Let's face it, democracy is a messy business. This is why right wingers have been trying to streamline it for so long, to remove that most meddlesome of elements: the people. The Conservative government has finally figured out a way to do that in Canada: they're appointing their own representatives in ridings where the people have been so foolish as to - brace yourselves - not elect a Conservative.
Meet Sharon Smith - currently mayor of Houston B.C. and soon to be "liaison to the federal government" for the riding of Skeena-Bulkley Valley. Now I know what you are thinking: didn't the people of that riding elect their own liaison to the federal government, traditionally known for lo these past 140 years as a Member of Parliament? Why yes, they did, and his name is Nathan Cullen. But Mr. Cullen has commited the egregious sin of - please brace yourself again - not being a Conservative. In fact, he is a member of the NDP. Apparently, not being a Conservative means you can no longer represent the people of your riding. Welcome to the world of one-party rule.
Dr. Dawg adds his own commentary to this issue and nicely documents the growing blogswarm right here. And thanks heavens for the blogs, because as the good canine doctor notes, there is virtually no coverage of this is the major media. Maybe it will become a story when the media realizes it is not only happening in B.C.
Meet Brendan Bell, the North's very own right winger in residence. He is currently an MLA in the NWT assembly, but he is not running for re-election in the upcoming territorial election this October. And why is that? Well, he'll be running for the Conservatives against Western Arctic MP Dennis Bevington in the next federal election, but in the meantime he will be named - you guessed it - special liaison to the federal government for the people of the Western Arctic.
If it wasn't so fundamentally anti-democratic as to be sickening, you could almost admire the whole scheme. Their candidates get to play MP prior to being elected. Then, when the election comes around, they can tout their experience representing "their" constituents as a special liaison to the federal government.
But a few questions arise: who is paying for these jobs? Are these liaisons being set up as public servants, thus meaning that the taxpayers are subsidizing the next Conservative campaign? Are they being paid for out of Conservative Party coffers, thus surely breaking the spirit and most likely the letter of campaign financing laws? Even if they aren't paid positions, there are a heck of a lot of expenses in maintaining an office, visiting "constituents" and so on. Who exactly is paying for these shadow Cons to displace elected MPs?
And where the hell is the media on this? Why has no one noted the questionable constitutionality behind all this except for a bunch of nobody bloggers? It's not like the Cons are being sly about this. They sent out a press release for crying out loud.
And just how many more of these special liaisons are we going to see? I suspect that the Conservatives won't stop at two. Will we have a special liaison for every riding in the country, or are they simply concentrating on the NDP right now?
With this manoeuvre, the Conservatives have established a new principle for Canadian democracy. If you can't win a majority government, appoint yourself one.
Update: I must apologize for the poor sourcing, folks. I learned the information about Bell at a meeting in Yellowknife this week. He is waiting until after the NWT election to make any announcement. My three sources from that meeting are all very solid, and the fact has become an open secret in Yellowknife, where Bell is being raised up as the Conservative white knight to unseat NDPer Dennis Bevington. Regardless, I do appreciate your scepticism, and will provide a link to official sourcing as it becomes available.
Holy crap! Nice catch, Tim. I've updated at my place.
Accck! What happened? Sorry about that. Anyway, nice catch, Tim...:)
Your comment is repetitive, but appreciated. ;-)
Problem fixed.
Thanks for posting this, Tim. I didn't hear about it until kuri posted a link to "Blogging a Dead Horse."
And thanks to Dawg, too!
There's another one?! Good work, Tim. And how principled of you to neglect to mention the Nekkid Mayor angle. ;-)
Holy crap! Another one!
Great catch Tim. Updating info at my place as well.
Take it there are no skeletons in his closet?
Nice catch Tim!
One question, Tim?
What's the source for this info? Has there been a media release issued? Unable to find anything.
One might have been a bit of overreaching -- I wondered whether that was the case with Sharon Smith, maybe Dick Harris doing a bit of local grandstanding.
But two begins to look, ah, intentional. It begins to look like a plan. A plan that needs to be stopped.
And the questions about money need answering. Who is getting money, and from where?
Actually, Tim, could you answer Frank's question? I can't find this anywhere, and it would be nice to quote a direct source.
Dick Harris named Sharon Smith to the new role and he's the MP of Cariboo-Prince George, as well as Chairman of the B.C. Caucus of Conservative MP's. Dick Harris joined us in the studio.
http://www.cbc.ca/daybreaknorth/daybreak_again.html
Courtesy of Dave.
No, I mean Brendan Bell.
Yes, I listened to the Daybreak North audio clips early Sunday.
Do we have a link for the Brendan Bell 'appointment'?
I want to believe that it's true because I sense a pattern emerging - appoint a 'direct liaison to the federal government' in obscure, remote ridings with an NDP incumbent. But there is nothing corroborating what is stated in the post about Brendan Bell being appointed.
the cons go leaps and bounds for dictatorship while the libs and dippers stick as much as they can to the faux democracy that does exist. total reform is needed....go iroquois constitution and base governance on nature, not lies.
the cons go leaps and bounds for dictatorship while the libs and dippers stick as much as they can to the faux democracy that does exist. total reform is needed....go iroquois constitution and base governance on nature, not lies.
I don't have a link to this information because I found out about it at a meeting in Yellowknife this week, where it has recently become an open secret. Sorry gang, I should have sourced that properly in the absence of a link.
It hasn't yet been reported in the media as Bell wants to wait until after the writ for the territorial election is dropped in early September before making an announcement. When it is announced, I'll post it.
I've just heard of another situation. I've sent an email to the, you guessed it, NDP MP in yet another riding in BC which seems to have acquired a "liaison".
When I get more information I'll let you know.
I've said it before and I'll say it again:
"Who promised you democracy would(n't) be (sl)easy?"
;-)
Why isn't the local NDP MP Nathan Cullen raising unholy hell about this?
Why isn't the local NDP MP Nathan Cullen raising unholy hell about this? Hasn't Kanada Gnu Gummint ("Getting things done to Canadians") just appointed someone to do the job he was elected to do in order to give them a headstart toward unseating him in the next election?
My email to Harper, Harris, Cullen, McGuinty (my MP), and Mike Duffy of CTV news:
Dear Mr. Harper:
I must say that I was absolutely appalled to read a news release from Dick Harris, Conservative MP for Cariboo-Prince George (http://www.terracedaily.ca/cgi-bin/show_articles.cgi?TOPIC=2&ID=954&ISTART=undefined&NSHOW=undefined&S=undefined) stating that "Dick Harris MP for Cariboo-Prince George has named Houston Mayor and Conservative candidate Sharon Smith as the person that residents of Skeena-Bulkley Valley can contact when they have concerns or issues with the federal government."
Since when does Mr. Harris make decisions for a riding which is not his own, let alone have the right to blatantly circumvent the wishes of the constituents of Skeena-Bulkley Valley who democratically elected their own federal representative?! Furthermore, when Mr. Harris states, "I and other BC Conservative MPs will work closely with Sharon Smith as she represents constituents of her riding to the government members..." he seems to be under some delusion that the residents of Skeena-Bulkley Valley are constituents of Sharon Smith. Perhaps, Mr. Harper, you should point out to your MP that the residents of the riding of Skeena-Bulkley Valley are ALREADY the constituents of another MP (one who was duly elected, in a fully legal manner). Just because Mr. Harris and Ms. Smith wish this were not the case, does not make it so.
I simply cannot express my feelings on the matter better than this: "Since Nathan Cullen is the Member of Parliament for Skeena-Bulkley Valley, there is no need for a "government liaison" person. That is the MP's role, and it is contingent upon the government to listen to the concerns of his constituents when he presents them." (http://thegallopingbeaver.blogspot.com/2007/08/we-dont-need-your-stinkin-democracy.html)
I would like some answers to the following questions, in writing, as soon as possible:
1. Does Smith get paid and who pays her?
2. Does Smith have access to caucus?
3. Does Smith have access to cabinet ministers ahead of the duly elected member of parliament?
4. Does Smith perform her role for all constituents, or only Conservatives?
5. Does this appointment interfere with the sitting MP's performance of his duties?
6. Have any other similar appointments been made, and if so, which ridings are affected?
I am copying my MP, David McGuinty, on this email, both to ensure that he is aware of this situation, and to ensure that both you and he are aware how absolutely enraged I would be as a voting citizen if you tried to circumvent my access to my government simply because you do not approve of the political party to which my representative belongs. Whether I voted for him or not is immaterial, since it is the wish of the majority of voters in my riding that he represent us in Parliament. How dare anyone think that they 'know better' than said voters, what is in the voters best interests?! What could possibly be more patronizing?!
Mr. Harper and Mr. Harris, you should be ashamed of yourselves (and frankly worried, as there are hundreds of concerned citizens - all across the country - who are diligently searching right now, to discover if this "appointment" process is even constitutional). This is not a partisan political issue, it is quite simply an issue of circumventing the democratic wishes of voters. I look forward to hearing the answers to my five questions listed above.
Sincerely,
(KiaRioGrl79, here, but I put my real name & address in the email)
I wonder what/if/when I will hear back.
Ah, but when he sees your name, Harper will think you're just some female who is not equal to him and therefore not someone to listen to. But he might consider appointing a liaison to speak for you. :)
I've got some new info on this. What's happening in S-BV is not a one-off. There is indeed more.
See http://www.acreativerevolution.ca/node/178#comment-1549
And I've updated my original post
http://www.acreativerevolution.ca/node/164
This is a great victory for Canadian bloggers, to have awakened to this travesty before the MSM and bring it up to them.
Now, could all "big blogs" likewise pick up on a little something that I have feebly attempted to bring up to the MSM' attention ( http://pov-mentarch1.blogspot.com/2007/08/illegal-us-spying-where-is-our-canadian.html )?
Help would be much appreciated in this matter - thanks in advance.
This has happened in TORONTO CENTRE as well -- the riding I'm in. The excuse in this case was that Bill Graham has retired, so we "need" someone to "represent" us to the government. And the Con party Whip (I think that was who it was) would be more than happy to represent us.
I'm absolutely outraged.
Every time I think Harper has hit the bottom level of sleaziness, he does something else to demonstrate an even deeper contempt for Canada, Canadians, and democracy. Thanks for ringing the alarm bell on this one - if we don't see something about it in the Globe and Mail soon, it will begin to undermine my respect for that august newspaper. Think I'll give the local radio talk show a call about this affair.