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Sunday, November 30, 2008
The knives are out for Harper as Conservative partisans launch Draft John Baird campaign. Even you, Prentice?
An anonymous group claiming to be comprised of Conservative Party of Canada members from across the country has launched a new website today to mobilize national support for a campaign to draft Ontario Conservative MP John Baird to lead the Conservative party.
The group, allegedly comprised of over 100 party members from across the country -- including two MPs and one Senator (who have requested anonymity) -- launched the site Sunday evening.
The group says that the Draft John Baird campaign has not been endorsed by John Baird or any of his staff.
Over the course of the next months, the Draft John Baird group plans to mobilize party members and average Canadians in support of John Baird's leadership.
This apparently grassroots move to replace Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper comes on the heels of what some party members are calling Harper's mishandling of the $195-per-vote subsidy issue, which would see $30 million in public funding to political parties eliminated.
Harper has been forced to back away from this plan, a plan that has inadvertently mobilized and unified the opposition parties and threatened his minority government.
UPDATE: draftjohnbaird.com and .ca are both available. I would think a serious John Baird leadership draft campaign would have purchased these domain names. This is likely not serious, or it's the work of Liberal, NDP or Bloc partisans to manufacture dissent. Stay tuned.
UPDATE #2: An anonymous spokesperson with Draft John Baird responded to my question about who is leading this campaign with the following:
“For the time being the identity of the founders is not being made public because of political retaliation concerns within caucus.” It is for the reason of “political retaliation” that the group claims it has not registered draftjohnbaird.com or .ca as this can not be done anonymously.
The organization also says they felt a sense of urgency to launched the website because the “Jim Prentice folks are already doing prep work behind the scenes, so we thought it was prudent to layout some initial groundwork, in hopes Mr. Baird runs.”
UPDATE #3: More from the group's website:
BREAKING NEWS:
237 New Supporters since 12:00PM EST
Ottawa – Since launching the Draft John Baird campaign site on Sunday afternoon, the campaign says they have had nearly 3,000 visitors and 237 new supporters in less than ten hours.
This is a clear indication there is a strong appetite for change within the Party and across the country. The additional supporters registered today, brings the total number of registered Baird supporters to 345 as of 10:00 PM EST.
In the coming days, the Draft John Baird campaign will be working to ensure the new supporters are members of the Conservative Party of Canada, ensuring their voting eligibility in a leadership race.-30-
Picture: John Baird waits in the background for Harper, but for how long?
Posted by Matthew Johnston on November 30, 2008 in Canadian Conservative Politics | Permalink
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Comments
Forgive me for saying that I know nothing of John Baird, but what I do know is that this kind of back-stabbing (long knives) has resulted in the down fall of the Tories every single time. Even though I think that PMSH blew it by backing down and then watering down the budget, I find this kind of mob detestable. Can we not demonstrate a few conservative values such as honour and loyalty along with the commitment to stick with your decision to appoint whoever as leader in the first place?
Posted by: Alain | 2008-11-30 5:45:21 PM
Not buying it. Smells like Kinsella...
Posted by: Richard Evans | 2008-11-30 5:49:44 PM
lol--Harper is on the run and panic has set in! The CONservatives are done! The fat lady is ready to sing. This site sure has become a dead end alley!
Posted by: ROGER | 2008-11-30 6:02:26 PM
Definately the Liberals...looks a lot like Prentice site..nice try!
Posted by: John Baird | 2008-11-30 6:36:01 PM
With respect to the domains that are still available, in an effort to eliminate potential caucus and pmo retaliation the decision was made to go with an unregistered website. This is a grassroots movement that will utilize new media outreach measures including facebook, youtube and myspace.
Posted by: Draft John Baird | 2008-11-30 6:38:17 PM
The people of Ontario remember John Baird well, not fondly, I might add! On his watch as Social Services Minister, an 8-1/2 months pregnant woman was cut off welfare and left to die without food in her sweltering hot apartment in August. Bring Baird the Pitbull on! Face it, the CONservatives are finished!
Posted by: ROGER | 2008-11-30 6:51:11 PM
You might want to change the title of this post... These are clearly opposition sites.
Posted by: jm | 2008-11-30 7:10:54 PM
Very likely initiated by CBC or GlobeMedia types to distract the Layton, Duceppe, Dion closet communists coup to govern Canada.
Posted by: Joe Molnar | 2008-11-30 7:52:58 PM
The mere fact that it is credible that some of the CONservative supporters are plotting a palace coups shows the precarious position of Harper. Stevie's days are numbered as PM. Being sent back to the opposition bench will be a humiliation he will not live down! And those craven weaklings in the CON ranks will snipe and bite away, striking at him from every quarter. Harper has crashed and burnt the CON Party in quite a short time. He had it all in his hand and let it get away. What a loser! Makes Joe Clark look like a genius! lol. Joe will be pleased to finally pass the loser mantel to Harper! The CONs are going back to the wilderness whence they came!
Posted by: ROGER | 2008-11-30 8:08:50 PM
hmmmm... Judging by his posts, one could speculate that "ROGER" is in on the scam...
Posted by: Richard Evans | 2008-11-30 9:08:16 PM
What a bunch of BS from the "Draft Baird" campaign . Dot CA addresses are private by default. No information whatsoever is released unless you, the owner of the domain authorizes it. Nothing but a bunch of weasels who don't have the nuts to put their name to what they put out there.
Posted by: BBS | 2008-11-30 10:14:13 PM
There are ways to privately register a domain name. Obviously these guys didn't bother to consult with an actual web media specialist.
So that could go either way. 1. They didn't consult with an expert because they're not serious/cheap.
2. They didn't consult with an expert because they're exactly the kind of post-middle-aged, non-tech-savvy b00bs that we seem to enjoy electing.
Posted by: Adam King | 2008-12-01 1:55:18 AM
I find it rather amusing that some people actually think these sites are the real deal. I guess these incredibly intelligent people are liberal and NDP supporters. It dose tick me off to know we have so many bright people in Canada. I’m guessing they are the ones who love to insult Americans. How many of you people can find Canada on a map?
Posted by: Bob Smith | 2008-12-01 11:00:36 AM
john baird just stated on prime time politics that "he has never been as stunned as he was today "over the take over of the house.This proves he is the lying fem that we all know he is.He is always that stunned.
Posted by: ASHLEY mACiSAAC | 2008-12-01 6:28:55 PM
of course if anyone was wondering- fem stands for federal enviroment minister- the job which john held for some time- and created much humour for those listening to him state he was doing something that would help the enviroment- intruth his hot air only added to climate change- and conitues today inhis new job- as for the rest of the conservatives-adding change to the political enviroment- leading to the "deal with the devil"as some have put it.
Posted by: ashley macisaac | 2008-12-01 6:53:58 PM
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