Angry in the Great White North

In my post on the delay in even getting permission to run a nomination meeting in Dufferin-Caledon that would see the sole nominee for Liberal Party candidate, former Halton MP Garth Turner, installed as the formal candidate, I suggested that the statements being made by various people hinted at divisions within the Dufferin-Caledon Liberal Party riding association:

Do you get the distinct sense that the riding association in Dufferin-Caledon is deeply divided over having Garth Turner as the candidate?  On the one hand there is group, including Neil Orford, trying to seal the deal for Garth Turner.  On the other, there is Jeff May and possibly Dennis Adair trying to put off that day, buying time instead to recruit another nominee.

Well, I don't live all that far from the riding (about an hour's drive to the Cataract Inn, Garth Turner's base of operations for his political comeback).  Here's what I've learned.

It looks like there are 5 members of the riding association executive (board members and directors) who are openly in favour of Garth Turner being the candidate.  An example would be Lynda Kee, whose name appears on Garth Turner's website.  She is a member of the candidate search committee, and seems to have decided that the search is over:

Lynda Kee, head of the Liberal candidate search committee in the riding said that should Mr. Turner become candidate, he would have a very good chance of winning because of his name recognition and national profile.

"The candidate last time was brand new to the riding and didn't have that kind of name recognition and didn't have the political experience and savvy that either one of the current green lit people have."

At least 6 or 7 members of the executive are vocally against Garth Turner being the candidate for the riding.  I prefer to keep the names to myself for the time being.

Of the executive membership who are both active in riding association meetings and who have expressed opinions, we're looking at a 50-50 split when it comes to having Garth Turner walk into the riding unopposed and take the job as Liberal Party candidate. 

That might be part of the reason the Ontario arm of the federal Liberal Party has yet to give permission to the riding association to hold a nomination meeting.

It'll be interesting to see if Garth Turner is successful in bringing more members of the executive to his side.