尼萍这么重要的区,弄了个毕业后除了当政客的Office Boy没干过任何正经事的毛头小伙子参选,可见保守党人心涣散,蜀中无大将了
The Gargoyle – Former Poilievre aide nominated as Conservative candidate in Nepean
Glen McGregor, Ottawa Citizen
More from Glen McGregor, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: June 30, 2015 | Last Updated: June 30, 2015 9:59 AM EDT
Andy Wang, a former aide to Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre, has been selected as the Conservative candidate in the new federal riding of Nepean. andywang.ca
Ethnic politics helped elect a former aide to Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre as the party’s candidate in the new riding of Nepean, a losing contender for the nomination alleged Monday.
Andy Wang was selected as the Conservative candidate at a nomination meeting Sunday night, defeating consultant and author Bob Plamondon.
Wang worked for five years in Poilievre’s constituency office and Parliament Hill office. He currently runs the Daido Academy, a Barrhaven organization that teaches Chinese martial arts and dance.
Plamondon, who has written several books about the Conservative movement in Canada, said that Wang was able to leverage the Chinese population in Barrhaven to help win the nomination and overcome the support from long-time Tories in the riding that Plamondon said he secured.
“The core party membership was 80 per cent with me,” Plamondon said. “Andy Wang had recruited — had knocked on every door where they spoke Chinese in the house and turned them out and that’s what won it.”
About 400 people attended the nomination meeting at the Nepean Sportsplex, according to riding association president Liz Mackinnon.
The party does not release the totals of ballots cast by members in the candidate selection vote.
Wang had initially sought the nomination in Ottawa West – Nepean, when the incumbent, Foreign Minister John Baird, announced he would switch ridings and run in Nepean, where he lived.
When Baird left politics earlier in February, however, Wang also chose to run in Nepean, which is considered a safer seat for the Tories.
Plamondon says he decided to enter the race in April after he was approached by members of the riding association executive and people who had run Baird’s nomination campaign. He was initially resistant but was convinced after he polled 25 local Conservatives who are active in the party.
“I think I had overwhelming support,” he said. “These were people from the community.”
His campaign website boasted endorsements from Baird, former Justice Minister Peter MacKay, as well as local Conservative senators Marjory LeBreton and Vern White.
But Wang had the advantage of having dealt with Poilievre’s constituents in his former job, Plamondon said
“If you were at the meeting yesterday and you saw the turn-out, it was clear that Andy has brought a lot of new people into the party, who are very loyal to him personally,” Plamondon said.
The Chinese members were “a very strong force at the meeting,” he said.
Wang could not be reached for comment Monday.
The riding was created when Poilievre’s riding, Nepean – Carleton, was split in two in redistribution of electoral districts. Poilievre is running for re-election in Carleton, the more rural portion of his old riding.
The Liberals have nominated businessman Chandra Arya as their candidate in Nepean. The NDP has yet to nominate a candidate.
UPDATE: Emailed comments from Wang: “I am humbled to have the support of the Conservative members of Nepean. More than 800 members attended to cast their ballot at the nomination meeting.
“I am already on the campaign trails, talking to voters about why we need a proven leader like Stephen Harper for Prime Minister. Someone who has focused on lowering taxes and keeping Canadians safe.
“My goal is to knock on every door in Nepean and speak with as many constituents as possible before the federal election on October 19th.”
And further from Plamondon: “Yesterday we spoke only about the tactics of running a nomination campaign.
“I have to say that had I been Andy I would have done the same thing. You win nominations by selling memberships and turning people out to meetings. You could look at almost every other contested nomination in all parties and the formula does not differ much. Andy reached out to people he knew and he won fair and square. I wish him the best.”
The Gargoyle: Questions about fairness of Tory nomination in Nepean
Glen McGregor, Ottawa Citizen
More from Glen McGregor, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: July 8, 2015 | Last Updated: July 8, 2015 4:09 PM EDT
Bob Plamondon lost the Conservative nomination for Nepean riding to Andy Wang, amidst allegations of voting shenanigans Caroline Phillips
The Conservative Party is defending the nomination process that chose Andy Wang, a former aide to MP Pierre Poilievre, as the party’s candidate in the riding of Nepean, over author and consultant Bob Plamondon.
“The nomination was completely fair and open,” party spokesman Cory Hann said in an email. “The entire process was overseen by Party staff, and there were no issues raised by scrutineers from either side on nomination day.”
Hann’s comments come after an anonymous letter, circulated in the riding, made serious but unproven allegations about the vote.
The letter, written in Chinese and English, purports to come from a Wang supporter who feels remorse at the tactics used in the nomination fight. Neither the authenticity of the letter nor the veracity of the allegations it contains can be confirmed.
But some in the riding are nevertheless concerned about what appeared to be irregularities in the process and suggestions the Tories wanted to ensure Wang would prevail in riding that has swung Liberal in the past.
Two members of the Conservative riding association, both Plamondon supporters, have quit since Wang was selected as the candidate for the upcoming federal election.
Going into the meeting, Plamondon had the backing of many long-time Conservatives in the riding, including most of those involved with the riding association. He also had endorsements of party rainmakers such as John Baird, the former foreign minister, and Sen. Vern White, Ottawa’s former police chief.
Wang, however, had a substantial head start on the campaign, gaining access to the party membership list several months before Plamondon.
The riding membership lists are key to winning nomination fights as only members can vote. Plamondon received his copy of the list only two weeks before the meeting.
When Plamondon did sign up new members, at least 25 membership applications submitted to the party were rejected for unknown reasons.
At the nomination meeting held in the Nepean Sportsplex, about 800 people (not the 400 previously reported by The Gargoyle) showed up to vote. Among them were a large number of Chinese-Canadians mustered by Wang from Barrhaven, a community in the riding with a fast-growing Asian population. Many of the new supporters Plamondon recruited came from the smaller Tamil community.
Felix Wong, the manager of national outreach with the Conservative Party, presided over the meeting.
Wong is a young but experienced Conservative operative who worked for the party during the 2011 election and, later, in the office of then-Citizenship Minister Jason Kenney.
Wong’s name appears in emails related to Sen. Mike Duffy’s expenses, as Wong helped arrange Duffy’s visits to Conservative candidates in the 2011 election.
At the Nepean meeting, Wong worked at a “help desk” set up to ensure that members who showed up to vote were eligible.
Several Plamondon supporters whose names had appeared on an earlier version of the membership list were told they could not vote.
Still, Plamondon’s campaign volunteers were confident that they would win, based on their careful tracking of supporters who attended the meeting.
Both camps had scrutineers involved in the ballot counting at voting stations that were broken down by the first initial of the members’ last names. Plamondon’s supporters, however, never saw the final totals of all ballots cast.
After the votes were counted, Wong did not announce the total, saying only that Wang had been chosen the party’s candidate. It is not unusual for parties to conceal the results of nomination votes.
Immediately after the announcement, however, Wong asked the meeting for a motion to destroy the ballots, and received it. Any possibility of a recount of the ballots was destroyed with them.
Neither Wang nor Wong responded to requests for comment.