Huron Expositor, 2002-06-26, Page 11News
Former Alliance leader questions
Stockwell Day's leadership strength
By Tim Cumming
and Matt Shuffle
Goderich Signal -Star staff
Canadian Alliance leader
Stockwell Day is a
"fantastic person" but he
doesn't have the leadership
qualities the party needs at
this time, said Mark
Beaven, who ran as Alliance
candidate for Huron -Bruce
in last year's federal
election.
"I feel in the best interests
of the party Stock should
resign," Beaven said.
At a public meeting on
June 20 the Huron -Bruce
Canadian Alliance Riding
Association voted 63 per
cent in favour of staying the
course and not requesting an
early convention and
leadership review.
"People were upset but
they felt that calling for an
early convention was only
going to create more
disarray," riding association
president Doug Fines said.
"The membership felt it was
better to give Stockwell six
months or eight months to
sort things out."
There are many members
of the party, however, who
would like to see a review
of Stockwell Day's
leadership at the Alliance's
spring convention in April,
Beaven said.
"The (local) association
decided not to ask for an
early convention but there is
a general feeling that
something has to be done,"
he said. •
The Alliance candidate -
of -record says he is a
member of the 'Yes'
committee seeking a
leadership review at the
spring convention.
A leadership race would
begin if a majority of
Alliance members asked for
it.
The best scenario, Beaven
said, would be for
Stockwell Day to resign and
to put an interim leader in
place until a new leader is
chosen.
Some of the criticism of
Stockwell Day is not
deserved, Beaven said, but
the Alliance leader has
made a number of mistakes,
he said.
The former Alliance
candidate cites a maverick
speech by Day that seemed
to suggest partiality on the
Israel -Palestine peace issue
and a flip-flop on having
spoken (or not spoken) to a
private investigator as some
of Day's mistakes.
Beaven also said Day did
not seem to listen to
experienced caucus MPs
and made statements and
policy without consultation.
The Canadian Alliance is a
party that emphasizes the
grassroots yet Day seemed
to go "out on a limb" in
terms of policy, said
Beaven.
"The leader of the
Alliance has to be a
consensus builder," he said,
and Day has not done that.
While Fines admitted
some mistakes have been
made, he criticized the
media for Day's demise as
leader.
"I was a person that felt
Stockwell was our best bet
and popular young leader
but he was used to working
in a political system in the
West where the
Conservatives were in
power and when you say
something the media
doesn't try to turn it and
twist it six different ways to
find a negative
connotation," Fines said.
"When he arrived in Ottawa
the harder he tried to be
successful the harder they
tried to tear him down - now
it's who can get his scalp is
the game they're trying to
play - it's tidiculous."
Fines pointed to a hurry -
up convention in the
summer and an early
election call in the fall as
Quoted
'I feel in the
best interests
of the party,
Stock should
resign,"
Mark Beaven, local
Alliance candidate of
last year's federal
election
contributors to the party's
current state.
"I don't think we had
enough time for (Day) to get
his feet wet and get
organized," Fines said. "It
was a lot thrown at him and
he didn't have time to get
his grip."
The resignation of party
'matriarch' Deborah Grey,
the first MP ever elected by
the Alliance's predecessor,
the Reform Party,' was a
major indication, Beaven
said, that the writing is on
the wall for the end of Day's
leadership.
"I think that sends a
message to the whole
membership of the party,"
he said.
There were 13 MPs, as of
Wednesday, who had
resigned from the Canadian
Alliance caucus. It is
believed the splinter group
could, if it so requests, form
a 'rebel Alliance' and
receive official party status
including the right to ask
questions during Question
Period and a $500,000
research budget.
The Alliance caucus
members who have resigned
had tried to work under
Day's leadership but could
not, said Beaven. They felt
it was in the best interests of
the party's future to criticize
Day's leadership now.
"These people are not in it
for self-interest," Beaven
said. "They honestly did try
but they were getting
nowhere ... (they hit) a brick
wall."
Beaven said he too had
got caught up in the hype
when Day was first elected
and hoped the charismatic,
telegenic leader would bring
the Alliance to the
'promised land' of electoral
success but "once in the job,
he wasn't all he was cracked
up to be as a leader."
There is no shortage of
qualified leaders, both
within the Canadian
Alliance and also with the
Progressive Conservative
party, who could unify the
Canadian Alliance, Beaven
said.
The Canadian Alliance
support, according to polls,
has dropped significantly.
Beaven, however, says there
is still time, with a change
in leadership, to rebuild the
party's fortunes before the
next federal election.
"Our policies and the
principles of the party are
very sound," Beaven said.
"I firmly believe this is
what our country needs."
The Canadian Alliance
party and the Progressive
Conservative party have to
work together to make sure
there is only one right -of -
centre candidate on the
ballot next election,
according to Beaven.
He says he favours a
-formal union but is open to
any arrangement that would
not see the conservative
vote divided.
"We can't go into the next
election with two right -of -
centre candidates on the
ballot," he said.
During the last federal
election Beaven received
10,342 votes in the last
election with Progressive
Conservative candidate Ken
Kelly receiving 8,090 votes.
Although their combined
total of 18,432 was still less
than the• 21,552 votes
received by incumbent
Liberal MP Paul Steckle,
Beaven says more people
would have voted if they
thought their vote would
count and would not be split
between two conservative
parties.
The leadership issue has
divided the party, according
to Beaven.
"A lot of people feel
(Stockwell Day) should be
given another chance or
more chances," he said.
"The party is badly split
over this which, to me, says
even more that Stock's got
some problems getting
people (together)."
Despite the recent actions
of MPs leaving the party,
Fines said he is hopeful
dissident members of the
Alliance will actually help
bring both the Alliance and
Conservative parties
together.
"I see this other group
being the catalyst to bring
the two solitudes together,"
Fines said. "These people
didn't leave because they're
not Alliance people, they
left because they don't
support the leader."
Fines expressed
Quoted
'I don't think we
had enough
Jime for [Day)
to get his feet
wet and get
organized,' --
Doug Fines, Affiance
Riding Association
president.
frustration at the soap opera
that has been played out in
the Alliance. He said local
Alliance supporters need to
step forward and show their
support.
"It's very frustrating."
Fines said of the current
situation facing his party.
"We had 35-40 people out to
our general meeting with a
membership of 600 so those
are people that just aren't
excited.
"They've joined the vote
and now they're disgusted
with what's going on."
THE HURON EXPOSITOR, July 11, 2001-8
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