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  • Canada: Liberals take no prisoners

    Liberals take no prisoners

    By JOHN IBBITSON
    Wednesday, May 5, 2004 - Page A4 Toronto Globe&Mail
    http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040505/COIB BI05//?query=ibbitson

    The Paul Martin election campaign team is without shame. And no, this
    column is not about those nasty television attack ads the Liberals are
    preparing for use against the Conservatives. The Martin Liberals are
    actually far more vicious toward their own than they are to the
    opposition. As proof, consider Brampton-Springdale.

    This riding, an enlargement of the old riding of Brampton Centre on
    the northwest corner of Greater Toronto, is affluent, urban, ethnic
    and Liberal. Its incumbent MP is Sarkis Assadourian, a worthy but
    pedestrian MP who was appointed to the riding in 1993 by Jean
    Chrétien.

    Mr. Assadourian is opposed by Andrew Kania, a lawyer who campaigned
    for John Manley as Ontario co-chair during the phantom Liberal
    leadership race last year. Mr. Kania alleges that, back in January, he
    was warned by Karl Littler, Ontario Liberal campaign director, that he
    would never be allowed to run in Brampton-Springdale, because he was a
    Manley supporter. Nonetheless, Mr. Kania appealed to Mr. Martin and
    the national executive, and was duly approved as a candidate for the
    nomination.

    Mr. Kania claims, and other sources confirm, that he has signed up
    more than enough members to win a nomination meeting against
    Mr. Assadourian in a fair fight. All that remains is for Mr. Littler
    to call a nomination meeting to settle the issue. For months, the
    riding association executive has been told the meeting will be held
    soon. But soon was a long time ago.

    When asked about Brampton-Springdale back in March, Mr. Littler
    explained that the nomination meeting promised to be controversial,
    and the Liberals didn't have sufficient staff to manage it.

    That can no longer be a problem, since Brampton-Springdale is
    reportedly the only contested riding left in Ontario that has yet to
    hold its nomination meeting. So why the delay? Mr. Littler has stopped
    returning calls. However, Mr. Littler reportedly told the Liberal
    caucus several weeks ago that he was delaying the nomination meeting
    in Brampton-Springdale because he suspected that -- horrors! -- there
    might be Conservative Party members who had also taken out Liberal
    memberships in the riding. To which Mr. Kania replies that, if this
    is true, a nomination meeting is the best place to challenge a party
    member's credentials.

    For weeks, according to caucus sources, Mr. Assadourian has been
    pleading with Prime Minister Paul Martin to protect him from
    Mr. Kania's challenge by appointing him to the riding, as Mr. Chrétien
    so faithfully did. However, it appears that Mr. Assadourian may
    himself be a victim of Martinite machinations.

    Mr. Kania reports that, on Monday, Mr. Assadourian was asked by the
    Liberal Party brass to step aside, so that Mr. Martin could appoint a
    female candidate. Mr. Kania says Mr. Assadourian initially refused,
    but discussions continued. A spokesman for Mr. Assadourian said
    yesterday that the MP did not wish to comment on the situation. But
    other sources are hearing the same story.

    Needless to say, Mr. Kania is pretty angry.

    "I think there is a concerted effort to ensure that I cannot win the
    nomination because I was John Manley's Ontario co-chair," Mr. Kania
    concludes. "The Liberal Party infighting is continuing."

    There may be another explanation for this delay, although no one in
    the Liberal Party who could provide it is prepared to offer
    one. (Liberal Party President Mike Eizenga and national campaign
    director Michele Cadario did not return calls.)

    And Brampton-Springdale is not alone. In Calgary South-Centre, an
    approved candidate is being shunted aside for a local star, and the
    same thing has already happened in British Columbia and is happening
    in Winnipeg.

    Brampton-Springdale is different because a riding is being held in
    suspended animation, not just to let a star candidate in, but to keep
    a Manley candidate out.

    The Martin Liberals can be pretty ruthless toward Conservatives. But
    when it comes to party infighting, they really show no quarter.

    [email protected]
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