The Con is on: When an experienced, name-recognized conservative is not allowed to run as a Conservative

Politics in British Columbia is always weird but PP letting 'backroom party hacks in Ottawa' reject Mike de Jong as a candidate is weirder than ever

An apocryphal conversation at Federal Conservative headquarters in Ottawa in advance of the federal election:
Staffer: "Mr. Poilievre, who should be our candidate in Abbotsford-South Langley?"
Pierre Poilievre: "Who we got?"
Staff: "Choice A: Mike de Jong. He was a Member of the Legislative Assembly in B.C. for 30 years, a cabinet minister under two premiers, including roles as Attorney General, Minister of Labour and Citizens' Services, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, Minister of Health, Minister Responsible for Multiculturalism, and Minister of Finance where, from 2013 to 2017, he tabled five consecutive balanced budgets."
PP: "Meh, OK, who else?"
Staff: "Choice B: A 25-year-old blueberry farmer."
PP: "Oh the blueberry farmer for sure. And tell (A) he's not qualified."

What the hell were they thinking?

Whether you are small-c or small-l conservatives or liberals, it's undeniable that Michael de Jong is one of the most seasoned politicians in the province who has never run for a federal party.

Thirty years ago, a 30-year-old de Jong was recruited by Gordon Campbell to fight the new Socred party leader Grace McCarthy in a byelection in Matsqui.

The election was the beginning of the end for the Socreds and the beginning of three decades for De Jong in Victoria. The Socreds had held the riding for 42 years and De Jong aptly defeated McCarthy by just 42 votes. McCarthy resigned as party leader and the Socreds elected exactly zero members in the provincial election in 1996.

De Jong was elected and re-elected over and over spending 30 years in the provincial legislature, serving as a cabinet minister under two premiers, including as Attorney General, Minister of Labour and Citizens' Services, Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, Minister of Health, Minister Responsible for Multiculturalism, and Minister of Finance where, from 2013 to 2017, he tabled five consecutive balanced budgets.

So when the son of Dutch immigrants started campaigning as a federal Conservative and signing up party members, he probably thought he was a shoo-in to be the candidate for party in Abbotsford-South Langley. The local Electoral District Candidate Selection Committee unanimously endorsed his candidacy.

But Conservative HQ decided he was not qualified.

"At the last minute, to be told, in a three line email: 'Application declined. Thanks for your interest. And by the way, we don't think you're qualified.' Yeah, that's a little hard to understand," he told Gloria Macarenko, host of CBC's On The Coast.

No one has offered up a good reason why he was rejected, and when asked about it in B.C. on Friday, Poilievre brushed it off and just said his candidates are great.

So, de Jong is running as an Independent.

"The decision comes in the wake of a bizarre decision from the Conservative Party of Canada to block de Jong at the very last minute after a year of campaigning for the nomination in Abbotsford-South Langley," according to his news release issued March 27. "Despite a unanimous recommendation from the local riding association that de Jong’s candidacy be approved, party insiders in Ottawa instead disqualified de Jong, without explanation, paving the way for the installation of a candidate lacking any of the qualifications necessary to provide effective representation to the community."

That candidate is 24-year-old blueberry farmer Sukhman Singh Gill.

Without sounding ageist, it's telling to point out that when de Jong won in the 2001 election in the new riding of Abbotsford-Mount Lehman, he was appointed Minister of Forests in the new government. Gill was likely in Kindergarten.

“The people that I have represented for decades in the B.C. Legislature should not be forced to accept a candidate that has been imposed upon them by some backroom party hacks in Ottawa, particularly when the individual being forced upon them has demonstrated absolutely no capacity to discharge the duties of a member of Parliament,” de Jong said

“These party operatives in Ottawa overruled the local committee and forced through a candidate who was unanimously rejected by that local selection committee violating the basic principle of grassroots democracy that should be at the heart of our electoral system.”

Tell us what you really think.

This isn't the only odd decision the Conservatives made in the Lower Mainland. Former long-serving CEO of the Surrey Board of Trade Anita Huberman sought the Conservative nomination in Surrey Centre, but again she was rejected in favour of a Rajvir Singh Dillon, a lawyer who is also an immigrant to Canada.

"I don't know what's happening behind the scenes and as I mentioned to you earlier, they need skilled and experienced people," Huberman said in an interview with Black Press. "And I couldn't be a Conservative party member given my previous position at the Surrey Board of Trade."

The party isn't explaining its odd choices, but it's possibly a simple matter of demographics. Both candidates are South Asian in communities that are increasingly South Asian. Beyond that, it's hard to understand.

“No one underestimates the challenge we face as an independent campaign,” says de Jong. “However, the thousands of people who have urged me to stand in this election all have one thing in common … we all believe that democracy belongs to the people and we refuse to give up on Canada’s democracy.”

Federal Cons disavow the BC Cons

The federal Conservatives also don't seem to want to have any connection to the BC Conservatives, most of who in the Eastern Fraser Valley are federal Conservatives.

When running the successful campaign in the fall, BC Conservative leader John Rustad rode Pierre Poilievre's coattails, but Poilievre is not asking for help from the BC Conservatives in the federal election.

A CBC reporter said a senior federal representative for the federal Conservatives that "there is no affiliation between the Conservative parties," and that Mr. Rustad is "welcome to come out and listen" at Poilievre's rallies.

Suffice it to say that while Poilievre was in the Lower Mainland this week, he didn't show up in Chilliwack Friday night where local BC Conservative MLAs preached to the converted about why the provincial NDP are so bad.

And while everyone at that meeting will be voting for Chilliwack-Hope Conservative incumbent Mark Strahl, I suspect Strahl wasn't there either, lest he be spotted by federal Conservative operatives co-mingling with BC Conservatives.

It's all bizarre and childish.

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Paul J. Henderson
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