support behind MP Colin Mayes ???

Conservatives throw support behind Mayes
RICHARD ROLKE Morning Star Staff Oct 20 2006 vernon morning star

Okanagan-Shuswap MP Colin Mayes is feeling vindicated after receiving the endorsement of Tory brass. Both senior Conservative Party officials and the local riding association board have rallied behind Mayes, who has been accused of misleading party members on his role in a legal case. “I’m not surprised because I felt it (accusations) was over-stated. I have my reputation and I stand by it,” said Mayes. Thirty-three party members sent a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper expressing concerns about comments Mayes made during two nomination meetings last month. “At both meetings, he adamantly denied being named as defendant in a statement of claim in the Supreme Court of B.C. He, in fact, falsely advised over 300 members that the defendant was the City of Salmon Arm. As is clearly revealed in the attached statement of claim, it was indeed Mr. Mayes, and not the City of Salmon Arm, that was named as a defendant,” states the letter. However, that is not the view of the Conservative Party of Canada. “The party has reviewed this complaint and we are satisfied that any statements that may have been allegedly made by Mr. Mayes at the nomination meetings held at Salmon Arm Sept. 6 and Vernon Sept. 7 were not deliberately misleading,” said Michael Donison, national executive director, in a statement to the media. “The lawsuit in question involves an action against Mr. Mayes as a named party defendant but solely in his capacity as a public official of the municipality of Salmon Arm at the time of the alleged defamatory statements. Therefore, the action is not against him in his personal capacity although for standard legal procedural reasons that he was named as party defendant.” Donison goes on to say that Mayes continues to be recognized as the Conservative candidate for Okanagan-Shuswap. In another statement, the party’s Okanagan-Shuswap riding association states, “The board wishes to express their full support for Colin Mayes, as the Conservative candidate in the next election.” The riding association executive held a special meeting Wednesday, but the Mayes matter apparently wasn’t on the agenda. “It wasn’t even dealt with,” said Lori De Jong, association vice-president. Don Huxley, who signed the letter and sent it to Harper, would not comment about the statements released by Donison or the riding association executive. “I haven’t heard of them,” he said. Mayes admits he should have been more clear at the nomination meetings that his comments were based on a legal opinion he had received. “I should have clarified the legal opinion between having ny name on the document as a private individual versus my name as the mayor of Salmon Arm.”