Is The PC Party Actively Creating Delegate Spots For John Tory?
January 29, 2008 · By Matthew Campbell
The Delegate Selection Meetings (DSMs) for the Ontario PC Party’s upcoming February convention. In this last week though, allegations have surfaced which suggest that the party leadership in Toronto is letting rules slide which stipulate how long a person must be a member before they can vote and/or stand for a delegate spot. Most recently, a riding in the Windsor area had been accused of using a list sent by the central office which had significantly more members on it than the riding’s own list did a few weeks prior to the meeting when the cutoff date was set.
I have a friend in Toronto who has experienced his own type of situation at a recent DSM. He has written a letter that was cc’ed to party president Blair McCreadie which stated that:
1. He was concerned that the Youth Association in the riding was not founded in time to send delegates to London
2. It was not clear who the mandatory observer from the party was at the DSM
3. If the youth association was valid, then its members should not have voted in the riding association DSM as they did
So far, my friend has informed me that the letter has not been responded to either by Mr. McCreadie or another relevant party official. The letter was sent on Sunday, which means that the party has 5 business days (or until Feb. 1) to respond to his complaint.
Given the pattern that is emerging from these meetings though, a fair-minded person could be lead to believe that there is tampering with the delegate process and that the central party might be trying to sway the voting results next month. I will keep you posted as this story develops, but if anyone else has another story to report, please feel free to post it in the comments and I would be happy to be in contact with you shortly.
Perhaps these extra members signed up through the Progressive Conservatives official web site, which is quite common. Thats why the local electoral district was sent an updated list of members.
Not all local associations have a web site or can accept membership payments.
The riding’s membership director needs to be informed according to party rules; in this case as well as in Windsor, there was irregularities reported as the director had one list that was supposed to be up to date and the meeting was send another with extra names mysteriously on it. As with what happened in London West, the board is supposed to take charge of the situation and find a reasonable way of taking care of the situation (in London, they told people to sign an affidavit stating that they were members of the party for at least the past 15 days as they needed to be; when they presented that solution, 25 people got up and left the meeting, and this just after they claimed to be members).
I do not think your article is fair or properly researched. If you had looked into what you are alleging you would understand why.
What’s your point Jo-Anne? I’m fairly familiar with riding DSMs, AGMs and procedures for both the federal and provincial conservative parties having served for over a decade as a volunteer in both organizations. If you’re going to accuse me of being unfair, you might want to offer a reason other than *I should know better*, or are you just another John Tory office lackey who is going around the internet trying to discredit any opposition before the big vote?