The Chris Reid resignation
Whatever the merits of some issues, at the end of the day every candidate needs not only to tow the party line, but to appear to do so. If someone goes off the reservation, it is certainly their right, but during an election campaign they could take the whole party off message. Or rather, they give an opening for the media, the opposition and partisan bloggers to push them off message.
The candidate and the party have handled this thing properly. Once these issues get a few years behind him, I think he would still make a good candidate.
David Gentili is a good replacement. PMO staff – very sensible.
UPDATE – from today’s Toronto Star:
Conservative spokesperson Kory Teneycke said Reid has resigned voluntarily and would not say whether the party had asked for his resignation.
Reid, who was running against Liberal heavyweight Bob Rae, promoted carrying concealed weapons to fight violent crime, among other controversial positions.
“If you are a Conservative candidate, you are expected to be consistent with the platform we are running on,” said Teneycke, noting that other parties have also had difficulties with candidates leading to resignations from the campaign.
RELATED – Speaking of Toronto Centre – meet the NDP’s El-Farouk Khaki. Read about him here – on 9-11, the Zionists, Hezbollah …
He was booted fo rsuggesting Canadians be allowed to carry concealed handguns? Sheesh, weak Harper weak.
Blazingcatfur
September 21, 2008 at 7:02 pm
What a disgrace.
Heaven forbid Canadians act like real men and kill a deranged sicko and possibly save an innocent life. Heaven forbid Canadian women be permitted to concealed carry and avoid being raped and murdered. Can’t have that.
And the Canada Health Act does suck and I _should_ be able to pay for my own health care.
And gays like pRon?? Surely you jest??!!!
Jesus, party politics is pathetic, on both sides.
Honestly, Jago, I don’t understand your dedication to promoting tired Liberal pieties within the “Conservative” party. I guess winning at all costs means more to you than principle. I expect that of an asshole like BigCityLib, but really.
I guess you’re young and ‘idealistic’. With luck, that’ll change…
Kathy Shaidle
September 21, 2008 at 11:27 pm
I could not agree more with Chris Reids opinion about the bus murder. I too could not help but wonder what had happened to our society that 40 people would stand by and let a young man be decapitated by one lone man. Have we forgot 911 and those courageous people who tackled the terrorists on the plane and by doing so saved the pentagon and all those lives. Those people who ran away on the bus must live with the knowledge that they could have saved that young man had they just joined forces. What type of world do we want, the kind where someone can be raped and killed on the street in front of 100’s because they only care about themselves.
Chris I hope you are not withdrawing for your blog as many of us agree.
cato
September 22, 2008 at 1:38 am
The right to carry firearms is important – concealed weapons? I don’t know why that wouldn’t work too. But that’s a debate that needs to be had at the convention not through coerced apologies and retractions in the national press.
What held the party back in the past were candidates out there freelancing. We don’t need to elect 308 David Orchards and Garth Turners. We need 308 Stephen Harpers, Stockwell Days, and Monte Solbergs.
If there’s a candidate running in a difficult riding that’s going to be used to knock the party off course by changing the debate to something that’s not policy, that no one cares about, and that is nothing but fodder for the Liberals and Dippers to exploit, then the candidate is right to step down and spare the party.
I’ve met Chris a few times and think he’s a really nice guy. I began doing work for him before he dropped out of the election – I sent the latest lit piece in on Saturday afternoon in fact. If he ran in the next election, I would offer again. But – as I said – he made the right decision by stepping down.
We aren’t throwing away a party policy by letting Chris resign. There’s no cost involved. What are we losing by allowing Chris to quit? Best case scenario – Chris wins, and gets sent to the back benches to get a bill on concealed weapons on the order papers where it’ll die. The country hasn’t been prepared for it – so what’s the benefit? The realistic scenario, is the Liberals, the NDP, and the Greens make a big deal about this, their media friends blow it up and it costs us tight races in the 905 and the chance to have a majority government.
I’m nearly as old as Jesus now and I’ve been doing real and volunteer work in politics for 15 years – from knocking on doors to writing the party pamphlets and now newspapers that go into the homes of voters. In that time I have perfected the shit-eating grin, the swallowing of pride, the cheesy sales-pitch, and the ersatz outrage. Winning is as much about retreat as it is about attack. I don’t need to win every battle I just want to win the war. Not at the cost of core principles, but sometimes, yes, at the cost of a delay in dealing with issues that matter to the stalwarts.
Gun rights and all property rights are important, but the minutae of it? Concealed? 20 bullet clips? silencers? automatic, semi, etc…? It’s not worth 5 years of Dion. Yeah, I’d like to see it debated some day, but I think that we need to let incrementalism work. We’ll get there, but if we try to have everything now, we’ll end up with nothing.
Robert
September 22, 2008 at 1:53 am
For what it’s worth, I truly think that Chris Reid’s resignation is a sad day for us all.
Remember, even in the ‘lib-quotes’, he NEVER advocated for the general populace to be carrying concealed weapons – only specifically TRAINED PEOPLE. That sounds more like establishing a Canadian version of ‘marshalls’ than anything else – and I think THAT is a good idea.
There is not a single one of his ideas (perhaps abortion, but we could ‘talk’) where I would not agree with him. His stances are aligned with what I truly believe the majority of Canadians outside the Greater Toroto Area consider reasonable, intelligent and thoroughly electable. It’s just the GTA that is out of step with the rest of Canada (even the majority of Quebeckers, in my opinion, are closer to most of Chris Reid’s views than to that which seems to dominate the GTA).
This is a truly sad day for Harper… Chris Reid might not have won in his riding against Buffalo Bob (so named for driving so many business to Buffalo, NY, while he was Ontario Premier), but resigning his candidacy will make many ‘core’ conservative voters question Harper’s commitment to true conservative values….they’ll still show up to vote, but no longer will they try to convince their neighbours to….
xanthippa
September 22, 2008 at 3:07 am
Reid’s views on self-defense and citizen protection of one another are his personal views. That doesn’t mean he wouldn’t run a good campaign and toe the party line. If elected he would do as good a job as any in parliament.
I have no doubt that there are many members with personal views that would either shock or offend others, but they can’t impose those views without due process. Why are Canadians so fearful of a Conservative with American style views, but are quite comfortable with the 300 thousand plus Muslims in Southern Ontario who have middle eastern views.
Which are more alien?
It is sad that a politician cannot run and hold some personal values of his or her won. Sarah Palin is being vilified similarly in the USA, but they aren’t going to prevent her from running.
Canada is country of clones who work hard to bring us all over the dark side. Diversity is not our strength it is our tower of babble that divides us while the clones move in for the assimilation of the population in a grand controlled collective.
All except violent criminals, they will continue to run free and do what they want to an unarmed, helpless, cowardly population.
Good Luck Mr. Reid. Thanks for trying.
John West
September 22, 2008 at 3:22 am
i will defend myself even if it means my attacker dies. i will kill to defend myself snd mine. if some one is physically attacking someone in my presence i will do my best to help. kids we can all carry dog or bear spray. i also carry a heavy cane /stick. it won’t stop a gun but you can beat the shit out of someone with a knife.
old whiteguy
September 22, 2008 at 10:56 am
The Conservative Party must remember to tend to its base. People don’t join the Conservative Party to elect Liberal-lite.
SUZANNE
September 22, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Much like anything written about El-Farouk Khaki, this doesn’t matter. I live in this riding. The Liberals own it, even without a big name incumbent. The other parties would have been smart to but bland no-hopers in there, so that there’s no distractions.
Fun fact; my riding had the only candidate for the Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party of Canada in the last election. This time they’re running four whole candidates!
Dave Ruddell
September 23, 2008 at 5:55 pm