It couldn't happen to a nicer group of people. Tim Harper reports that the battle for the Conservative nomination in Oakville North-Burlington has become toxic:
Amidst a flurry of charges and countercharges involving membership fraud, intimidation and character assassination, the party took the extraordinary step of delaying a planned nomination showdown set for Saturday in the newly created but now suddenly infamous riding of Oakville North-Burlington.
The struggle for the party nod pits sitting MP Eve Adams, who wants to move over from her existing riding to this comfortable enclave, against Natalia Lishchyna, a chiropractor who thought the nomination would be hers until the Adams bulldozer headed west.
The irony is rich:
On the eve of a planned Saturday vote, the gang that brought you the oxymoronically named Fair Elections Act was accusing each other of vote suppression, overspending and harassing and illegal phone calls and had launched formal complaints with the party, Elections Canada and the CRTC.
Party spokesperson Cory Hann said Thursday the vote was on hold until complaints were reviewed because the party “believes in the integrity of our nomination process."
Integrity. Was that not the byword behind Stephen Harper's ascension? Of course, there's the whole back story of the Adams-Dimitri Soudas romance. No, this has nothing to do with integrity. It merely offers proof once again that, when the going gets tough, the Harper Party eats its own.
