Cunningham 'proud' to earn Liberal nomination

By Dan Hilborn
Pubished May 12, 2004


Prime Minister Paul Martin did what many critics expected last Friday afternoon when he appointed longtime supporter and B.C. party president Bill Cunningham as the Liberal party candidate in the Burnaby-Douglas riding.

"We got screwed," said rival Tony Kuo, who believes he would have won a formal nomination battle. "This situation is just like 1947 when minorities could not vote, and could not run. This is a very sad day."

Kuo said he will "go back to the grassroots" before announcing his next move, but did not rule out running as an independent candidate in the upcoming election, widely expected to take place in late June.

The other nominee, longtime Burnaby Liberal Tony Lee, said the decision to avoid a formal nomination meeting could cast the party in a bad light.

"Would the appointee be representing the point of view of local issues, or would he just be a messenger boy from Ottawa telling the local people what to do?" Lee asked.

But Cunningham, who admits to being part of the 'inner circle' of Martin advisers in B.C., said there was nothing unusual in the appointment, and that Martin has appointed fewer candidates than his predecessor, Jean Chretien.

"I've been around the party for 17 years, and the use of the leader's prerogative was something more common in the past," he said.

He also said the rules allowing the party leader to appoint candidates have been in place for many years, and that the nominees were informed of the rules before putting their names forward.

"We knew it was a very difficult decision and we knew not everyone would agree with it, but we also entered the race knowing it (an appointment) was a possibility," Cunningham said. "We agreed to be bound by the rules, and it would be disingenuous of me to do an about-face now.

"This is an honour, and I am proud to be the candidate," he said.

Cunningham's campaign office will be open by the weekend, and his campaign manager will be Roy Bornman.

Cunningham's appointment touched off a storm of criticism from opposition parties.

Bill Siksay, one of two candidates for the NDP nomination in the riding, said Kuo and Lee deserved the opportunity to run in a formal nomination.

Conservative candidate George Drazenovic urged the disgruntled Liberals to join his party.