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January  04, 2001
Toronto, Ontario
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Party stalwart wants pro-Day vote delayed
'I don't think it is useful to paper over the problems'
Robert Fife, Ottawa Bureau Chief ---National Post----January 04, 2001
OTTAWA - A senior Canadian Alliance strategist is objecting to a move to have the party's governing organization formally endorse the leadership of Stockwell Day.
"That is not a particularly well-advised motion. I don't think it is useful to paper over the problems we've got. That seems to be what is happening," Rick Anderson, a veteran backroom advisor, said in an interview.
He said it is a mistake for the party's national council to approve a motion of support for Mr. Day until he has demonstrated to the rank and file that he is capable of rebuilding the party and presenting himself as a prime minister in waiting.
"There is no point in glossing over the election results or the campaign," he said.
"We actually had more support at the beginning of the campaign than we did at the end of the campaign," Mr. Anderson said. "That is not what you are supposed to do in an election campaign so the idea that we would pass a resolution saying that the party's performance or the leader's performance was excellent is ridiculous."
Gee Tsang, the former chair of the national council, told the National Post he intends to ask for unanimous support for Mr. Day at the executive body's first meeting since the Nov. 27 election. The meeting will be held in Calgary on Jan. 19-20.
Mr. Tsang is worried internal criticism of Mr. Day's performance during the election and media criticism of the new leader could seriously damage the Alliance and its efforts to rebuild following its failed election campaign.
Mr. Anderson, a former senior aide to Preston Manning, the former Reform party leader who Mr. Day defeated to become Alliance leader last July, said the party should openly discuss and assess the leader's performance in the campaign.
Despite predictions by Mr. Day that he would win up to 40 seats in Ontario, the party won only two ridings in the province. It remains a Western-based party with 66 seats compared to 172 for the Liberals.
Mr. Anderson insisted he is not part of a movement to unseat Mr. Day, who is facing criticism from senior frontbench MPs over his refusal to seek advice from party stalwarts during the campaign.
Nonetheless, Mr. Anderson said Mr. Day must move quickly to show the party he has learned from his poor campaign showing and put together a strong caucus team and policy platform.
"I am trying to keep an open mind right now. I'm not part of a dump-Stock movement," Mr. Anderson said.
"I certainly have concerns about the performance so far, but he's only been in office for six months. He doesn't face his first leadership [vote] for another 12 months and this period will give him a chance to demonstrate to the membership that the next time around is going to be better than the last time around."
Mr. Anderson said he was encouraged to hear Mr. Day admit he is partly responsible for the party's inability to reduce the Liberals to a minority, but the party must still address its election platform, particularly its position on national referendums.
If Mr. Day is unable to demonstrate strong leadership and a better grasp of policy then it is possible he could face a serious challenge at the next convention, where he faces an automatic leadership vote, Mr. Anderson said.
"The question it boils down to is what did we do wrong here and what are we going to do to fix it the next time around. If it looks like we are making progress on that, then great. If it doesn't, then we are going to have to sit down and ask ourselves some fundamental questions about the leader and the platform, too."
The Alliance constitution requires a leadership vote at the next convention, expected in February next year, but Mr. Day said he wants a vote in June or September of this year.
Mr. Tsang, a supporter of Mr. Day, said he will also be asking the national council to move up the date of the convention to this year.
Some senior MPs are privately complaining that they believe Mr. Day did not take sufficient advice from Mr. Manning during the election and did not make proper use of Deborah Grey, the deputy leader, and Tom Long, the Ontario Tory strategist.