There was a piece in the Toronto Star talking about Doug Finley and his role in the Conservative Party. In that piece it mentioned how no Conservative candidate can run without his permission, and it brought up 2 rather specific examples of this - Mark Warner being ousted in Toronto, and Brent Barr in Guelph. The part about Barr is very interesting, because it mentions that Ottawa didn’t act first to oust Barr - but according to 1 Barr supporter, it was some Guelph Conservatives who initiated the complaint:
In late 2007, Guelph Tories had problems with candidate Brent Barr, a business leader. Despite her nomination loss to Barr, party officials in Ottawa installed city councillor Gloria Kovach as candidate. “At no time did (Finley) ever answer any of my emails,” says former Tory science minister Bill Winegard, who supported Barr. “It was pretty silly. They said (Barr) wasn’t working hard enough but he had a business to run and he would have as we moved closer to the election.” Winegard still asks: “Who are these people in Guelph who got rid of Brent? Did these folks have a board meeting? Did they talk to anybody? … They complained to Ottawa and he was thrown out.”
Indeed, who were these Conservatives in Guelph who complained? Some unhappy Gloria Kovach supporters who happened to be high ups in the local party who held some sway in Ottawa? Did those folks - if they had problems with Barr’s campaign style - ever take their concerns to him first, before they reacted and decided to appeal to Ottawa to oust the democratically-elected Barr? As Mr Winegard said in an earlier interview in Guelph, “I think democracy has gone wrong in my Conservative Party,” Winegard said. “Something has gone wrong.”
The folks at the Guelph Mercury and their political blog likely have some more additional time now to do some investigating, assuming Governor-General Jean doesn’t unexpectedly decline Harper’s request to dissolve Parliament. Perhaps they can try asking some of the local Conservatives who complained to Finley in Ottawa and how was the decision reached to complain to Ottawa.
If you had two kicks at the can, its time to give someone else a chance.
I aggree with that Conservative nomination policy.
Warners case is not as bad as David Orchard. Orchard supported Dion at the Liberal convention, worked hard to sign up lots of members and win a nomination.
Dion stiffed him in the end.