Federal candidates prepare for election

By Dan Hilborn
Published May 18, 2005


As the provincial election came to a close on Tuesday, things were heating up in Ottawa, where the city's two rookie NDP members of Parliament and their rivals were anxiously awaiting Thursday's non-confidence vote in the Liberal government.

Not surprisingly, the NDP members want the government to continue working, while the city's two newly nominated Tory candidates want the government to fall.

Peter Julian, the MP in Burnaby-New Westminster, and Bill Siksay in Burnaby-Douglas both said the government needs to pass the budget, which they believe has been greatly improved by their party's proposed amendments.

"Rather than making the main focus of the budget corporate tax cuts, as it was originally, the NDP has pushed the Liberals to the wall and we now have a much better budget with more for the homeless, more for the environment, ways to deal with the crisis in post-secondary education, plus $100 million in support for workers who lose their jobs," Julian said.

"I've knocked on a couple thousand doors in the past month or so, and people in my riding are very clear, they do not want an election," Julian said. "I could count the number of people who said they think we should have an election right now on the fingers on one hand.

"That doesn't mean that people aren't appalled. People see that the Liberals have basically been spending public funds on themselves to enhance their party fundraising. ... But, in our community, folks are patient and understand Gomery needs to finish his work and then they'll judge. I think that's a mature way of responding."

Siksay, contacted on Monday night before Belinda Stronach defected to join Paul Martin's cabinet, sounded slightly less optimistic that the government would win Thursday's non-confidence vote.

"If it (an election) doesn't happen this week, it'll likely happen soon," Siksay said. "I am prepared to keep working here. My colleagues and I haven't been playing the kind of game that the other parties have been playing. We're doing the job we were sent here to do, and we'll continue on that path."

But the two Burnaby NDP constituency associations will host a joint nominating meeting on Friday night.

If the government loses Thursday's non-confidence vote, the federal election could be held as early as June 27.

Last weekend, the Tories nominated George Drazenovic to run in Burnaby-Douglas for the second election in a row, and Pitt Meadows school teacher Marc Dalton won the Conservative nomination in Burnaby-New Westminster.

While the two Tories expressed support for their embattled party leader, Stephen Harper, neither candidate sounded fully convinced that the Conservatives could win a snap election call.

"I'd like to see Parliament work, I really would, I just don't see it working right now, so where does that leave us?" asked Drazenovic, who said the Liberals are currently spending money at the rate of about a billion dollars per day.

"At this rate, Paul Martin will bankrupt the country. This is not the financially prudent man we once knew, and that bothers a lot of voters, myself included. We didn't vote for a government that spends our money recklessly," said Drazenovic, who now works as chief financial officer for an energy technology firm trading on the Nasdaq exchange.

Similar concerns were echoed by Dalton, president of the riding association in Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge-Mission.

When asked if the government should be voted down this week, Dalton replied: "Yes and no. Yes, I'd like to see the Liberals out, and no, I just finished the (nominating) campaign and I personally could use some more time."

That double-minded view of a snap election is reflected in an online survey being conducted by Conservative MP Paul Forseth from New Westminster-Coquitlam.

As of 10 a.m. Tuesday, Forseth's survey had 57 per cent of respondents saying they'd vote for the NDP or Liberals, while only 40 per cent expressed support for the Conservatives.