IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT TONY AND SHEILA
by Angelo Persichilli
THE HILL TIMES (Versione
italiana)
For many of us, the Hamilton mess is just another fight within a political organization. For many citizens, specifically for many Liberals, the events unfolding in Hamilton are a disgrace that could have been avoided and, most importantly, must be avoided. Sure it¹s easy for us in the media, and for some backroom boys and girls, to make quick sound bite judgments about principles, democracy and respect for veteran politicians.
But I think we also have to understand that it's not always about us, about leaders, about politicians, about headlines. Many times it is about the people in the street, about hard working people who build a political affiliation and make it their social life. It¹s about volunteers who work weekends and weeknights who meet for the sole purpose of trying to do something for the community where they live and it¹s about life-long friendships and, for some, professional careers that provide financial support for their families.
Firing off judgments about "Tony" and "Sheila" without putting a few hundred kilometers between their own backs and the chairs of their offices on the Hill, is an insult to Liberals in Hamilton going through hell for a reason they don¹t understand and, of course, they do not justify.
In order to understand the mood in Hamilton these days, it takes only about one hour to do so. All you have to do is go to a Tim Hortons, buy a coffee and ask a couple of questions to cashier or to another customer. Then take a pit stop at a gas station and asking the same questions. I did ask a lot of questions about people felt about what was going on and I was always countered with another question: why?
Of course part of the answer must be found in the left-overs of the civil war between Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin. But this is the easy answer for some journalists glued to their chair in their Ottawa offices, going on national television shouting judgments and likely not even being able to point to Hamilton on a CAA map.
I do not agree with Sheila Copps when she says that "the problem can be solved simply by having Tony moved to the other riding." Looking at the demographics and contrary to what some journalists say that "all Ontario ridings are safe for the Liberals," the riding Copps and Valeri are fighting for is much safer than the other half in Stoney Creek, as I wrote about last Monday in The Hill Times and as The Globe and Mail subsequently followed up on last Wednesday. Furthermore, 50 per cent of Valeri¹s former riding melts into the new one in Hamilton-East-Stoney Creek. So Copps, like the late John Munro, doesn¹t have the copyright over the representation of Hamilton: there are, or there shouldn¹t be dynasties in politics. On the other end, nobody can be told when he or she has to quit politics; and, when they decide, they deserve respect.
This begs another question: has Sheila Copps being treated with respect? She doesn¹t believe so.
She tells The Hill Times that when she was on holiday in Mexico, in the same resort was one of the most important Martin¹s organizers in Quebec, Jacques Olivier. "He approached me asking about what was happening in Hamilton and I told him that the problem could be easily resolved if Tony Valeri would agree to move in the other half of his former riding." Copps stressed that "we have five ridings and five candidates." The former minister of Heritage says that he told her he was going to talk to principal secretary to Paul Martin Francis Fox a try to solve the matter. The day after Olivier "come back to me and apologized, saying that he did not agree with it, as well as Fox, but 'the boys in Ontario’ want you out of politics.¹"
According to Copps, Olivier and Fox considered the whole matter "incredible, but the decision," Olivier told Copps "is not up to Francis because Karl Littler and David Herle are in charge of the campaign in Ontario are." Copps considers those statements "unacceptable: I do not believe I deserve it. I¹m not a criminal and I believe to have always acted in the best interests of my party and my country."
People close to Martin dispute these motivations stressing that fights between incumbent MPs are taking place in many other areas. "It only takes a look at Mississauga and we see Carolyn Parrish, an MP supporting Paul Martin, being challenged in a situation similar to the one in Hamilton, by another MP very close to former prime minister Jean Chrétien, Stephen Mahoney. Nobody is intervening to defend Parrish."
So as you can see, there are enough arguments to make both cases. But this make sense only if you look at the events without taking into consideration the stress imposed onto grassroots Liberals who are tired of fighting with each other, especially on the eve of a national election which will feature two new rejuvenated political organizations, one the right and one the left, that potentially can reduce the Liberal Party in size and ambitions. Because if the Liberals are going to lose the next election, or be reduced to a minority government, the internal dispute we are now witnessing within the party, is going to look like a schoolyard fight.
By the way: is Sheila Copps going to be an independent candidate or join the NDP, in case of defeat? She told The Hill Times that "if the fight is going to be fair I will accept the verdict, otherwise I¹ll keep all the options open." Last question: is the fight, up to now fair? "We have already some concerning report about memberships not properly handed. If that is the case, the fight is not fair."
