As a result of the appointment, Liberals in the riding are furious.  Many feel that regardless of Beatty's qualifications (which seem to be that she is a woman and aboriginal, and little else), she could have fought a nomination battle and earned her place as their nominee, if local Liberals felt she deserved it.  Instead, the party leadership in Ottawa was dictating to the First Nations communities in the riding what was best for them.

Chief Marcel Head, the interim chairperson of an alternative Liberal Party executive in the riding that is rejecting Stephane Dion's appointment, wrote to Stephane Dion to explain the issues.  The interviewer read the relevant portions, and asked Joan Beatty to respond to the concern that the democratic process was being denied the Liberals in the riding:

Interviewer: [reading from the letter] The general consensus at the meeting is that the democratic process for selecting a candidate must be followed. Constituents are tired of being told “What is best for them”. Aboriginal people, in particular First Nations, have been encouraged to participate in the political process, to vote, to be involved. Then, they are told who they have to vote for. That is not democracy.

What do you say to that point being raised in the letter by Chief Marcel Head?

Joan Beatty: Well, you know, if I was, you know, a long-time Liberal member, you know, the process is in the [Liberal Party] constitution, you know, it's a process that's been used by all parties, including Harper last year, twice I believe.  And the process is there, and sometimes the leader has to use that process, and that's what he did in this case...At the end of the day, democracy is at the polls, when people can vote for themselves who they want to support.  Whether it's a Liberal, a Conservative, or whoever.

Or whoever?

Or whoever?

Joan, that other party?  The name you could quite recall?  They're called the NDP.  You know, the party in Saskatchewan that just dropped a load of money to get you elected just so you could quit a few weeks later to join the Liberals.

"Or whoever"...that's pathetic.

But her whole answer is pathetic.  Chief Marcel Head asked quite eloquently for an answer to the charge that by appointing a candidate, Liberals in the riding are being denied the democratic opportunity to choose who would best represent the party in their riding.  He wants to know what imperative was so important that the democratic process had to be suspended by Stephane Dion.

The reason, according to Joan Beatty, boils down to this.  She wasn't a Liberal for all that long, so presumably she'd lose.

That's it?

The rest of her "answer" covers two points:

• The Liberal Party constitution allows for appointments.  Well, that's not really an answer.  Chief Head is not challenging the technical legality of what Stephane Dion did.  Chief Head wants to know why the appointment process was invoked instead of allowing the nomination fight that was well underway to complete.  Of course, Joan Beatty already provided the reason for not subjecting her to a nomination fight -- "if I was, you know, a long-time Liberal member".
• Democracy isn't important inside the party.  It only matters at the polls.  That's when people choose between the Liberals, the Conservatives, and some third party whose name had slipped her mind.

The NDP!

This is the great candidate that Ralph Goodale foisted on the Liberals of Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River? 

She's right when she hints that she would not have won in a proper nomination fight against David Orchard and John Dorion.  She's wrong when she blames it on not having been a Liberal for more than a few weeks.

I have real doubts about her ability to impress anyone with her political skills.  Maybe she really is just an aboriginal woman with nothing else to offer her constituents and her party except for her gender and her family ties.

The real tragedy?  Stephane Dion and Ralph Goodale are satisfied with exactly that and nothing more.  Her job is to be an aboriginal woman and not much else.  The Liberals in Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River might like to have something more substantive in their candidate.  That's the opportunity that has been denied them by men in Ottawa who don't want anything else.

It's no wonder Joan Beatty couldn't articulate a better answer than the one she gave.

[The links are available on David Orchard's website under the January 21, 2008 entry of the Developments page.]

Addendum: Though most people got it, I think a few might not have gotten the sarcastic tone.  Of course Joan Beatty hasn't forgotten the name of the NDP.  But she seemed to make a deliberate, if clumsy, attempt to avoid mentioning the name of her former party when talking about the choices in front of the constituents.  It is as if she did not want to remind people who voted NDP in the recent provincial election in numbers large enough to earn her a seat that voting NDP is an option in a federal election too.  So as far as Joan Beatty is concerned, there are the Liberals, the Conservatives, and some other party.

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