Deal With The Devil: The Joys Of Canadian Politics

[cinch]

I did not see this coming.



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'DEAL WITH THE DEVIL'
Tory winner MacKay makes surprise pact with free trade foe

By KATHLEEN HARRIS and MARIA MCCLINTOCK, SUN OTTAWA BUREAU


TORONTO -- In what's being dubbed a "deal with the devil," Nova Scotia MP Peter MacKay shocked the Tory leadership convention last night by cutting a last-minute deal to review NAFTA in exchange for the support of a left-leaning party misfit.

After David Orchard lost on the third ballot and crossed the floor to support the front-runner, MacKay dropped a bomb by revealing a Progressive Conservative panel would review the "effects" of free trade - and that Orchard would be part of the process.

"David has spoken very passionately about the importance of determining the effects, both positive and negative, and I agree that it is time that we do this," MacKay said, adding the agreement was scheduled to be reviewed after 10 years.

Orchard was labelled a "tourist" in the party in 1998 by Joe Clark for his outspoken crusades against free trade, a pillar in the Conservative party platform.

But last night MacKay said the moniker was no longer valid.

MacKay, 37, won the leadership race in a nailbiting race that went to four ballots.

Last night Orchard said Clark was not instrumental in inking the "understanding" on the issues of free trade, the environment and agriculture.

"We have a blue-ribbon commission to review the impact of the free trade agreement, so we're both happy and we're both going on to rebuild the Conservative Party of Canada to defeat the Liberals and preserve our country," he said.

Calling the agreement an "unholy alliance" and a "deal with the devil," Goldy Hyder, a party strategist, said the union will turn away key provincial Conservatives such as Mike Harris and Ralph Klein, who have refused to join the federal party largely because of Orchard.

Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney outlined the huge economic benefits of free trade in a keynote address to the convention Friday. Party insiders say the arrangement threatens the unity of the party, with some members willing to walk due to the alliance with the left-leaning crowd.

Sources told Sun Media that Alliance Leader Stephen Harper had already received several e-mails from disillusioned MacKay and Jim Prentice supporters who are interested in working with his party.

But after the marathon session of coaxing, T-shirt trading and crossing the floor by potential supporters, MacKay promised the raucous partisan crowd the party would emerge united and strong.

"I have one message for Paul Martin and Jean Chretien. The free ride is over," he said in a formal acceptance speech.

Prentice, the Calgary lawyer and businessman who finished in second place, told the crowd the final result wasn't the one he'd hoped for.

"This isn't exactly how I thought it would work out, but I still love Toronto," he said.

He credited fellow candidate Nova Scotia MP Scott Brison, as having courage, being a visionary and having a wonderful sense of humour.

Brison, who had labelled MacKay the "status quo" candidate, dropped off the second ballot and threw his support behind Prentice.

The pair was closely aligned through the campaign and rumoured to be sewing up an anybody-but-MacKay block.

Brison suffered an heavy emotional blow, losing third spot to Prentice by a razor-thin margin of just three votes. But he insisted he wouldn't jump on a bandwagon at a critical time for the party.

"I'm a loyal Nova Scotian and I'm a loyal federal Progressive Conservative. I'm doing what's in the best interests of the party," he said.

Canadian Alliance MP Chuck Strahl said he was in "shock" that MacKay joined forces with Orchard, who ran on a "no truck or trade" platform against the Canadian Alliance.

Tory Senator Lowell Murray supported Brison for two ballots but went to MacKay in the end, because he had parliamentary experience.
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MacKay and... ORCHARD?!? Wow.

Looks like the PCs are taking the centre-left path this time around. I honestly expected them to go for someone a little more Alliance-friendly (Prentice), but I guess I overestimated any possible ongoing conservative comeback.

MacKay's got charisma, but I'm afraid that these adventures in free trade will frighten more people than it will please. But maybe not...


http://www.canoe.ca/EdmontonNews/es.es-06-01-0007.html

[Shi Huangdi]

[Asher]

The world of Canadian politics is even worse than the world of American politics.

What the hell was Orchard doing in the PCs anyway? His politics fit the NDP better...

[cinch]

Follow-Up Article:

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Day one brings a problem for the new Tory leader
Last Updated Sun, 01 Jun 2003 19:46:07
TORONTO - Peter MacKay is having trouble with job one on day one as the new Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party.

MacKay was elected Saturday night at the Tory convention, defeating three challengers. He immediately proclaimed party unity was "job one."

But on Sunday, backers of defeated candidates Scott Brison and Jim Prentice were questioning the deal MacKay made to win support from Saskatchewan farmer David Orchard, the fourth candidate.


MacKay agreed, in writing, to Orchard's demands for a committee to review the free-trade agreement, a greater focus on the environment and a commitment not to merge with the Canadian Alliance.

With the backing of some of Orchard's supporters, MacKay beat Prentice on the fourth ballot.

As news of the deal leaked on to the convention floor, delegates chanted "sold out" and "free trade."


MacKay made it clear after he won that he would not back a merger with the Alliance, and was committed to free trade, describing the review as a way to improve the deal.

But some of the defeated candidates' backers feel MacKay's agreement with Orchard is a deal with the devil.

"Describing him as the devil is very inflammatory and negative and unhelpful and I don't see it that way," he said.

The very nature of the arrangement is causing some Tories problems. Gordon Seiter, B.C. Riding Association president, wondered how a "secret deal … is good enough for the rank and file of this party."

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http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/06/01/mackay030601

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I like alot of Orchard's stances (environment), but, like I said, this free trade thing seems like a losing battle. MacKay seems a little untrustworthy, a little too stereotypically reptilian a politician, the way I see it.

And I was unaware that Scott Brison was openly gay. It's good to know that he was able to go through his whole campaign without having a big deal made out of his sexual orientation.

[Asher]

sexual preferences.

Much like black people shouldn't have to deal with the issue of their racial preference, right?

[cinch]

Sorry: orientation it is, then.

[Ben Kenobi]

You mean I no longer have a preference, but a orientation? Like Donne's compass always points to magnetic north?



This is great news for the Alliance. The Liberals, NDP, Conservatives and Bloc can all huddle on the Left.

Seems strange to see the Federal Conservatives so much more left than the BC Liberals.

[St Leo]

Uhm, why are we quoting right-wing rags here?

Toronto Star Article

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MacKay wins close contest
Nova Scotia MP new Tory leader
Victory sealed by controversial deal


ALLAN THOMPSON
OTTAWA BUREAU

Nova Scotia MP Peter MacKay is the new leader of the federal Progressive Conservatives, but only after making a controversial deal with Saskatchewan farmer David Orchard to review the North American free trade agreement.

MacKay, 37, won a bitter and divisive contest on the fourth ballot last night with 1,510 votes -- 64 per cent of those counted -- after rival candidates Jim Prentice and Scott Brison ganged up against him.

MacKay only secured victory by making the deal with Orchard.

In a dramatic moment rarely seen at leadership conventions in the past several years, Orchard, eliminated after the third ballot, waited among a throng of reporters and cameras for MacKay to cross the floor of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre to shake hands.

Prentice, the second-place finisher who earlier got Brison's support, stood solemnly watching.

In his acceptance speech, MacKay said free trade "has been a big winner for our country."

"But even (former prime minister Brian) Mulroney, who led the fight for the Canada-U.S. free trade agreement, has stated it's not perfect," said MacKay, a strong proponent of free trade.

"It has been 15 years since this agreement was brought to North America. What we will do as a party is study the ways to improve the deal for Canada."

The handwritten deal with Orchard, struck in the early evening, commits MacKay to establishing a blue ribbon panel of Tories to review the effects of free trade and gives Orchard a say in naming the chair.

Orchard was virtually a one-issue candidate. His anti-free trade stance put him second to Joe Clark in the 1998 leadership race.

MacKay said earlier that in addition to Orchard, he would like to see people like Mulroney, former Alberta premier Peter Lougheed and others involved in negotiating free trade join the panel.

Brison, the Nova Scotia MP who finished fourth and was forced to drop out after the second ballot, was wary of the Orchard-MacKay pact.

"It seems more like rough trade than free trade. I think that Peter was willing to cut a deal that Jim (Prentice) wasn't willing to cut," Brison said.

"This is a very strange business we're in."

And Liberal MP Paul Martin, in Vancouver for a Liberal leadership debate, said "it is hard not to think that the Tories haven't put a gun to their heads" with the deal on a free trade review, the Star's Tonda MacCharles reports.

Sinclair Stevens, a cabinet minister under Mulroney, told reporters he helped broker the deal with MacKay. Stevens was seen huddled with Orchard after the first ballot.

MacKay succeeds Clark as leader of the struggling, fourth-place party in the House of Commons, desperate to capture public attention and rebuild before it has to face off in an election next year against Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's likely successor, Martin. The Tories have only 15 seats in the 301-seat Commons.

After a low-key leadership race during which his critics accused him of lacking vision and energy, MacKay nonetheless came into the convention with an overwhelming lead and the support of more than 40 per cent of committed delegates.

But during repeated ballots, MacKay struggled to win over new support and until Orchard's dramatic decision to join MacKay, the frontrunner risked losing the prize to Prentice, a Calgary lawyer.

MacKay said he would try to heal the wounds.

"We have to (rebuild). We're already a house divided. It's too important (for us) not to work together and we're going to come out of this stronger than we've ever been," MacKay said.

A turning point came in the late afternoon's second ballot, when Brison was knocked out of contention after he placed three votes behind Prentice and had to drop off the ballot. Under intense pressure to throw his support behind MacKay, a fellow Nova Scotian and caucus colleague, Brison instead backed the upstart Prentice.

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[cinch]

Uhm, why are we quoting right-wing rags here?

Cbc.ca is a right-wing rag?

[St Leo]

Follow-up Article

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MacKay defends deal to review NAFTA

BRUCE CHEADLE
CANADIAN PRESS

Peter MacKay's first day on the job as leader of the federal Conservatives began in a whirl of controversy today over his backroom deal at the Tory convention to review free trade.

"I'm not ashamed of anything I've done -- never," MacKay said after morning meetings with caucus and the party's national council.

But a weekend of riveting politic intrigue at the leadership convention -- won by MacKay on a fourth ballot late last night -- has left deep scars and lingering resentments within the party and even among its 15 MPs.

"I'm going to make a distinct and personal effort to heal that feeling of disappointment," MacKay, 37, told reporters.

MacKay will be presented in the Commons tomorrow as the 23rd leader of the party of Confederation.

He can anticipate a raucous reception.

The convention and MacKay's surprise deal with third-place contender David Orchard -- a career free-trade critic once described as a tourist in the party -- has provided ammunition for all Tory opponents, not to mention a sizeable faction within the party itself.

MacKay did little to allay suspicions today when he refused to release copies of what he called "a gentleman's agreement" -- a written document he signed to ensure Orchard's endorsement on the convention floor. Even the Tory caucus didn't get to see the actual paper.

"We don't need a copy of it," insisted Newfoundland MP Loyola Hearn.

"We have to trust each other in this racket. I trust my new leader."

But Orchard has provided most of the broad details: the deal not only commits MacKay to establish a panel to re-examine the North American Free Trade Agreement, but also commits to ensuring no merger or even riding-by-riding electoral arrangements between Tories and the Canadian Alliance.

Senator Marjorie LeBreton, who backed MacKay's leadership bid, said today the convention outcome kills "this dumb unite-the-right merger nonsense . . . this ends it."

MacKay's manoeuvring, which put him over the top on a fourth ballot to defeat Calgary lawyer Jim Prentice, left a bitter taste in the mouths of countless delegates at the convention.

"I can't wait until (Liberal leadership front-runner) Paul Martin gets a hold of you," a furious Prentice supporter said to no one in particular seconds after MacKay's victory was announced last night.

It didn't take long for the Liberal heir apparent to oblige her.

"It's hard not to think that the Tories have not put a gun to their head when you look at what happened," Martin said last night in Vancouver.

The two-term MP from rural Nova Scotia, whose father Elmer MacKay was a cabinet minister in the Tory governments of Brian Mulroney, was clearly on the defensive.

"Describing (Orchard) as a devil is very inflammatory and negative and unhelpful and I don't see it that way," MacKay told reporters.

As for Martin's assessment, MacKay said the deal with Orchard commits him to change absolutely nothing about NAFTA.

"Look, we have no gun to our head," he said.

"It's not an agreement to change anything, it's an agreement to look at one particular issue."

Besides, added MacKay, Martin "has no credibility on the issue of free trade because, as you'll recall, he was against it."

Alliance Leader Stephen Harper congratulated MacKay in a release today, but the central, kingmaking role of the left-leaning Orchard gives Harper's party a ready-made stick to beat the new Tory leader.

"Having beaten Peter over the head with a stick a few times myself, I can tell you that it probably won't work," was the back-handed defence offered today by Scott Brison, a Tory MP and leadership candidate.

Brison was the first candidate knocked out yesterday and quickly threw his support behind Prentice.

Brison, who fell just three just votes short of catching Prentice on the second ballot, was particularly bitter about the defection of supporter John Heron, a New Brunswick MP, and his wife to the MacKay camp early in Saturday's voting.

"I certainly don't mind being double-crossed," Brison said today. "Triple-crossed becomes a little bit irritating."

He dryly noted that leadership races have many benefits: "You can form friendships that last a lifetime and form opinions that last a lifetime."

So MacKay faces rifts both within caucus and the party rank-and-file.

He said today the depth of emotion "speaks to the prize itself.

"People in those camps -- the other candidates -- wanted to win, they wanted to lead this party, as did I."

Conservatives have spoken, he continued.

"Now we have to be collective in our efforts to demonstrate that we are a party that's . . . prepared to put our internal differences aside and get on with the business of nation building."

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[St Leo]

Originally posted by cinch
Cbc.ca is a right-wing rag?

Oops. I was referring to the Sun Ottawa Bureau.

[optimus2861]

I think MacKay's just paying lip service to Orchard on NAFTA. The damage you'd do to Canadian exporters alone by attempting to alter it would ensure that such a notion never got past Parliament.

More worrying to me is the 'no compromise with Alliance' pact. When will these two parties get it through their heads that they need each other to unseat the Liberals? Every day the right-of-centre parties stay divided is another day the Liberals benefit.

[Ben Kenobi]

MacKay, 37, won a bitter and divisive contest on the fourth ballot last night with 1,510 votes

No wonder he needed to court Orchard's support.

Now this man has the mandate of his party.