Election spending questioned - Video
CHBC Web posted on Friday, 14 September 2007
Several Okanagan MP's are implicated in an election spending scandal
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including Colin Mayes
Showing posts with label Colin Mayes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Colin Mayes. Show all posts
Friday, September 14, 2007
Colin Mayes election scandal?
Friday, April 20, 2007
MP Mayes if you build homeless shelters ->more homeless there will be ...
Way too much party line
Apr 18 2007 Salmon Arm Observer Editorial
Okanagan Shuswap MP Colin Mayes may have his heart in the right place, but his inability to allow reality to infiltrate his spouting of the party line leaves much to be desired. Mayes held a town hall meeting in Salmon Arm last week, where he reviewed his party’s accomplishments. While a survey included in Mayes’ parliamentary report mentions that 31 per cent of respondents said an MP should be an advocate and 30 per cent said he should be a listener, he is doing neither on several issues.
One of the most astounding examples of his ignoring of both reality and his constituents is his undying support of his party’s policies on child care. Despite the fact he has met with child-care providers and others who have explained to him that his government’s $100 per month for parents of children under six neither allows a parent to stay home nor makes it feasible to access reliable day care, he continues to tout it as a solution for parents.
The facts today are that in order to be able to afford groceries and a roof over their heads, both parents of most two-parent families must work. While Mayes might look with nostalgia at the good old days of the 1950s, when a father would work and a mother would stay home with the kids, those days are no longer economically feasible for most people. Only those parents with very high incomes, or those parents whose parents have very high incomes, can afford the luxury of staying home.
It’s also highly unlikely, as he says, that people will forget how to parent if affordable child-care centres proliferate. Right now, there’s a shortage of child care, with parents forced to book spaces while their children are still in utero. Parents aren’t looking for child care because they want to escape parenting duties, they’re looking for child care because they have to work to survive economically.
Knowing that a child has been well-cared for in a professional, caring setting is much more likely to provide a good parenting style than a parent going to work while worrying if the nine-year-old left in charge of his five-year-old sibling is coping all right. Or wondering if the neighbour the children have been shunted off to is really reliable.
Mayes made other statements that deny reality.
He said nuclear power is clean power. Tell that to the folks in Chernobyl or Three Mile Island. As most people are aware, nuclear waste is the gift that keeps on giving.
Mayes said the more homeless shelters you build, the more homeless people there will be. Right.
It would be refreshing to hear more about reality and less party line reflected in the speeches from Mr. Mayes and the rest of Mr. Harper’s foot soldiers. Otherwise the electorate is just going to adopt one of their traits – and quit listening.
Friday, April 6, 2007
Which one will replace Colin Mayes?
FridayAm April 5
Liberal candidate: Buffy Baumbrough
NDP candidate: Alice Brown
or
Green Party selects candidate
By RICHARD ROLKE Morning Star Staff Mar 28 2007
Huguette Beaudin-Allen isn’t wasting any time when it comes to spreading the Green message.
Beaudin-Allen was selected Green Party candidate for Okanagan-Shuswap over Aaron Vallejo Monday, and she is already making plans for the next federal election.
“We need a campaign manager, fundraising and a volunteer co-ordinator,” said the Lumby computer analyst and business consultant.
“We will also draft a campaign plan so once the election is called, we will know what we are doing.”
Beaudin-Allen is confident a strategy can be put together quickly because the Green Party now has an official riding association in Okanagan-Shuswap.
For Beaudin-Allen, a critical issue will be to get residents across the riding familiar with both her and the party.
“We need to get the message out there,” she said.
Among them is correcting the common view that the Green Party is only interested in the environment and is not interested in issues such as the economy and social programs.
But Beaudin-Allen says the party has extensive policies on a variety of issues, including co-existence between the environment and the economy.
“The economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment,” she said.
“If people think if they vote for the Greens they are voting for no more forestry, they won’t vote for it. But the Greens can increase both jobs and the quality of life.”
Beaudin-Allen is optimistic about the party’s chances in the next election, especially based on attendance at the nomination meeting.
“There were a lot of young people present. They were very interested and asking questions,” she said.
“A lot of young people feel like there’s no party out there for them and they want a change. They need to be aware of what the Greens can do for them. I want them to be part of the team.”
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
emerson is coming to town ... i would suggest donate 25 toward the local food bank instead! more bang for your buck; towards a more worthy cause!
Upcoming Special luncheon with Minister Emerson
http://www.colinmayes.ca/EN/5261/52020
The Honorable David Emerson, Minister of International Trade, the Pacific Gateway and the 2010 Olympics will be speaking at a luncheon hosted by MP Colin Mayes on Saturday, April 14th, at the Prestige Inn, Salmon Arm from 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm. Come and find out how the Pacific Gateway Initiative could impact BC and the Okanagan – Shuswap.
Tickets are $25 and can be reserved by calling 1-800-665-5040.
For information on upcoming Town Hall meetings with Colin Mayes, please click here.
come heckle / taunt colin mayes ...
Town Hall Meetings
http://www.colinmayes.ca/EN/town_hall_meetings/town_hall_meetings/
Your point of view matters!
Join the hundreds of other constituents who have attended one of Colin’s town hall meetings. The town hall meetings are informal and offer constituents the chance to gather and discuss with their MP the issues that are important to them.
Upcoming Town Hall Meetings
Sicamous Town Hall Meeting, Tuesday, April 3rd, 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm at the Red Barn Arts Centre
Armstrong Town Hall Meeting, Wednesday, April 4th, 6:30 – 8:30 pm at the Seniors Centre
Salmon Arm Town Hall Meeting, Tuesday, April 10th, 6:30 – 8:30 pm at the Salmon Arm Recreation Centre
Cherryville Town Hall Meeting, Saturday, May 26th, 12:00 – 2:00 pm at the Seniors Hall
For further information, please contact the office of Colin Mayes at 1-800-665-5040 or locally at (250) 260-5020.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
local student and farmer lost ....
courtesy of VernonBlog who always seems to ahead of the game with reporting local news and details:
Local Vernon Councillor to lead Liberals in next Federal Election !!!
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now will someone else come forward other than Alice Brown to challenge the local NDP nomination?
Saturday, March 17, 2007
local liberal back in the race: who will it be the student, farmer or councillor ...
Liberal Race Back To Three
March 16 107.5kiss fmn Vernon
Scott Blurton says he's happy to be back in the race.
24 hours after the Okanagan Shuswap Liberal Association declared the university student was ineligible to run for the nomination, he's now been allowed back in.
Blurton says a committee ruled he couldn't be held responsible for his nomination papers not getting to Vernon on time, due to a problem with the mail system.
He's from Enderby but is currently attending university in Ottawa.
He mailed his papers prior to the March 10 deadline but they didn't arrive until Tuesday.
It means Blurton, Buffy Baumbrogh and Jake Ootes will contend for nomination Saturday in Vernon and Salmon Arm.
Baumbrough is a Vernon city councillor while Ootes is a farmer in Celista.
250 party members are eligible to vote. (Pete McIntyre)
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Mayes says he wants to keep his MP job ... i don't think so ...
Mayes hints at budget bucks
Scott Neufeld March 15, 2007 VernonDailyCourier.ca
He won’t reveal the details but Okanagan-Shuswap MP Colin Mayes said that constituents will be pleased at what’s in the federal government’s budget.
“I know there are some things on there but I can’t be specific,” he said. “We’re not going to be missed.”
The budget will be unveiled on Monday and Mayes hinted the North Okanagan and Shuswap would benefit specifically from federal funds. He said he couldn’t say if the money would be for local highways or some of the other areas where residents have been seeking federal funding.
In advance of the budget Mayes has kept busy holding town hall meetings in communities throughout the riding. He said it has been his first opportunity since winning his seat last January that he’s been able to tour the riding.
“I intended to have town hall meetings in the summer but I got sidetracked with the nomination meeting,” Mayes said. “I made a pledge that I will have a town hall meeting at least once a year.”
Mayes said he’s been encouraged by the public participation at the town hall meetings. He said the response has been overwhelmingly positive.
“People are quite positive about what the government is doing,” he said. “A lot of people say, ‘I didn’t know you were doing that, you should let more people know.’”
The Conservatives’ tough stance on crime has drawn the most positive feedback, Mayes said. Many people also approved of the government’s environmental platform while others wanted a childcare allowance given to parents, rather than see the money go to the province.
For the rest of this week Mayes will be in Toronto for what he said would be one of the largest political conventions in Canadian history. While there, he and other local party members would be trained with dozens of other Conservatives on how to run a riding association, how to be a finance manager and more. It may appear as if the Tories are preparing for an election but Mayes said the government won’t force one. He said he would rather delay an election to gain more on the job experience.
“Personally I would like to see it in another year,” he said. “I want to show the folks in this constituency what I can do.”
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
MP websites altered to mirror Harper page
MPs' websites altered to mirror Harper page
Several rural offices unaware of changes to their sites
Ottawa Citizen March 13
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's office has centralized control over the design and content of websites of Conservative MPs, many of whose Internet sites are now virtual replicas of Mr. Harper's government site.
__
go look, any i have seen all look the same
.... mirror mirror on the wall ...
Monday, March 12, 2007
Conservative pre-election Boot Camp, (Colin Mayes goes to camp?)
Tories off to pre-election 'boot camp'
Candidates to be drilled: Possible revival of the Big Blue Machine?
Andrew Mayeda, CanWest News Service March 12, 2007
OTTAWA - Hundreds of federal Conservative candidates and campaign workers will converge on a Toronto convention centre this week for a political "boot camp" designed to prepare them for the next election.
They will get a first-hand look at a party organization that, in just three years, has evolved from a makeshift collection of amateurs into the most well-funded, well-oiled machine in federal politics.
Over three days of activities starting on Friday at the Toronto Congress Centre, candidates will be drilled in everything from the basics of door-to-door canvassing to the art of delivering the pithy sound bite.
Party operatives will get crash courses in get-out-the-vote techniques and the Conservatives' sophisticated database program for pinpointing such voter categories as "soccer moms."
On Saturday evening, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is expected to address the troops at a morale-boosting rally.
Billed officially as a "political training conference," the boot camp is the latest sign the Conservatives are gearing up for a spring election.
"The Prime Minister said he doesn't need an election, and he's governing like he doesn't need one, but if the opposition decides to defeat us, we're ready any time," said John Reynolds, who co-chaired the past Conservative campaign and is expected to play the same role this time.
In recent months, the Conservatives have launched preemptive attack ads against Liberal leader Stephane Dion and established a new campaign headquarters in the Ottawa suburbs outfitted with television equipment for media interviews.
Conservative insiders say campaign buses and planes have been booked; candidates have been nominated in close to three-quarters of the 308 federal ridings; and the development of an election platform is well under way.
For years, the Liberal party was known as a formidable machine. But is it time to start talking about the revival of the Big Blue Machine?
The emergence of the Conservative party as a disciplined, professional organization has been "extraordinary," said David Taras, a professor at the University of Calgary.
"This is one of the great stories in Canadian political history. If you look at where Stephen Harper was in 2003, he was the leader of a party going nowhere. He was so far from power that it was almost laughable."
The Conservatives had little time to prepare for the 2004 election, in which former Liberal prime minister Paul Martin lost his majority but clung to power.
Mr. Harper had only recently won the leadership of the party, which formed after the merger of the Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservatives in late 2003.
Advisors from his leadership bid were rushed into prominent campaign roles, and the party famously ran out of scripted announcements before the end of the campaign.
For the 2006 election, the party streamlined its campaign team and rolled out a tightly scripted platform focused on five priorities.
Now, many of the individuals who played key roles in the past election, including national campaign director Doug Finley and the Prime Minister's chief of staff, Ian Brodie, are expected to figure prominently in the next campaign.
"They've been through '04; they've been through '06. Now it's '07 and it's largely the same people," Mr. Taras said.
"Everybody knows their role; everybody knows each other. They've built up trust. And the mastery of technology and campaign techniques is really impressive."
Mr. Reynolds, like other senior Conservatives, hints that leadership will be a prominent theme in the coming campaign. Recent polls put Mr. Harper well ahead of Mr. Dion in terms of leadership, even though the Conservatives' lead in overall support is slim.
"The Liberals have one heck of a brand name. It's like fighting Coca-Cola," Mr. Reynolds said. "So you have to beat them with other things. Of course, we have a Prime Minister who we think is one of those things."
local liberal nomination meeting ...
Local Liberal Nominees Come Forward
107.5 Kiss FM Vernon March 12,2007
Okanagan Shuswap Liberals have set the date to select their candidate for the next federal election.
The nomination meeting and voting will be held Saturday March 17-th at the Salmon Arm library and the Prestige Inn in Vernon.
Three candidates have come forward: Vernon city councillor Buffy Baumbrogh, former MLA
Jake Ootes of Celista, and university student Scott Blurton of Enderby.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Colin Mayes, building a stronger and better canada ... clear your calander ... and it isn't april fools day!
Mayes on Canada
SalmonArmObserver March 7
The Salmon Arm Chamber of Commerce will be meeting at the Prestige Harbourfront Resort on Wednesday, March 14 at 11:45 a.m. for networking, with lunch at noon. At 12:30 p.m., guest speaker MP Colin Mayes will give a presentation on Building a stronger, safer and better Canada.
To attend, call 832-6247 as soon as possible.
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
1 exec. left for Colin Mayes : Be Proud Harper!
More turmoil on local Conservative board
Scott Neufeld Mar 6/07 Vernon Daily Courier (viaVernonBlog)
Citing issues with a fellow board member, the president of the local Conservative association has resigned. Although Lori DeJong said that she wouldn’t comment on exactly what the board member did that led her to quit, she said the issue was significant. DeJong is the 17th board director on the 30 member board to step down since March 2006 including the vice-president and financial agent. “I (resigned) because of the actions of the secretary (Al Schalm),” DeJong said. “I still support the party but for now I won’t be on the executive.”
Salmon Arm resident Schalm, is now the last remaining executive member on the board. DeJong said she won’t rule out a return to the board in the future. “We’ll see what the future will do,” she said. “I would still like to be involved.” The party has also cancelled its last two meetings before its annual general meeting in April. There is disagreement, however, as to who stopped the meetings. DeJong said that she didn’t realize that the meetings, including one on Tuesday night, had been cancelled. However, Ethan Gorner, the party’s organizer for the B.C. Interior said they were called off after he spoke with DeJong.
With no more meetings until a new board is elected at the AGM, Gorner denied that the move has effectively dissolved the board. He said there is no pressing reason for the board to meet within the next month. “(National office) hasn’t taken over, there’s nothing to take over,” he said. “They wouldn’t dissolve the board, national office doesn’t have any power to dissolve the board.” Gorner will be chairing the AGM and said he is interested to see who will come forward to join the board. He said he’s hopeful that things will run more smoothly for the next edition of the board. “We’re hoping that people will start working well, work toward liking our guy again,” he said. “We’re hoping the old battles in the past are behind us.”
Thursday, February 15, 2007
harper is all ready to go; with money to burn ... ...
but can he really muzzle 'all' of his candidates? is there another candidate for the Okanagan -Shuswap?
Tories prepped for March campaign
Party has airline, bus contracts in place, plan to play Harper's image as strong leader
BRIAN LAGHI Feb 15 Globe and Mail
OTTAWA — The Conservative Party's chief election strategist has laid out a detailed campaign blueprint for Tory insiders warning that the government expects to be fighting an election battle by March.
The plan would see the Tories exploit polling numbers that they say show Stephen Harper possesses substantially better leadership qualities than Liberal counterpart Stéphane Dion.
As articulated on Tuesday by Doug Finley to about 75 Conservative candidates, organizers and nomination hopefuls, the Tories are ready to run a highly centralized, quick-response campaign that includes a 1,600-square-metre war room.
They have also arranged for bus and air transportation and want nominations wrapped up by March 25 or 26, sources quote Mr. Finley as saying.
Mr. Finley, the national campaign chairman, made his remarks at a closed-door luncheon at Toronto's Albany Club.
Sources said he told listeners that the government has no intention of triggering an election, but that he expects to be planning for a vote soon after the budget, anticipated on March 20.
Election speculation has increased over the past week, given improving polling numbers for the Tories and a series of environmental announcements.
One Tory insider said Mr. Harper and Mr. Finley might be purposely talking up a possible vote to make it a self-fulfilling prophecy and wouldn't necessarily be upset that news of the speech leaked out. Although Mr. Harper might want to capitalize on an election, it would be very difficult for him to call one himself because he has already put forward a bill that would set the next election for 2009.
The insider noted that polls are still inconsistent and that the date of the election is essentially controlled by the opposition.
In his remarks, Mr. Finley said the cornerstone issue of the campaign would be the leadership qualities of Mr. Harper. Despite the dead heat in the polls, the surveys show that Mr. Harper is substantially ahead of Mr. Dion when it comes to perceptions of competence and trustworthiness.
“Leadership is an issue that they're going to be well aware of,” a source who was at the meeting said. Mr. Harper is seen as the party's biggest asset, Mr. Finley is quoted as saying.
The campaign would also be highly centralized in the sense that a newly expanded party headquarters would devote more time to ensuring that individual candidates don't make missteps, as happened in previous campaigns. At 1,600 square metres, the size of the new headquarters is equivalent to the largest Shoppers Drug Mart retail stores.
Sources said that within 60 minutes of a significant campaign event or remark, candidates would be told how they should respond. The new office is located outside Ottawa's downtown and is substantially larger than the previous election headquarters. The party also plans to identify which candidates might be provoked into making off-the-cuff or damaging remarks.
“They're going to enhance some of the elements within the [election war-room], like, for instance, the communications department, the seat-targeting process, etc.,” the attendee said.
The campaign would also make efforts to get its message out early and bypass the Ottawa press gallery, instead emphasizing a presence in local outlets. The party would also increase the use of e-mail. And the new headquarters has its own television studio, making it easier to do interviews with local news sources.
Mr. Finley also addressed the recent series of Tory ads criticizing Mr. Dion, saying that, although some critics believe they look like the work of amateurs, they are cost-effective and they work. The party would sooner spend money on repeat purchases than on glossy ads, he was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, yesterday, some Liberals were also speculating about an early election after their weekly caucus meeting, with some suggesting May 28 as a possible day.
With a report from Jane Taber
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Colin Mayes:local riding an utter joke!
Tories too ‘immature’ for teen?
Scott Neufeld / Daily Courier Vernon February 14, 2007
One of the youngest board directors in the history of the Conservative Party of Canada is stepping down because her colleagues are “immature.”
Ashlee Chartrand, 15, joined the board of the local Conservative association last year. But after less than a year as a director she said she is no longer interested in witnessing the squabbling among her fellow members.
“For the most part the people left on the board are ineffective, they set a bad example and that’s not something I want to be a part of,” she said. “I think they’re being immature, I don’t think they’re being open with constituents.” Chartrand said the final straw was when MP Colin Mayes questioned her commitment to the board.
“He actually at that meeting brought up the idea of removing me because he said I’d missed, like, four meetings or something but I’d actually only missed two,” she said. “That was not how I expected an MP to act.”
However, Mayes said he did not ask for Chartrand’s dismissal. He said that he asked if Chartrand wanted to remain on the board since she had missed a couple of meetings.
“I said that if we don’t have regular attendance by several of the board members then we need to phone them to ask whether they’re still interested,” Mayes said.
Although she had hoped to increase youth involvement in the party, Chartrand said she was accused of wrongdoing when she tried to sign up her friends.
Terri Jones, Mayes’ executive assistant, said she does not know of anyone accusing Chartrand of misconduct.
“No one said she couldn’t sign up other youth,” Jones said. “There is a process anybody has to follow when they sign up people, part of which is they’re not allowed to pay for people’s memberships.”
Despite her decision to leave, Chartrand said she is still excited about what the Conservatives are doing at a national level. She said she still hopes to work in Ottawa.
“I guess it has just given me more inspiration to get up there and change the kind of people working in government,” she said.
The departure of the youngest board member comes on the heels of two more departures from the Conservative board.
Financial agent Ray Ivey and vice-president Arnold Walter have left citing business and personal commitments.
Since March, 13 of the board’s 30 directors have resigned or been fired.
leadership .... Colin Mayes
Stand up to jokes that insult ethnic minorities
Salmon Arm Observer / Letters / Feb 09 2007
Jokes that insult ethnic minorities are no longer simply, “politically incorrect”, but completely unacceptable in any communication. An e-mail of the kind received by Mr. Mayes is an opportunity to challenge and correct ideas that insult and demean. I believe leadership means taking actions that stand up for and show high regard for all peoples in our communities. ‑‑
Janna Francis
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
protest targets MP Colin Mayes office ...
oh darn ... local support for Colin Mayes and the conservatives is sliding .... down, down, down and downward!
Okanagan MP targeted
06 February 2007 CHBC
Protests were held Tuesday in the Okanagan and across the province. Parents and daycare providers picked up placards to protest federal and provincial governments they say are turning their backs on the needs of children and young families. One demonstration at the office of a local MP turned into a heated debate.
video
06 February 2007 CHBC
Protests were held Tuesday in the Okanagan and across the province. Parents and daycare providers picked up placards to protest federal and provincial governments they say are turning their backs on the needs of children and young families. One demonstration at the office of a local MP turned into a heated debate.
video
Friday, February 2, 2007
Colin Mayes and his board:support me or just go away
i can almost see a conservative going bye bye in this riding come the next election .... perhaps this is the good thing of being plagued with mayes as mp; eyes have opened up not only to the riding association but to the public!!! and / or to the rest of the riding! as in the past election, mayes did not do so well here in salmon arm (where he was once the mayor) in comparison to the rest of the candidates. so keep tripping mayes, we will shut the door behind you!
Controversy erupts over joke
Salmon Arm Observer Jan 31 2007
Okanagan-Shuswap MP: Colin Mayes says calls for his resignation are a partisan smear.
For Okanagan-Shuswap MP Colin Mayes, a controversy about a joke he received is an example of politics at its worst.
The joke, sent to him by e-mail in October last year from a Vernon member of the Conservatives, attempted to make fun of bureaucrats by featuring a First Nations man who spoke broken English and was referred to as “chief” and “Tonto.”
Mayes responded to the e-mail by writing, “Good joke.”
The e-mail and Mayes’ response to it were made public last week, sparking a small storm of controversy.
Mayes chairs the parliamentary Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development.
After hearing of Mayes’ e-mail response, Anita Neville, a Liberal member of his committee, called for Mayes to step down as chair of the committee and apologize for praising the joke.
Mayes sees it differently.
“Actually it’s unfortunate that the game of politics in this place is you basically are scrutinized about everything. Anita has leveled this cheap partisan smear against me,” Mayes said from Ottawa Friday.
Mayes termed the joke “completely inappropriate” but said he took the same approach that someone might take who hears a risque´ joke at a party.
“Everybody looks at each other – you don’t usually say you don’t approve - you might smile,” he said.
However, the joke response didn’t generate any smiles from the Union of BC Indian Chiefs. The group issued a news release Friday.
“To openly applaud a blatantly racist joke and then to attempt to trivialize the matter represents acts of arrogant disregard of the duties of a responsible member of Parliament,” said Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs.
“Let me be perfectly clear, this is not a bi-partisan issue between the Conservatives and Liberals. Rather this is a violation of fundamental human rights. It is not a joking matter; in the event that Colin Mayes refuses to apologize, he must resign.”
The Union of BC Indian Chiefs’ media release was issued following Mayes’ interview with the Observer. E-mailed to see if he had a further response in light of the release, he said no.
During the interview, he referred to media attention the issue has generated.
“A number of newspapers didn’t even run the story – they knew it was somebody trying to discredit me. I don’t want to trivialize the joke – I don’t endorse insults to the cultural heritage of any people. But this is the game in politics. I’m there to do good works as chair of the parliamentary committee. I have been told by a number of people I run a good committee,” he said, noting that one of them was Anita Neville, who complimented him at summer break.
As to how the e-mail became public, it appears to be a symptom of unrest that has been plaguing the board of the Okanagan-Shuswap Conservative Association.
Director Miles Lehn was recently removed from the board. He told the Observer that the e-mail response was brought to his attention in October by a First Nations party member. He said he forwarded it to the board president and he saw no action taken, but, as a board member, was not allowed to speak out. Now he can.
“Next time he gets an e-mail that suggests racist tones, he needs to say, ‘I find that offensive,’” Lehn said.
Lehn has a list of complaints regarding Mayes, ranging from a dictatorial style to the mixing of religion and politics.
Wayne McGrath, former president of the Okanagan-Shuswap Conservative Association, said he believes there’s a significant division amongst the members of the party in the riding.
“I guess the question is, how significant it is.”
Of a maximum 30-member board, nine have left.
Asked if he’s concerned, he said he is. “I would hope that the board and the MP can get together and work together rather than continue the battle that is being carried on right now.”
Asked if he is worried about how voters in general will view the party, he said that, too, concerns him.
“Internal conflicts can often defeat politicians as well as opposition from the political adversaries.”
Lori DeJong is the current board president. Asked if she is concerned about the board, she said no.
“I think we’re coming together and moving forward.”
As to the e-mail controversy, she said the association is standing solidly behind Mayes.
“He said to CHBC, too, yes sometimes you say the wrong things. He wouldn’t say that again... It was maybe just the wrong choice of words.”
Mayes says that of the nine people who have left the board, just two resigned because they weren’t comfortable with his nomination.
Once he took the nomination with 70 per cent of the vote, he thought things would be different.
“I thought they would either come on board and support me or just go away. Unfortunately a few of them just didn’t go away. They have forced the hand of the president and board to start administering some discipline within the board. I feel badly for that.”
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Harpers boy, Colin Mayes now says
the joke was about govt. employees ... ya right. well this storm might have blown over for you, as always, i'm sure the next blunder will come soon enough; your colours are appearing upfront and centre! you can fool some of the people, but you can't fool them all the time!
Joke blows over Ottawa
Scott Neufeld February 1, 2007 Vernon Daily Courier
Less than a week has passed since the Liberals called for his resignation but Colin Mayes says the storm has blown over.
On Tuesday, parliament’s aboriginal affairs committee met for the first time since the Liberals accused the Conservative MP of promoting a joke they considered racist. Mayes, who chairs the committee, said the issue never came up at the meeting.
“Nothing was said. Not a word,” he said. “I think when they really looked at it they realized how unsubstantiated their actions were.”
Mayes said that several other members of the opposition came up to him and talked about how “silly” the issue was. He said they have given him their support.
A memo was sent to the rest of the committee clarifying the issue, Mayes said. In the memo, he said he addressed some of the comments that were made in the media.
“I wanted to clarify any doubts about the media attention,” he said.
Among the mix-ups was a CBC comment that the joke was about Natives. Mayes said the joke was actually about government employees.
The former Salmon Arm mayor found himself under the magnifying glass of the national media after one of his e-mails was made public. The message from a local Conservative Party member includes a joke that refers a First Nations man as “chief” and “Tonto.”
Mayes’ began his response to the e-mail with the phrase, “good joke.” The Liberal party interpreted the MP’s response as an endorsement of aboriginal stereotypes.
The e-mail was sent to a local media outlet by Miles Lehn who had recently been fired from the board of the local Conservative riding association.
“It was definitely the person that (leaked) the e-mail who twisted it into basically a personal attack against myself,” he said.
Since the Liberals sent out a press release calling for Mayes’ resignation from the committee, he said he’s yet to receive a negative response from any First Nations people. He said that the comments from Okanagan Indian Band chief Fabian Alexis and others have “uplifted” him.
“Quite frankly I’ve had a number of e-mails from aboriginal people just saying how foolish these accusations are,” he said.
****
Okanagan/Shuswap: Mayes admits to making a mistake in email comment
or
Native leader demands apology
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Colin Mayes muzzled by party; won't apologize, but admits mistake
Okanagan/Shuswap: Mayes admits to making a mistake in email comment
CHBC 28 January 2007
A defiant Colin Mayes admits he made a mistake but will not apologize for his actions. On Friday, The Okanagan-Shuswap MP was told by BC's First Nations leader he should formally apologize for finding humour in what they're calling a racist joke or resign from his job leading a national committee on Aboriginal affairs. But Mayes doesn't think an apology is necessary for what he calls a minor error in judgement.
When reached by phone Sunday morning at his Ottawa office, Mayes told CHBC news, he continues to feel that "this is just a partisan smear" levelled at him by the Liberal party. He goes on to say that the issue has been completely misrepresented.
But Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the BC Union of Indian Chiefs says this is not just a political issue between the Liberal party of Canada and the Conservative government.
"In our view, he has completely destroyed his credibility and his integrity. And unless he's prepared to formally apologize, then in our view he has no other choice but to resign."
When it comes to Chief Phillip's demand for an apology or resignation, Mayes told CHBC news, "My mistake was that I didn't react by saying this was not appropriate. I should have been more outspoken. The comment wasn't an endorsement of the inappropriate words used in the joke."
But Mayes would not offer an apology.
His remorse may still not be enough to satisfy natives in Canada, according to Phillip.
"His efforts to defend his actions in our view just reveals the arogance of his character. That he believes that he can brush something like this aside."
Mayes agrees that he's overwhelmed by the attention to the email comment and was warned by the party not to comment further. He defends his commitment to Aboriginals both in his constituency and across the country. Mayes suggested that the issue will come up this week when the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs meets in Ottawa, but stopped short of revealing how they will deal with the matter.
[*Colin Mayes, obviously didn't read the press release by the Union of BC Chiefs]
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