Entries from December 2005 ↓

Our campaign will end eight months and nine days of hard work on the night of January 23rd. While I have no doubt what the outcome will be here in Halton, I am committed to thanking the campaign team, the voters, the community and, hell yes, even the other candidates, for the experience of this election, whatever happens.

— Garth

Marc Languille writes: “Dear Garth: I took this photo of an empty office today at 4:22 pm, and the place was totally deserted. I explained to my kids here in Regina why a man can be responsible for a government department and yet not take any responsibility! I hope they get it. I hope Ralph someday ‘gets it.’ Somehow it would be a relief to me if the man was at least worried.”
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Two nights before New Year’s Eve, freezing rain, and I am driving into an area of Milton I have never been to before – the extreme southern edge, where spanking new houses sit in the middle of what was a field, and stare across at remaining fields whose days are numbered. My expectations, for some reason, are low tonight. Maybe it’s my unfamiliarity with the area, as I drive with a Mapquest page in one hand, squinting at it as the wipers beat on. Maybe it’s just because I am tired, unused to canvassing all afternoon, then all evening, as I have been doing this week.

Whatever. My days are measured in polls now, and tonight it is this one stuck to my clipboard that needs to be accomplished. So, I pile out, flip my hood up, gather the canvass materials and shove off.

Ninety minutes later, everything has changed. I am pumped, energized and optimistic. I have encountered a raft of new supporters and planted three new lawn signs. Even better, I came across a row of five houses all sporting Garth Turner signs. I had a volunteer show up unexpectedly, to help me get this poll done, and share the load. I was invited inside at least a dozen homes, welcomed warmly, thanked for my efforts, and heard people tell me how impressed they were with the momentum of the campaign.

Esther called me twice during the canvass with good news – thousands of dollars walked through the door this week in unexpected donations. We scored some great new volunteers and, of course, there is the Goodale factor. Warriors like Esther and Beth, both in the office tonight, know exactly the effect this kind of political event can have on a national campaign – with big implications for local ones, like ours.

In fact, tonight that’s what a lot of the people wanted to talk about. Not that they exactly knew the issue, nor should they, but they did understand that this goes to the very heart of what the vote is about: Who can you trust? Suddenly the Minister of Finance is under a cloud and refuses to step aside, and the Prime Minister is pooh-poohing it as inconsequential. And yet the people on those new streets I visited know damn well the seriousness of having the cops – especially the Mounties – on your case. That does not happen because police enjoy political sabotage, or chase publicity, but rather because they are unable to ignore something. Action is demanded. It matters.

People get that. They see the same behaviour now and hear the same statements as when the advertising scandal was just being unearthed. Liberals investigating Liberals, finding themselves blameless, and being exonerated. It is exactly what breeds cynicism and mistrust of the political system, this culture of entitlement and excuse.

So, we talked about that in a few living rooms, surrounded by appreciative dogs. And I know, there will be a lot more of it. I would be very surprised if Ralph Goodale lasts a week. I think this will end up looking like another giant error in judgment on the part of Paul Martin. Goodale may not be personally guilty of anything, but he is the minister and he is responsible. If a staffer was trying to massage an extra few ounces out of a good-news tax announcement, and ended up passing insider info, then it is the minister who has to step forward. And it’s the prime minister who backstops him. And, well, that’s pretty much it – unless you want to change the government.

And, tonight, we are on that road – at least in Halton. New money, new signs, new helpers, new voters. And soon, a new year. I like it already.

Statement by Garth Turner, MP candidate, to Lobbyists

The current election campaign has been remarkable for the number of demands being made on candidates to be Members of Parliament. The last few weeks have seen surveys, pledges, statements of support, commitments and declarations flood into candidates’ offices.

Groups as diverse as Canada’s farmers, its chemical industry, anti-poverty coalitions and pro-heterosexual marriage alliances have been demanding that would-be MPs sign documents committing them to future support in the House of Commons of various causes and agendas for action.

As an MP candidate, I have the following position statement for all lobbyists:

I will not, under any circumstances, sign any declaration of support for any group, whether I personally agree with its aims and actions, or not. I will not commit myself to any future action as an MP, or to vote in any pre-determined fashion in Canada’s Parliamant. I do this in the knowledge that several groups have already threatened to interpret my position as being in opposition to their goals.

That is not the case. I do this because it is my belief voters select Members of Parliament based on a wide criteria, and after a lengthy election process in which there is ample time for every constituent to became familiar with candidates’ positions on issues of importance to them.

Secondly, I do this because I believe in the spirit as well as the letter of the law contained in the Canada Elections Act (Section 550) which rightfully prohibits candidates from restricting their ability to serve as MPs by agreeing in advance to any lobby group’s agenda.

Finally, and most importantly, I do this because it is the right position to take. Members of Parliament must be completely free of all prior commitments and encumbrances so they can judge each and every issue in the light of all available facts, in the context of what is best for Canada and its citizens, and according to their own research and considered personal opinion. This is what voters expect of MPs. What they do not expect is that their Member may end up being a mouthpiece for a group which is wholly unrepresentative of the voters as a whole.

While I and others adopting this position will certainly come in for criticism from many lobby groups expecting support, there is no room for compromise. It is time every MP was trusted to be independent, responsive, caring and – above all – committed to making the best possible decisions, as complicated and at times difficult as that may be.

Garth Turner
Halton
29 December 2005