...continues to be standard Harper operating procedure when it comes to his candidates and their lack of 'candor'.
Diana Dilworth would appear to be a decent person who would be a good example of whom a political party would want to have carrying the torch in a competitive race. With a decent profile as a businesswoman and a politician, having achieved all that while also juggling the tough responsibilities of a single parent, Dilworth should be able to walk and chew gum and be more than just a pop-up doll.
Unfortunately, the voters of New Westminster-Coquitlam
will never know. Harper has insulated her in one of his 'cones of silence' that proved adequate enough to get
Dona Cadman and
Nina Grewal elected (and thankfully unsuccessful with more than a dozen more to my knowledge of silent bobs and bobettes), where public appearances and opportunities to really engage in a volley of ideas with rivals, supporters and non-supporters alike are verboten.
Dilworth ducked
two all-candidates meetings; she dodged other newspapers' attempts at getting her on the record. When BC's unemployment rate has ratcheted up another notch and there's this thing called H1N1 spinning around, she stands behind the tired-and-true Tory con-points about the electorate are really only talking about crime and punishment, the economy and security.
Now, I don't want to deride Ms Dilworth beyond the colours she has chosen to carry. I don't know her despite living not far down the road from her and being fairly interested in municipal politics. Her profile appears to be a notch-better than last year's 'prize CON candidate', one-time school marm and current CON senator-on-tour Yonah Martin (I'd like to see her spending and attendance record). But when someone who is suppose to be vying to be the elected representative for a region, a person who will have to stand up for and speak on behalf of people who supported her and also those who didn't, it doesn't give me much confidence in our political system when the same 'hopeful' deems it unnecessary to speak before and debate in front of a gym of the public, on the basis that (as her campaign manager states) it isn't a
"credible venue for citizens to find out what the candidates are all about."I'd say if that's the opinion of Ms. Dilworth, she is a failure on the credibility gap herself.
We Liberals can be very proud with the campaign that Ken Beck Lee has run; not a politician, he's brought a
fresh approach and shown to be a keen learner when it comes to tackling the hard chore of making strangers like you in quick-time -- and despite knocking on more than 10,000 doors, he's still using the same pair of shoes!
The NDP's Fin Donnelly is the front runner, having built up his profile over the past 14 years by swimming the Fraser, running and winning a seat on Coquitlam council, and following that by being a fairly empty shirt when it comes to getting things done. As someone who brings nice environmental credentials to city hall, Donnelly has accomplished little, and while the odds are stacked against him there, he hasn't even elevated his cause. Two cases in point - the quick clearcut of swaths of Burke Mtn for future development (of which much of it won't be started for a few years - but at least they razed every tree so that we can see the dirt now!) and the annual problem of garbage bears - why hasn't he stepped up and demanded that the city, province and feds get together and move/replenish the bears' natural food source in nearby valleys to keep more of the hungry bruins on the other side of the mountain?!
Rebecca Helps is a fine person, wrong party. If you're really serious about the environment as an issue, join a party that can get you at the table, and change it from within.
The citizens of New Westminster-Coquitlam (and southern portion of Port Moody) will decide who will represent them tonight. Here's hoping that the one who thought a coffee clatch was more important than a public debate gets to stay home.
