Feature Article February 26, 2004
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Vankoughnet comeback makes new Conservative Party uneasy
The Conservative Party of Canada does not yet have a leader, but whoever is running the party until a leader is chosen seems even more concerned with political correctness than the NDP.
Bill Vankoughnet, one time MP and MPP, who has been shunted to the sidelines after being arrested for soliciting prostitution on a Toronto street corner in 1996 (the charges were eventually withdrawn as Vankoughnet agreed to attend a so-called John School), has had his application to run for the party nomination in the new Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox & Addington riding rejected by the party. The explanation given was that his application left out vital information, but Vankoughnet was not given the option of completing the form.
Vankoughnet sought and received a court injunction delaying the nomination meeting until the matter is considered in the courts. The nomination meeting had been scheduled to take place in consecutive meetings in Napanee, Sharbot Lake and Perth that were all scheduled for February 21, and have now been postponed. The new Conservative riding association met on Monday night to consider a motion by current Lanark-Carlton MP Scott Reid, himself a candidate for the nomination in the new riding, requesting to the party that Mr. Vankoughnet be reinstated on the ballot. Mr Reid said he was confident that the party membership could decide who was or wasnt an appropriate candidate to represent them to the public in an election.
After being absent from the political scene for several years, Bill Vankoughnet has been involved in the establishment of the new Federal Conservative party in Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox & Addington. He chaired the founding meeting of the new riding assocation. At one point in the meeting, a party member expressed his gratitude for the work Vankoughnet had done to bring about the new riding association. This statement as met with prolonged applause by the large gathering.
Meanwhile, the Liberal party nomination meeting for the new riding turned into an informal party as Larry McCormick, the current MP for the soon to be defunct Hastings-Frontenac-Lennox & Addington riding was unopposed in his bid to seek the Liberal party nomination.
The New Democratic Party will be holding the founding meeting for the new riding association on Saturday March 14 at 2 pm in the Oso Hall in Sharbot Lake, and a candidate nomination meting will follow.
