And They Were Worried About Jim?
The word came down from on high in the Great Craig Debate, and the answer was ‘no’. The Premier Ed Stelmach-led witch-hunt against freshly nominated Calgary-Egmont Progressive Conservative candidate Craig Chandler wrapped up with the expected thumbs-down to the wishes of the constituency’s party members.
As troubling as the complete disregard for the democratic process the governing party has shown, what is worse is the line of questioning that Chandler claims he had to suffer. You have to keep reminding yourself that this is a group that calls itself the Progressive Conservative party when you learn that Chandler was asked point blank such flavored questions as: ‘Are you a right-winger’ (in a conservative party? Whatever shall we do?), ‘Are you a social conservative?’ (as opposed to a far-leftwing bleeding heart ‘conservative’ like Stelmach, perhaps?), and the best one of all: ‘Do you believe in Jesus Christ?’.
Once again, I must reiterate my own personal moderate, non-religious political leanings for the benefit of the intended weight of my comments. I am not speaking in a reactionary way because I share Chandler’s strong faith or his social conservatism, and I don’t have any personal or professional links to the man. In fact, I most likely would have supported a more moderate candidate in the nomination had I lived in Calgary-Egmont.
With this in mind, I must question the political acumen (and indeed, the motives) of the Alberta P.C.s. Essentially, by saying that Chandler was ‘too conservative’ they have officially become a party of the political left, and their claim of conservatism is now completely without merit or evidence.
Specifically regarding the Party’s overwhelming interest in Mr. Chandler’s personal faith, I’ll make the P.C. party president a deal right here and now: when you start asking your Muslim candidates if they ‘believe in Allah’, then I won’t say anything about you questioning if someone is a Christian.
Ironic is the fact that during last year’s P.C. leadership race, members believed the hype and turned their backs on front-runner Jim Dinning, buying into the claim that he was ‘too liberal’, or a ‘red Tory’. Well, you reap what you sow, and the P.C.’s have now found themselves in a popularity free-fall with policy blunders and slapstick antics in their own house. Everyday seems to bring another controversy. From badly-managed public hospitals to fumbling the royalty issue, the Stelmach Circus drops deeper and deeper.
And now we have the death of democracy. Party brass has had its say, and the message is that the party members don’t matter. Their votes don’t count. And, if they want to send a strong message, they will stay away from the party in droves for the next election.
You have to wonder if these kinds of embarrassing moves would have happened under either a Jim Dinning or Ted Morton leadership. I doubt it.
As troubling as the complete disregard for the democratic process the governing party has shown, what is worse is the line of questioning that Chandler claims he had to suffer. You have to keep reminding yourself that this is a group that calls itself the Progressive Conservative party when you learn that Chandler was asked point blank such flavored questions as: ‘Are you a right-winger’ (in a conservative party? Whatever shall we do?), ‘Are you a social conservative?’ (as opposed to a far-leftwing bleeding heart ‘conservative’ like Stelmach, perhaps?), and the best one of all: ‘Do you believe in Jesus Christ?’.
Once again, I must reiterate my own personal moderate, non-religious political leanings for the benefit of the intended weight of my comments. I am not speaking in a reactionary way because I share Chandler’s strong faith or his social conservatism, and I don’t have any personal or professional links to the man. In fact, I most likely would have supported a more moderate candidate in the nomination had I lived in Calgary-Egmont.
With this in mind, I must question the political acumen (and indeed, the motives) of the Alberta P.C.s. Essentially, by saying that Chandler was ‘too conservative’ they have officially become a party of the political left, and their claim of conservatism is now completely without merit or evidence.
Specifically regarding the Party’s overwhelming interest in Mr. Chandler’s personal faith, I’ll make the P.C. party president a deal right here and now: when you start asking your Muslim candidates if they ‘believe in Allah’, then I won’t say anything about you questioning if someone is a Christian.
Ironic is the fact that during last year’s P.C. leadership race, members believed the hype and turned their backs on front-runner Jim Dinning, buying into the claim that he was ‘too liberal’, or a ‘red Tory’. Well, you reap what you sow, and the P.C.’s have now found themselves in a popularity free-fall with policy blunders and slapstick antics in their own house. Everyday seems to bring another controversy. From badly-managed public hospitals to fumbling the royalty issue, the Stelmach Circus drops deeper and deeper.
And now we have the death of democracy. Party brass has had its say, and the message is that the party members don’t matter. Their votes don’t count. And, if they want to send a strong message, they will stay away from the party in droves for the next election.
You have to wonder if these kinds of embarrassing moves would have happened under either a Jim Dinning or Ted Morton leadership. I doubt it.
View blog reactions
posted by Leigh Patrick Sullivan at 8:13 PM
1 Comments:
It doesn't matter whether one supports Chandler and his views or not. What matters is that Stelmach has just dealth a lethal blow to democracy and freedom of speech/thought, etc. in Alberta.
As you write, this has been turned into a witch hunt by the Tory party, which is not a Tory party anymore, but a left-wing, statist party of social engineers.
Someone hand me a bucket. I am about to throw up.
Post a Comment
<< Home