Conservative National Councillor backing Liberal

Conservative National Councillor Hamish Marshall is quoted in this piece (see here) by the Tyee’s Andrew MacLeod as being the spokesman for Liberal leadership candidate Kevin Falcon.

I met Hamish Marshall years ago when he came looking for a job from then Conservative Party Political Operations Director, Doug Finley during a Conservative caucus retreat in Victoria. I was a recent hire of Finley’s and Marshall and I chatted over drinks at a bar. The Conservative political operations people were not happy with a paper Marshall had done which was critical of the previous election campaign organization done in BC.

Finley and Marshall must have mended the fence as I next saw Marshall working in the “war room” during the 2005 convention in Montreal. Since then, he obviously became a favourite of the Party’s higher-ups as he was elected one of BC’s National Directors. No one out of favour would have a chance otherwise.

My most recent connection with Marshall was with the BC Conservative Party. He is a very tight political friend of BC Con Vice President Jeff Bridge and Fundraising Chair Jonathan Snoek who Bridge calls  Marshall’s “little assistant”.  Snoek was the BC Con board member who emailed me questioning my loyalty just before my membership was pulled (see here). Bridge stabbed me in the back by having me removed from the Board of Directors after I differed with asking a Liberal MLA to come into the fold (see here).

Bridge was in constant communication with Marshall for tactical advice and political contacts. Bridge has told me many times that Marshall was supporting the BC Conservative Party so you can appreciate my surprise when I ran across this article stating that Marshall was working for a BC Liberal. Curious if Bridge has explained this little turn of events to the Board of Directors of the BC Conservative Party?

Ex-BC national councillor Byng Giraud has also come out supporting Liberal leader candidate George Abbott’s candidacy (see here) but at least Giraud was no longer a sitting councillor like Marshall. There was also Ken Boessenkool who was told by the Conservative Party that he had to quit the Christy Clark campaign (see here) .

So, what exactly is going on here? Did the BC Cons have the support of their national brethren which has now soured or did they ever have it in the first place? More alarming though…. is there a mole(s) working deep within undermining any effort to form a credible opposition to the Liberals?

Update: I have been informed that Hamish Marshall resigned from the National Council last year and was replaced by Marshall Neufeld

Globe’s Ibbitson says you’re a “bigot” for “debating” multiculturalism

John Ibbitson uses the Quebec Assembly vote banning Kirpans from being worn in the legislature to call those who question the Pierre Trudeau implemented multicultural policy “angry, frustrated and bigoted”.

Other gems from this Ibbitson column:

- Britain PM David Cameron’s declaration that multiculturalism has failed in a speech given in Munich is “where British prime ministers go to sell their souls”

- Questioning Muslim parents in Winnipeg demanding class exemptions for their children in phys-ed and music is “foolishness” even though “Leaders of the Muslim community in Winnipeg were are as surprised and disturbed as anyone else by the demands of the dozen families, whose Islam is not their Islam.”

But the crème de la crème is this line from Ibbitson:

“The consensus around multiculturalism – that it remains an integral value in Canadian life, even if no one can explain what it means – remains broad and deep” (see here)

No proof but Star still runs story on claim Conservatives digging dirt

Susan Delacourt and Bruce Campion-Smith of the Toronto Star sink to a new low with this absolute joke of a story (see here) on the infamous torture-claiming professor Amir Attaran and Errol Mendes, saying the Conservative government is behind the FOI requests of their university files.

No credible journalist could defend running this article which is based only on the ramblings of some well-known anti-Conservatives.

They even goes so far as to hide Attaran’s relationship with Iffy by saying the Conservatives are “alleging he was close to Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff - the two share a Harvard background.”

In fact, Attaran owed his job at Harvard to Iffy (see here) and as Adrian MacNair pointed out, has a history of making unsubstantiated claims, specifically on Afghan detainee torture (see here).

Update: The NP’s Jonathan Kay rips into Delacourt and Campion-Smith here