DonorspullplugonAllianceTories

Donors pull plug on Alliance, Tories
Parties told to get their acts together: 'We didn't spend $60M to get 66 seats'
Norma Greenaway--The Ottawa Citizen --Feb.04, 2001
Political donors from Bay Street and elsewhere have told the Canadian Alliance and the federal Conservative party they are turning off the money taps unless the two rivals get their act together before the next election.
Activists from both parties portray the ultimatum as a big factor in the renewed talk of rapprochement, fuelled most recently by Tory leader Joe Clark's new-found interest in working with the the Alliance to create a viable "national alternative" to the ruling Liberals.
A cocky Alliance leader Stockwell Day turned up his nose at the overture while some within the party question the Tory leader's sincerity considering his past intransigence on the subject.
But prominent federal Conservatives insist Mr. Clark has had a change of heart on the merits of making peace with the Alliance and is open to exploring creation of a new entity that would envelope the two parties and attract other non-Liberals.
"We have turned a corner," said Manitoba Tory MP Rick Borotsik. "The status quo is not good enough."
Key Tory and Alliance supporters say the last election proved once and for all there isn't room for two conservative parties, neither of which has provided evidence it could gain power in the foreseeable future.
Kevyn Nightingale, a former federal Tory and unsuccessful Alliance candidate in the last election, says Alliance donors, the bulk of them from Bay Street, are playing hardball.
"A whole bunch of donors have said we're turning off the taps until you guys get your act together," the Toronto tax consultant said in an interview. "And I don't blame them a bit.
"They are saying; 'We're not going to repeat what we did last time. We didn't spend $20 million to get 66 seats. We're not wasting our money again.' "
Peter Van Loan, a former president of the federal Tory party and leading fund-raiser, said Conservative backers also are in a tight-fisted mood in the wake of the November election that resulted in a larger Liberal majority.
"For the first time, these people are saying the best way to affect change is to keep their wallets in their pockets," he said in an interview from Toronto.
"I think it will put big pressure on both sides," Mr. Van Loan said. "The destination is that you want only one (conservative) party before the next election."
Tory party president Jacques Leger said money is not unimportant in the equation.
But he said the major driving force is the election result that set off a new round of spontaneous, informal discussions between Alliance and Conservative activists.
Mr. Clark publicly gave his blessing to those ad hoc talks at a recent caucus retreat and went a step further by suggesting formal talks could begin in the near future. For the first time, he did not insist his idea of reconciliation meant Alliance members coming to the Progressive Conservative party.
"The logjam has been broken," said Mr. Van Loan. "But the water isn't rushing through yet."
The Conservative party is contemplating appointing a committee within weeks to explore options for co-operating with the Alliance. Insiders say the idea is still in its nascent stages and that there has been no firm decision on what the next steps will be.
The committee idea is popular with some federal Tories who say Mr. Clark has to make another public gesture soon to prove to Alliance doubters his recent public comments were not a one-day wonder.
Alliance activist Bob Dechert of Toronto is typical of the skeptics. A former federal Conservative, Mr. Dechert says Mr. Clark's pattern of sounding open to the Alliance and closing the door at the same time has him on guard. "Why should we believe him now," he asked. "This guy is schizophrenic."
The attitude within Mr. Day's tight clique is similar -- for now. By their accounting, Mr. Clark cannot be trusted, given his refusal to consider Tory-Alliance co-operation at the riding level before the November election.
They portray him as a desperate politician responding to the near-death experience of his party. "What bargaining chips does he have left?" sniffed one aide.
Federal Tories say Mr. Day's reluctance to embrace Mr. Clark's overture is understandable. The bottom line of a merger or the creation of a new entity is that there would have to be a leadership convention, they said.
The stakes are bigger for the Alliance leader, who says he wants to fight the next election, than for Mr. Clark, who has already signaled his plans to step down before then.
"Day knows that and that's why he is not very receptive," said Mr. Van Loan. "He is one player for whom there is a rational interest to be stubborn."
Brian Pallister, another Manitoba Alliance MP, says he empathizes with skepticism about Mr. Clark's intentions but believes the Tory leader has shifted course.
Mr. Pallister considers himself a good measure. After all, he defected to the Alliance from the Tories last year after failing to persuade Mr. Clark to meet the Alliance half way.
"When I advised Clark to build bridges, he shut them down," said Mr. Pallister, who ran unsuccessfully for the leadership of the federal Conservatives in 1998.
"I have reason to doubt Clark. But he is mouthing words that he hasn't mouthed in the past. The argument to 'stay the course' advanced by Tories, Clark and other people, has obviously gone the way of the dodo bird. That's a big change."
Mr. Leger and Mr. Van Loan insist Mr. Clark's overture is sincere and that it is in both parties interest to embrace the opportunity given the disappointing election outcome.
While the Liberals scored a bigger majority, the Tories barely kept official party status, dropping to 12 seats from 20 in the 1997 election. All but two were won in Atlantic Canada.
Despite increasing its seats to 66 from 60, the Alliance failed on two major fronts. It didn't score the needed breakthrough in Ontario and it failed to kill the Tory party. Mr. Clark's personal victory in the Alliance stronghold of Calgary was a devastating blow.
Tory Senator Dave Tkachuk of Saskatoon said the timing is ripe for the two parties to come together.
"Stockwell Day is having problems," he said. "Joe Clark is leaving. What a good time for them to do something"
Indeed, he and other Conservatives believe serious doubts about Mr. Day's leadership, particularly in Ontario Tory and Alliance circles, give Mr. Clark new clout in any negotiations.
Mr. Day's leadership has been plagued by a poor election campaign performance, lingering resentments spawned by the divisive Alliance leadership race, and relentless criticism over his costly out-of-court settlement of a defamation suit.
The swirling controversy over the defamation case is unlikely to abate now that a former Tory Speaker of the Alberta legislature has launched a legal challenge of the provincial government's decision to cover the $792,000 settlement.