BC Conservative Party option.

Discuss the upcoming provincial election. Keep it civil in here, people. It's not the Political Arena.
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Verminator
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Re: BC Conservative Party option.

Post by Verminator »

I have to wonder what Van Dongen would've done if the rules were that once an MLA switched affiliations or quit the party they were elected under, they would be required to resign their seat thus triggering an immediate by-election. Methinks letting the people make the final decision might go a long way in preventing the kind of blatant opportunism so obviously rampant in our current system. Food for thought..
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Re: BC Conservative Party option.

Post by NAB »

As I suggested earlier, Clark better watch her back..... van Dongen is probably after her job now that he wasn't successful in unseating Cummins..

John van Dongen is a veteran of B.C.’s legislative assembly and a former Liberal cabinet minister. He left the government in March, citing concerns about its integrity, and spent the rest of the spring session as an Independent with B.C. Conservative membership. On Saturday, he slammed another door behind him. Mr. van Dongen walked out of the Conservative AGM, saying he “cannot carry on with a leader who probably doesn’t really care whether I stay or go.” A “mediation process” with Mr. Cummins undertaken some time ago had failed, he added. He will continue to sit as an Independent until the writ is dropped next year and a provincial election is held. He will not return to the Liberals, he said, as long as Ms. Clark remains their leader.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/09/24 ... ia-tories/
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Gone_Fishin
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Re: BC Conservative Party option.

Post by Gone_Fishin »

NAB wrote:
flamingfingers wrote:Personally, I don't think that van Dongen sees himself as premier of the province - his hat was no where near the ring when Gordo got the push (and van Dongen was a pretty strong influence in getting rid of him). Of course now, with all the old guard gone from the Libs and he may hope that Chrispie is crunched I think he has someone in mind 'to work with' perhaps in getting the Libs to arise from the ashes.

BUT: I still think the only way the NDP will lose next spring is if both Cummins and Chrispie join the NDP!!!

But what do we know? This is politics in BC, eh?


LOL. Note my high;light in your quote. Sort of a pattern developing here don't ya think? ;-) This guy doesn't appear capable of getting along with any "boss" as a team player. To suggest he has someone else in mind as boss other than himself is a pretty hard concept for me to swallow at this point. I think this guy is totally self serving and underhanded in his political dealings, ...and sneaky with a capital "S".

Edit to add: There is of course another another possibility to consider, that he has been a "plant" among the conservative party by the Liberal party all along...

Nab



Oddly, the two of you are voting for the Jenny Kwan party that stabbed their leader in the back too. Politics sure makes for hypocritical viewpoints among some people.
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Re: BC Conservative Party option.

Post by steven lloyd »

In this corner the BC Conservatives . .
by The Canadian Press
Oct 7, 2012 / 4:35 pm

A crucial vote on the leadership of the divided BC Conservative Party has not ended party infighting.

Just over two weeks after party members voted against a review for John Cummins, the embattled leader issued an ultimatum on Sunday to his detractors: join him, or resign.

"I am unwavering in my dedication to the BC Conservatives, and fully intend to lead my party into the next general election," he said in a news release.

"Those few but vocal party members who are critical of my leadership and do not support me have until ... noon, Wednesday, to either get on-side or quit our party and join another."

The provincial party will refund the membership fees of any person who leaves, Cummins said. The party will also return any financial donations made within the last year.

More than 70 per cent of party members who voted turned down review for Cummins at their September convention, which would have forced him to step down. Roughly one-third of eligible members cast ballots on Sept. 22. About 245 members attended the annual general meeting.

But the victory was short-lived, with the Tories' only sitting MLA, John Van Dongen, quitting in protest. He now sits in the legislature as an Independent.

A group calling itself Friends of the BC Conservative Party, led by then-party vice-president Ben Besler, headed the rival group.

Besler left the party last week, joining the BC Liberals.

"You know I have been in conversations with the BC Liberal party for the past few weeks," he told Vancouver radio station CKNW at the time. "The reality is that I had made a conscious decision to leave the BC Conservative party. I have completely lost faith in that party as it is well documented."

After the vote results came in, Cummins told reporters no leader can expect 100 per cent support and stated he was satisfied with the results.


http://www.castanet.net/edition/news-st ... .htm#81544
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Re: BC Conservative Party option.

Post by Smurf »

When I read that earlier my first thought was okay this is the end of the Conservatives being anything viable at all this election and possibly ever, without major changes. Thinking about it again I still feel the same. Too bad but I think they are totally out of the running this time.

We can only hope his ultimatum brings some positive change but I'm certainly not holding my breath.
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Re: BC Conservative Party option.

Post by Logitack »

i think everyone who donated to the BCC and or is a member should call Cummin's bluff and get a refund. The BCC will be bankrupt within a few days.

Cummins issued a news release Sunday saying the party will refund the membership fees of any person who quits the party by noon on Wednesday.

He says the party will also return any financial donations made within the last year.


I just emailed the BCC, asking for my donation back I made to the party in Dec 2011. Wanna bet I dont get it back!
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Re: BC Conservative Party option.

Post by msj »

Logitack wrote:
I just emailed the BCC, asking for my donation back I made to the party in Dec 2011. Wanna bet I dont get it back!



Interesting.

I wonder how practical this is.

If you gave in 2011 then presumably you claimed the tax credit on your 2011 tax return.

If you get that money back does this mean that you are going to amend your 2011 tax return to negate the donation?
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Re: BC Conservative Party option.

Post by maple leaf »

There are those who want a third alternative to the Liberals or the NDP.From what I've been reading the motives behind the attempts to bring down Cummins are to install a leader who would be willing to approach the Liberals and get rid of Christy Clark, then join together,again with a coalition,thereby eliminating a split in the right vote.What you would have ,is what we've had for the past 12 years.But there are those who want an alternative,so we will see I guess who wins,if Cummins ultimatum settles it or not.
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Re: BC Conservative Party option.

Post by George+ »

"Bring down Cummins" with a 73% vote AGAINST a leadership review?
I don't think so.
If he pulls only 10% that will do the Liberal Right, in.
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Re: BC Conservative Party option.

Post by sooperphreek »

with all the infighting you mean the conservative party joke.
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Re: BC Conservative Party option.

Post by Smurf »

Looks that way at this moment.
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Re: BC Conservative Party option.

Post by Smurf »

Doesn't look like anything is getting better for Cummings and The Conservatives.

http://www.castanet.net/edition/news-story--3-.htm


Cummins' leadership still in question
by The Canadian Press - Story: 81645
Oct 10, 2012 / 10:00 am



BC Conservative party Leader John Cummins continues to face friendly fire from his own members even though he received over 70 per cent support during the party's recent annual general meeting.

Allison Patton, the Conservative's Surrey-White Rock constituency association president, said she's scheduled a Wednesday afternoon news conference in Vancouver where she and others will call on Cummins to step down.

Patton said she's urging Cummins' resignation because she feels the party is deconstructing under his leadership.

"The party was already in a self-destructive process and it's bigger than we are," said the Surrey naturopath doctor.

"We are standing as the CA (constituency association) presidents movement on the particular issue of the leadership. There are other issues going on that really are bigger than ourselves. But our feeling is the biggest is the leadership."

Patton said several constituency association presidents started to meet following the Langley AGM last month after realizing they shared concerns about Cummins' leadership and where he was taking the party even though 70.1 per cent of members voted against a leadership review.

She said MLA John van Dongen's decision to leave the Conservatives rather than serve under Cummins confirmed for many that Cummins' leadership was a problem.

Van Dongen, who quit the Liberals last spring to join the Conservatives, was the party's only sitting member in the legislature.

"Knowing what is required to take a group somewhere, I just don't see that happening," said Patton. "I feel that under the current leadership the party isn't going anywhere."

Patton said she sent a letter sent to party members and Cummins asking him to step aside for the sake of the party.

Cummins released his own letter Sunday issuing an ultimatum that demanded dissident members either get on board with his leadership, or leave.

Cummins could not be immediately reached for comment.
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Re: BC Conservative Party option.

Post by steven lloyd »

Cummins ignores calls to resign
by The Canadian Press Oct 10, 2012 / 7:45 pm

British Columbia's Conservative leader has brushed off the latest calls for his resignation by saying it's simply a minority of dissidents making a lot of noise.

But the noise threatened to become a deafening roar Wednesday as a collection of constituency association presidents, angered by John Cummins' earlier ultimatum that they get in line with his leadership or leave the party, issued their own edict to the embattled leader: Quit by Friday or the money dries up.

Ariane Eckardt, constituency association president for Burnaby North, said Cummins' continued leadership has prompted potential donors to the party to put away their wallets.

"We sort of have an ultimatum, either Mr. Cummins goes by Friday, and if he doesn't maybe he will stay until the money runs out from the party," she told a news conference.

"We have been told that several donors have chosen not to donate anymore to the party, and at the tune of $4,000 a month, which is what Mr. Cummins is getting at this point, we would think that the money is going to run out."

Eckardt later said Cummins is also costing the party "substantial" future donations, as well.

"I have been told now several times that there are people waiting in the wings to get this party healthy again so that they can support us," she said after the news conference.

But even before their press conference, Cummins issued a news release noting the BC Conservatives raised over $200,000 in the first nine months of this year, leaving the party in the best shape ever.

He said that in 2012, the party will raise as much as it did in the previous seven years combined.

"I'm pumped, I think that things are going remarkably well," Cummins said in an interview as the dissidents held their news conference.

"We've had a bit of a surge actually since these troubles have started and that suggests people are looking beyond the noise and at the substance of the party and they're liking what they see."

Cummins said the party had 14 resignations between his ultimatum Sunday and his Wednesday deadline, but since September, he said the party has attracted 381 new members.

He acknowledged the questions about his leadership have been problematic.

"It's a pebble in a can, it makes a lot of noise, but it's not really substantive, that's the issue."

Ian Pyper, a past advisor to Cummins and constituency association president for Oak Bay-Gordon Head, said Cummins needs to resign because of declining public support, the loss of its one MLA, John van Dongen, and the pursuit of a "scorched-earth policy" against long-standing members who were expelled after raising leadership questions.

"A scorched-earth policy is a war-time concept," he said. "It is not one to be used in a broad-based democratic political party.
"Politics is not a matter of black and white. It is an art of listening and compromise."

Pyper said five constituency associations from southern Vancouver Island were behind the calls on Cummins to resign.

John Crocock, the Conservative member who was among the first to go public with complaints about Cummins' leadership and is disputing his expulsion from the party, said the situation is currently stuck at a stalemate.

"Hopefully common sense will prevail," said Crocock, who wrote a letter last month calling for a leadership review.
"I mean if it continues the party will go down in flames and hopefully that is not going to happen."

Complaints about Cummins' leadership have been brewing over the last several weeks, but last month, party members voted just over 70 per cent in support of his leadership and against holding a leadership review.

Cummins touted the vote as proof that questions over his leadership should be put to rest.

Hours after the vote, the party's only sitting MLA quit the party saying he didn't believe Cummins had the capacity to do the job.

On Tuesday, two riding association presidents issued a letter saying Cummins has plunged the party into a self-destructive process.

Eckardt said there are about 20 constituency association presidents who are onside with calls for Cummins to go.
But Cummins said the presidents don't represent many members.

"The riding associations that are represented by those presidents, it's not great. The membership in some of those ... constituency associations is in name only. They have not been able to grow their own members in their own regions."


http://www.castanet.net/edition/news-st ... .htm#81677
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coffeeFreak
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Re: BC Conservative Party option.

Post by coffeeFreak »

I'm sure both Clark and Dix were doing happy dances.
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Re: BC Conservative Party option.

Post by sooperphreek »

no just dix was dancing - christy already knows she is gonna lose regardless.
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