Tuesday, February 11, 2003
Chandler's coup
Maverick federal Tory hopeful has gaze set on Alliance merger
By PAUL JACKSON -- Calgary Sun

Initially, it seemed preposterous as I watched the Progressive Group for Independent Business's Craig Chandler declare his candidacy for the leadership of the moribund federal Progressive Conservative party.

But only initially.

And certainly no more preposterous than that man out of the far, far left, David Orchard, running for the conservative leadership.

Recall, too, Orchard -- no more a conservative than I am a Marxist-Leninist -- came second to outgoing leader Joe Clark in the last PC race.

This is a party without any stars, so just about anything can happen. If Orchard -- who wants to tear up Brian Mulroney's crowning achievement of the free trade pact -- could soar past so many others, maybe Chandler can, too.

Now, Chandler and I have one of these love-hate relationships.

Sometimes we are on speaking terms, sometimes not.

He likes to engage in bully tactics, which turns a lot of people off.

That said, his business organization -- which has more members than the Calgary Chamber of Commerce -- a year or so ago gave me its annual achievement award for being a true conservative and free enterpriser, so there is some mutual respect.

Chandler is a dedicated conservative, and makes no apologies for it.

After I first saw Chandler announce his leadership bid and got over the initial shock, I started pondering what was going on.

Then it hit home. Some months ago Chandler spearheaded a campaign to get members of the Canadian Alliance to buy a membership in the federal PC party and then use their clout to force a vote and merge the Alliance with the PCs.

Since the PC membership roll now hovers around 10,000 to 15,000 and the Alliance around 100,000 members, the result would have been obvious.

I was a guest speaker at that campaign kick-off and tossed in $20 and bought myself a membership, thus making me, coincidentally, a member of Clark's Calgary Centre constituency riding as well as the Calgary Centre Alliance riding association.

Yes, I'll bet that made Clark's office staff gulp.

Anyway, Chandler's "two-cards" campaign appeared to fizzle out -- Clark's people attempted to do a technical end-run around it -- and it drifted from my mind.

Until Chandler's leadership announce- ment. For this is what it is now all about: Chandler plans to use all his considerable political and business resources from across the country to pull new members into the PC party, win the leadership, then merge it with the Alliance.

What a coup.

Of course, the odds seem against him -- as they were in 1976 when Clark himself came up from way behind to win the leadership -- but they are not overwhelmingly against him.

Look at the field, and it's hard to picture the other rivals as national leadership material.

We have Halifax MP Peter MacKay, whose only claim to fame is that his father, Elmer, was a member of Mulroney's cabinet.

We have John Diefenbaker-era MP Heward Grafftey, who has already been collecting his OAP for any number of years.

We have another Nova Scotia MP, Scott Brison, who looks like a student leader.

We have Calgary lawyer Jim Prentice, who can be likable, but has no stature either locally or nationally except among his professional and political peers.

We have, once again, Orchard, who doesn't stand for a single principle the Conservatives espouse.

Here's an ironic touch: A month ago I had lunch with two dedicated federal PCers and asked them what would happen if Orchard won this time.

Their answer -- and they did not think an Orchard win was entirely inconceivable -- was that the party would implode.

Every member except an Orchard member would quit.

We would have a second New Democrat party in the land.

As much as they might not like it, conservatives in the PC party would have to join the Alliance.

The left-winger Orchard would have achieved just what the right-winger Chandler wants to achieve.

So, even though the federal PCs with their 14 MPs are hardly worth interest, we are now looking at what may be a rather fascinating turn of events.

A group of -- and I don't mean to be unkind here -- non-entities running for the leadership of a party few Canadians have the time of day for, but with two of the candidates in a position to finally give the party the coup de grace it deserves.

The unite-the-right campaign is under throttle again.

Buy your PC membership To ENSURE a Merger vote Victory!

For Your Information
	Upcoming Events
	Contact the PGIB 2cards.ca Committee
	Newsletters
	Liberal Leadership

Campaign Donations

Join Our Team