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Feb. 24, 2006
Grits thank B.C. Jews
Hedy Fry may join in the Liberal leadership race.
PAT JOHNSON
The federal Liberal leadership campaign, when it officially kicks
off, may have a candidate from British Columbia with close ties
to the Jewish community. Hedy Fry, the re-elected MP for Vancouver-Centre,
said she is considering a run to replace Paul Martin but has not
yet made up her mind. Other possible candidates, including former
cabinet ministers Stephen Owen, Ujjal Dosanjh and Raymond Chan,
told the Independent Sunday they would not run.
The four Liberal MPs were joined by about 100 Jewish supporters
at Vancouver's Arbutus Club Sunday morning, in a post-election celebration
and thank you to the Liberal Jewish Political Action Committee of
B.C., which channelled support from the Jewish community toward
select candidates.
"I am doing my feasibility study," said Fry. "I'm
thinking about [running for leader] but I have to look. It's a huge
risk. There are a lot of things I have to take into consideration.
One has to find the backing, one has to make sure that you at least
have some support across the country." She and the party are
focusing on forming an opposition and then repositioning itself
as a party ready to govern, she said.
The message from voters was one of chastisement, said Fry.
"They've told us to go in the corner as Liberals, face the
wall and think about it," she said. "They've given the
[Conservative] government a very short leash. In fact, two opposition
parties now can bring the government down. In the [last Parliament]
it was three."
She said many grassroots Liberals are feeling isolated and marginalized,
adding that the party needs to listen to the rank and file in a
major policy review process.
Fry's re-election was a closely watched race nationally, as former
New Democrat MP Svend Robinson challenged her for the seat in the
riding with a large gay community. By election day, Fry convinced
herself she was headed for defeat.
"Until I actually saw the votes come in ..." she recalled.
When the votes were counted, Fry had increased her percentage margin
of victory from the previous election.
"People were very angry, this is what I was told, that Svend
ran in that riding," explained Fry. "They felt that I
had been a left-of-centre, progressive-thinking Liberal, that I
had actually done a great deal for the riding and that he could
have chosen another riding where he would take out either a right-wing
Liberal – if he wanted to take out a Liberal – or a Conservative.
Many in the gay community thought it was very opportunistic of him
and that it was very presumptuous of him to think that people would
vote gay. They came out to show him that they voted on the issues....
Secondarily, I think, the 'ring thing' was an issue." Robinson
resigned from politics at the time of the 2004 election after admitting
he stole a valuable ring.
Fry thanked the Jewish community for its support.
"Many in the Jewish community came out and supported me and
helped me a great deal," she said, adding that the Jewish community
has been a model of how individuals and communities who get involved
in politics can have dramatic impacts.
"It's the greatest advertisement for democracy that there is,"
she said.
Owen, whose Vancouver-Quadra riding has the largest concentration
of Jewish voters in the province, said the Jewish Vancouverites
who helped on his campaign were a big factor.
"This community was tremendously organized, effective and supportive,"
he said.
Owen said he is unlikely to run in the Liberal leadership race,
while former Liberal health minister Dosanjh said his French is
not strong enough to compete for the job. Chan, the former Liberal
multiculturalism minister who also told the Independent he would
not run for leader, said that he was "very disappointed"
that the new government has no minister responsible for multiculturalism.
"They don't believe in the equality of culture," Chan
said of the Conservative party. "They just didn't get it. Having
a parliamentary secretary to the prime minister on it is not the
same as appointing a minister responsible for the file."
Chan, too, thanked Jewish voters, saying he would likely have lost
without their support.
"We all support the Charter [of rights and Freedoms]. There's
a lot of common values that we share. I have plans to work with
the Jewish community to further the cause, not only for Canada,
but for issues around the world," Chan said.
The Liberal JPAC is led by Howard Stein and Bernie Simpson. JPACs
that support other parties exist, but they were not as active in
British Columbia as the Liberal branch.
Pat Johnson is editor of MVOX Multicultural Digest, www.mvox.ca.
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