David Emerson must resign and be elected as a Conservative

Note: If you or your riding association are taking action or contemplating taking action, whether as suggested below or otherwise, please contact me at joantintor@hotmail.com. Confidentiality will be assured.


Last fall, the United States witnessed the extraordinary spectacle of a Supreme Court nominee, Harriet Miers, withdrawing before her confirmation hearings even began. Not because of opposition from Democrats, but opposition from Republicans, especially Republican commentators and bloggers. While these conservatives were generally supportive of President Bush, and were loath to embarrass him, they could not stand by while he appointed an individual who, while a competent White House legal counsel, was not a top candidate for the top court. They did not view their actions as disloyal, but the highest form of loyalty: loyalty to the principles of merit, integrity and conservatism.

I support Stephen Harper. I do not want to embarrass him. But it is because I am a loyal Conservative that I cannot remain silent while he commits the moral and political error of accepting an individual elected by voters less than a month ago as a Paul Martin Liberal – and a Paul Martin cabinet minister, no less – into the Conservative caucus and promptly appointing him to cabinet.

The fury and cynicism of Conservatives and many Canadians were well founded when Belinda Stronach crossed the floor last May in exchange for a cabinet seat, to assist the Martin government facing a close budget vote. As has been confirmed in February’s Toronto Life profile, former Ontario premier David Peterson, acting on Stronach’s behalf, demanded a cabinet post as the price of her entering the Liberal caucus.

Emerson’s crossing the floor in defiance of his constituents, and Harper’s placing him in cabinet, is fundamentally the same. People who looked with hope to a party with at least half its roots in the Reform Party’s democratic traditions, have just been given an excuse to retreat to what has become the universal justification of the disaffected and disinterested: “all politicians are the same.”

More ominously, this act not only puts a stain on the new government, it taints the entire Conservative party. The Harper government will live for only a time – and I hope it is a long time – but political parties and their deeds endure. In the past two elections, the federal Liberal ad campaign featured dark references to the regimes of Brian Mulroney and Mike Harris. Fair or not, those ads and references resonated with some. How will Emerson’s defection and Harper’s anointing of him resonate with voters?

Conservatives who disagree with this act are not helpless. The party and its candidates rely on us to maintain their riding associations, raise and donate money, and identify and get out the vote during elections. If the Harper government bans all corporate and union donations as promised in the Conservative platform, the amount that individual candidates will have available will depend entirely on donations from individuals.

Below is a quick list of suggested actions loyal Conservatives can take to show their disapproval and dissent:

1. Do not make further donations to the party. Write the Conservative Canada Fund and advise why.

2. If you receive a fundraising letter, return it with a letter indicating why as above, or simply mark it “Return to Sender – ELECT EMERSON.”

3. Contact your Conservative MP or candidate and advise them that you will not be assisting them in preparing for an election until this matter is resolved in a principled manner. The mailing address for all MPs is (postage is not required):

Member’s Name, MP,
House of Commons,
Parliament Buildings
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6

4. If you are on a riding executive, ask your executive to pass a resolution expressing its opposition about the appointment, and asking the Prime Minister to require Mr. Emerson to seek the support of his constituents as a Conservative. Issue a press release to your local media about your riding’s resolution.