Martin hand-picks another candidate
PM breaking promise for democratic reform, opposition MPs say

Anne Dawson
The Ottawa Citizen

Sunday, May 09, 2004
Page A5 – Morning Edition

Prime Minister Paul Martin ignored his own promise to make Parliament
more democratic yesterday by hand-picking yet another Liberal
candidate and doling out another patronage appointment.

In the past two days, he has used his power to appoint one candidate
in Ontario and another four in Alberta and British Columbia. He has
also given patronage appointments to two sitting MPs in exchange for
them stepping aside so he could designate his favourites in their
ridings.

The moves drew sharp criticism from opposition leaders, who accused
Mr. Martin of playing a game of “who you know” rather than allowing
grassroots democracy to take its course in the selection of political
candidates. They also said the actions would further alienate Western
Canadians already extremely dissatisfied with the workings of federal
politics.

Manitoba-born Ruby Dhalla, a Toronto chiropractor and a longtime
Liberal activist, was appointed to be the Liberal candidate in the
Brampton-Springdale riding. Liberal MP Sarkis Assadourian, who has
represented that riding since 1993, has been given the position of
special adviser on Near Eastern and South Caucasus Affairs to the
prime minister in exchange for giving up his riding.

“I am delighted to be able to turn to Sarkis Assadourian for expertise
when it comes to matters of trade and foreign relations with the Near
East,” said the prime minister in a press released issued yesterday.

Late Friday, Mr. Martin announced four other candidate
appointees. They include: B.C. party president Bill Cunningham, who
worked on Mr. Martin’s leadership campaign, in the Burnaby-Douglas
riding; lawyer Julia Turnbull, in Calgary South Centre; John Bethel,
who was Mr. Martin’s Alberta leadership campaign director, in Edmonton
East; and Dave Muti, who served as a Liberal riding president, in
Calgary North East.

He also gave Winnipeg MP John Harvard an appointment to be the new
lieutenant-governor of Manitoba in exchange for him stepping down so
Winnipeg Mayor Glen Murray could run in his
Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia riding.

Human Resources Minister Joe Volpe staunchly defended Mr. Martin’s
appointments on the grounds that the Liberal party permits such
appointments under its constitution.

But Conservative leader Stephen Harper said Mr. Martin has “tainted”
the Liberal candidates he has appointed with all the bad publicity the
announcements have garnered.

“This hardly seems like a way to fix the democratic deficit. It will
ultimately jeopardize the election chances of every single one of them
— especially in Western Canada where these issues of democratic
reform are most acute and the dissatisfaction with the existing system
is most severe,” Mr. Harper said yesterday.

NDP leader Jack Layton accused Mr. Martin of showing a blatant
disregard for the Chinese community by ousting Asian candidates in
B.C. that have already shown they can win elections

Mr. Layton said Mr. Martin has shown a “complete … lack of
understanding of western alienation” by playing a game of “who you
know” rather than allowing democracy to take its course.

“There seems to be no understanding in the prime minister’s mind of
the concept of grassroots. How are you going to get effective local
voices if you don’t allow local communities, through their local
ridings to pick their candidates?” said Mr. Layton.

A few weeks ago, Mr. Martin made another round of appointments in
B.C., including businessman David Emerson, former NDP premier Ujjal
Dosanjh, union leader Dave Haggard, native leader Miles Richardson and
community activist Shirley Chan.

© The Ottawa Citizen 2004