Conservatives interested in running, but some have recently decided not to run while others had not made their final decision public as of late last week.
Ontario PC MPP Lisa MacLeod and Matt Young, former Ontario PC candidate in the riding of Ottawa South, aren’t running for family reasons, but Ottawa city councillor Jan Harder and Steve Desroches, former city councillor and deputy mayor, haven’t announced.
A Conservative source told The Hill Times that Adam Taylor, a former federal ministerial staffer who now works at Ensight Canada, is also testing the waters. Mr. Taylor, who has worked as a political aide for International Trade Minister Ed Fast (Abbotsford, B.C.) and for Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.), did not respond to interview requests last week.
But Ms. Harder blasted Mr. Poilievre (Nepean-Carleton, Ont.) and blamed him last week for discouraging some potential candidates, including herself, Ms. MacLeod and Mr. Desroches from entering the nomination contest.
“Pierre won’t allow Lisa, Steve, or I to run for Nepean. We are too intimidating and he is disrespectful. It should be up to Nepean NOT Pierre P.,” Ms. Harder told Sun Media columnist Susan Sherring.
“How dare he stick us with another transplant,” said Ms. Harder referring to Mr. Poilievre being a newcomer to the riding when he first ran federally in 2004 and beat then-incumbent Liberal David Pratt.
As the new senior minister for Ottawa, Mr. Poilievre controls all patronage appointments and federal funding of all projects in the nation’s capital, including the National Capital Commission. He also holds the portfolios of Employment and Social Development and Democratic Reform in Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) Cabinet.
Ms. Harder’s staff told The Hill Times on Thursday that she was unavailable for an interview and that she was out of country. Mr. Poilievre did not respond to an interview request.
Meanwhie, Julia Mackenzie, executive assistant to Ms. MacLeod, told The Hill Times last week that her boss is not seeking the federal Conservative nomination in the riding of Nepean for family reasons and denied that Mr. Poilievre had anything to do with her decision.
Elizabeth MacKinnon, the Conservative Party riding association president for the riding of Nepean, referred all nomination-related questions to the Conservative Party headquarters.
Cory Hann, a spokesman for the Conservative Party, in an email to The Hill Times, wrote: “The Conservative Party of Canada is running completely fair and open nominations, and we’ll have a candidate in place in Nepean in time for the Oct. 19 election, when Canadians will choose between the strong, serious leadership of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and the high risk, high tax, high debt agenda of Justin Trudeau,” wrote Mr. Hann.
The new riding of Nepean has been carved out of the current federal riding of Nepean-Carleton and is expected to be a safe Conservative one. Based on the transposition of votes analysis conducted by Elections Canada, if the new riding boundaries had been in place in the 2011 general election, the Conservative candidate would have won 26,087 votes, the Liberal 13,863, and the New Democratic Party candidate would have won 9,117 votes.
Meanwhile, Andy Wang, a former Parliamentary assistant to Mr. Poilievre who previously was seeking his party’s nod in the riding of Ottawa West-Nepean, told The Hill Times that now he wants to run in Nepean because he lives in the new riding. Mr. Wang left Mr. Poilievre’s office after Mr. Baird resigned. He said he always wanted to run in Nepean where he lived but decided not to because Mr. Baird chose to move to the riding. Mr. Wang said that he respects Mr. Baird personally and professionally. After Mr. Baird decided to leave politics, Mr. Wang decided to move to Nepean. Mr. Wang resigned from his job as Parliamentary assistant to Mr. Poilievre three weeks ago to concentrate on his nomination contest.
In the interview, Mr. Wang said he’s campaigning full-time for his nomination, but denied that he was Mr. Poilievre’s preferred candidate or a “parachute” to the new riding.
“I’m definitely not being parachuted anywhere because I live here and I worked here and work closely with the residents and stakeholders of Nepean for the past five years. So, definitely not a parachute,” Mr. Wang told The Hill Times.
Ottawa city councillor Michael Qaqish, a former staffer to Mr. Desroches, told The Hill Times that he has not had any conversations with the former deputy mayor in recent weeks, but recalled that his former boss had considered the possibility of running federally as a Conservative in the past.
Mr. Qaqish said some senior Conservatives had reservations that Mr. Desroches was a close ally of Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, a former Ontario Liberal Cabinet minister, and that his voting record as a city councillor did not show strong Conservative leaning.
“He [Mr. Desroches] has no party loyalty or membership. It’s funny because the Liberals think he’s Conservative and the Conservatives think he’s the Liberal. Part of the problem is that he hasn’t really shown any loyalty and that was a concern [for senior Conservatives] with him when he was talking about running for the Conservatives a few years back,” Mr. Qaqish told The Hill Times.
Mr. Qaqish said he was also encouraged by some recently to consider running federally in Nepean after Mr. Baird’s departure, but decided against it because he was just elected as a councillor only a few months ago and this is his first term.
Mr. Desroches did not seek re-election in the last municipal election as he had promised prior to the start of his municipal career in 2006 that he would serve only for two terms. He has returned to his job as a public servant at Agriculture Canada.
As of deadline last week, the Conservative Party had not scheduled a nomination meeting in Nepean.
But with Mr. Baird now out of the picture, political insiders say the opposition parties have a better chance of winning Nepean in 2015.
George Soule, the New Democratic Party’s associate director of media relations, told The Hill Times last week that with Mr. Baird not running in Nepean, the party’s candidate will have a better chance of winning against a non-incumbent. The New Democratic Party had not scheduled a nomination contest last week, but Mr. Soule said some there are interested candidates and wouldn’t divulge them.
Liberal Party spokesman Olivier Duchesneau said Mr. Baird’s departure would not make any difference for the Grits and denied that his party candidate will have a better shot at winning it now that Mr. Baird’s is not a factor. The Liberals had not scheduled a nomination meeting either as of last week in this riding.
Original Article
Source: hilltimes.com/
Author: Abbas Rana
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