Gloves are off in city race

Election Notebook by Dan Hilborn
Published June 12, 2004


Burnaby-Douglas NDP candidate Bill Siksay is taking aim at his Conservative opponent for allegedly insulting immigrants and new Canadians during a radio call-in show one week ago.

"It was a remarkable performance," Siksay told the Burnaby Now. "The question was about immigration and bogus refugees and George (Drazenovic) started talking about military spending and the need to increase military spending. When I reminded him that was not the question, he continued in that vein and then he talked about tightening security at the borders."

Of course, the Conservative candidate remembers the discussion differently.

"Well, I was interrupted on that question," said Drazenovic, who was born in Burnaby, but whose parents emigrated from Croatia. "I did finish by saying the Conservatives are open. We invite all qualified immigrants to come to Canada. We support the family reunification program and legitimate refugees, but we also want to let voters know that our borders will be a brick wall for terrorists.

"I guess it's dirty politics," Drazenovic said. "If one of my opponents wants to take my quotations out of context, there's nothing I can do other than take my message out and communicate with the electorate directly.

"We support an open immigration policy and protection of legitimate refugees," Drazenovic said. "There's no ambiguity in that."

But Siksay was not convinced.

"Here is somebody asking a question about immigration policies and what they get is a diatribe on security, as if immigrants are some kind of security threat to Canada," said the NDPer. "For Drazenovic to take the opportunity of a question about refugees to expound on the military, I think, is rather frightening actually."

The scrap is the first clear signal the Tories and NDP believe the Burnaby-Douglas riding has become a two-horse race.

KUO BACKS DOWN

The angry Chinese-Canadians who sounded the alarm bells after Prime Minister Paul Martin appointed Bill Cunningham to run in Burnaby-Douglas will not be running their own independent candidate in the June 28 election.

Tony Kuo and Tony Lee have both confirmed that they will not be filing nomination papers for this election.

"I will not run as an independent candidate in Burnaby-Douglas at this time," Kuo said in a press release issued late last Friday. "Therefore, as a true believer of democracy and human rights, I am liberating all my supporters and urge them to research and to vote with his/her own wisdom and conscience on June 28."

Contacted on Monday morning, Kuo said he would like to see his supporters choose between Conservatives, NDP and Green parties. Kuo, who refers to himself as 'Mr. Democracy' in the press release, said that he is still in the process of reviewing the policies and platforms of the other parties, and has not made up his mind who he will vote for.

Last month, when he first resigned from the Liberals, Kuo called the prime minister "big daddy" and his local candidate "chicken."

In a telephone interview on Monday morning, he was a little less forceful. Kuo said that he will not be revealing who he'll be supporting in this election. "That's personal. That's truly personal," he said.

Meanwhile, Lee said he hasn't made up his mind whether to support the Liberals or any other party in this election.

Lee, who has been involved in the Liberal party for a dozen years, said he is now reviewing the policies and platforms of all the parties, and once he makes a decision on who to support, he'd be happy to share his choice with Burnaby Now readers.

"The main thing I'm looking for is somebody that understands the local issues at the same time as the national issues," Lee said. "I'm also looking for somebody who would stand out in policy. Everybody is talking about the economy and health care, but then all they do is put in more funding. But what extra funding would they put into the system to improve health care?"

Unlike Kuo, Lee said he'll let us know who he'll be supporting by the end of the campaign.

A REAL SOCIAL CREDITER

Does anybody remember the old federal Social Credit party?

North Burnaby resident Frank Cerminara will be running as an independent candidate in Burnaby-Douglas, as he tries to revive some of the policies and ideas of the former Alberta-based party.

A one-page statement says Cerminara supports free health care for all Canadians, free transit for seniors, no tax on food or vitamins, the end of income tax ("GST and PST is enough," said his press release) and one year of mandatory service in a "peace disciplinary measure draft" for every 18 year old.

Contacted at home on Monday afternoon, Cerminara said he entered the race "Because I have the right to run." When asked why voters should choose him, he said: "Because they have the right to vote for me."

He doesn't believe in prisons, but would like the homeless and "undesirables (those of criminal intent)" to go into work camps, and he supports the return of capital punishment.

There are far more ideas in Cerminara's one-page statement, including a call to "reform journalism, media and free speech."

Cerminara, who has Italian heritage, has lived in Burnaby for a dozen years, and last ran for politics in 1984 when he a member of the federal Social Credit party in Edmonton.

NDP ON THE MENU

The NDP has surged into a commanding lead in the tastiest election poll in the country.

The Burger Heaven 'bun-official federal election poll' released last Friday now shows the NDP holding the lead with 43 per cent of decided eaters, the Tories trailing at 24 per cent, the Liberals at 22 per cent, the Greens and undecided vote tied at five per cent and one per cent for the Bloc Quebecois.

The numbers are a major reversal from the previous week when the three major parties were almost neck-and-neck. In late May, the Tories had the lead at 30 per cent, followed by the NDP at 28 per cent, and the Liberals at 27 per cent.

ALL-CANDIDATE DEBATES

It appears that all-candidate debates are going to be few and far between in this campaign. To date, this newspaper has only been informed of two all-candidate debates for the city's ridings, and one of them is still tentative.

The only confirmed debate is for candidates in the Burnaby-New Westminster riding, which will take place Wednesday, June 16, at 7 p.m., in the gymnasium of Lord Kelvin community school, at 1010 Hamilton Street in New Westminster (across from Moody Park, on 10th Street.)

And once again, the folks at the Capital Hill community hall are gearing up for their election debate tentatively set for the evening of June 23. Specifics will follow.

If anyone knows of any other all-candidate debates, please let the local newspaper know by calling 604-444-3020.