Thursday, April 20, 2006

Orchard Gearing Up

I was forwarded this e-mail about a David Orchard event going on in Alberta tonight. It seems David is doing the whole West Coast blitz, so I'd certainly consider him as a possible LPC leadership candidate at this point.


Hello friends,

Thanks for the ideas and suggestions for the venue for David's meeting with friends and supporters. We chose the *Student Union Bldg of the Taylor University College and Seminary at 11525 ­ 23rd Ave, for April 20 at 7 pm*. (very cheap).There is plenty of parking on the campus, and the entry is from Saddleback Road. You can see the facility at http://www.taylor-edu.ca/about/ourcampus/facilities.htm, and there is a map there that you can click for the details. The meeting room is a big room opposite the library.

David is flying from BC earlier that day and will return to Saskatoon later on Friday, to attend an anti-nuclear conference in Saskatoon on the 22nd (http://www.icucec.org), and then meet with supporters on the 24th. He is also a guest speaker at a Liberal party event later that week, presenting his vision for Canada.

I will be sending an e-mail notice to all within a travelling distance from Edmonton, and we will have to call quite a number of people. If anyone of you can call people about the meeting, please let me know and I'll get you a list of names. And if you can help in some way at the meeting, let me know, too.

All the best,

50 Comments:

  • Well rumour had it he was going to support Godfrey.

    By Blogger Dan McKenzie, at 3:16 p.m.  

  • Wait a moment.. if you LPCers are lucky the greatest Liberal of all will through his hat into the leadership race.......... Joe Clark ( after all he belongs to no party at this time) and he's a westerner (ha,ha)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:20 p.m.  

  • This is a case where I wish our big tent was a little smaller.

    Can't we tell Orchard that our egoist, arrogant quota is allredy filled, inless he can convince Volpe to join the Tories.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:33 p.m.  

  • Great news to see Orchard in the race. He'll bring in a lot of support to the party.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:51 p.m.  

  • its time for new ideas and new blood in the party. And Orchard is young, too. Kudos! He's my number one pick.

    By Blogger Tarkwell Robotico, at 3:59 p.m.  

  • Orchard was always out of place in the Conservative party. Good to see our political tourist putting in a courtesy call to the Liberals on his way to the NDP.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:06 p.m.  

  • Speaking on behalf of former PC Party members everywhere, let me just say that payback is a lot of fun. Enjoy having this crazed egomaniac in your midst for a while. You'll discover that all he brings with him are a handful of nationalist zombies, attracted by a cult of personality surrounding Orchard and little else.

    Once he fails to win the leadership, you'll never be able to get his disciples to lift a finger for your party in any other way. He can cause you some grief in a weak riding association, but he lacks the overall strength to be anything more than a nuisance.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:07 p.m.  

  • That is sad. Orchard has "supporters" who will drink the Kool-Aid for him.

    He is living proof that not all press for a party is good press.

    By Blogger Shaky, at 4:20 p.m.  

  • oh and CG,

    I started the first rumour about Orchard running. Right here on your blog. Har! Har!

    By Blogger Tarkwell Robotico, at 4:34 p.m.  

  • Have you seen that guy's eyebrows? Man, that's scary.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:38 p.m.  

  • I called for Orchard to run after meeting him at the Copps event. Not only was he one of the most charming and approcahable people their he was respectful to the women giving speeches and I liked him a lot. Organic Farmer from Saskatchewan, experienced MP, progressive but not conservative. I didn't think he was considering it but he would be a much better fit for LPC leadership than a few people who are in the race. Very interesting.

    By Blogger S.K., at 4:41 p.m.  

  • David Orchard is going to play David Orchard in the Liberal Leadership non-Race, is that it? Fine.

    Who's going to play Peter MacKay?

    By Blogger Budd Campbell, at 4:45 p.m.  

  • Can the Liberals rename themselves Progressive Conservatives and be done with it.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:52 p.m.  

  • Recruiting David Orchard has to come as a blow to the CPC. What a gain for the Liberals.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:06 p.m.  

  • "Organic Farmer from Saskatchewan, experienced MP, progressive but not conservative."

    Orchard has never been an MP. Liberals will love his stance on gun control, military spending and same sex marriage.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:17 p.m.  

  • Yeah he'll fit right in. All I can say to the Libs is that you guys loved him so much when he was bringing the PC Party down from the inside, now he's your problem now. Have fun!

    By Blogger McGuire, at 5:30 p.m.  

  • I don't wish David Orchard on anyone, not even the Liberal Party. I thought that he would have defected to Cuba by now. Have fun rehashing the anti-NAFTA arguments of yesteryear with that one.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:07 p.m.  

  • Orchard is like a Canadian Lou Dobbs. Anti-Free Trade, Anti- Globalization, but still firmly right wing in terms of social policy like abortion, gay marriage and the like.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:22 p.m.  

  • Orchard is a douche...plain and simple. At least I have someone who I hate more than Volpe in the race.

    By Blogger Zac, at 6:36 p.m.  

  • Orchard is going to support Joe Volpe

    -Toronto Liberal

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:49 p.m.  

  • Many of the authors of NAFTA are rehashing anti-NAFTA arguements. How many times can one 'partner' ignore rules and rulings before an agreement becomes worthless than the paper its written on. What is it they owe us now for softwood $5 or $7 billion. IS that US or Canadian?

    Sorry I though Orchard had been an MP.

    By Blogger S.K., at 7:24 p.m.  

  • curious sb,

    what's $5billion in terms of % of annual trade?

    By Blogger Tarkwell Robotico, at 7:30 p.m.  

  • chuckercanuck,

    exactly.....how much do we lose if we cancel nafta and close down the border? I bet its a whole lot more than 5 billion over 12 years

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:40 p.m.  

  • you can do better

    By Blogger Jim, at 8:47 p.m.  

  • Could Orchard be the next Trudeau?

    This could erode the Tory base away?

    The Liberals might just make a breakthrough in the West if he was Leader?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:10 p.m.  

  • I'd love to see Brison and Orchard in the race, then we'd know that the Liberal party is doomed to be a perenial loser running on the fumes of a sucessful past.

    By Blogger Chris, at 9:16 p.m.  

  • y'know what's funny.....
    David wanted to run in Mississauga Erindale as liberal in the last election. Luckily the riding association pushed and got a nomination

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:08 p.m.  

  • Well, let's not read too much into this.

    David Orchard supporters were able to sign up 25% of the candidates at the Progressive Conservatives last leadership convention, but the party was almost moribund, holding 15 seats.

    The Liberals, holding over 100 seats, are far from moribund.

    I do have to ask, how many supporters does David Orchard have? While he hasn't a hope of influencing the Liberal Party, much, the Liberals could get a bit of a boost if they all bought memberships. How much does it cost to join?

    By Blogger James Bow, at 10:56 p.m.  

  • I wouldn't underestimate Orchard in this race. Since all ridings gets 14 delegates for leadership conventions, the 50 people Orchard can sign up in Crowfoot are worth 10 times 50 people another candidate can sign up in Calgary Centre. I don't think it's unreasonable to say Orchard could go to the convention with a fair voting bloc.

    Membership fees vary from province to provice - it's 10$ in Alberta. I don't have a problem with the guy runnings - it brings in money and new people to the Liberal Party and he has zero chance of winning.

    By Blogger calgarygrit, at 11:23 p.m.  

  • CG,

    I've sat in on meetings where David Orchard supporters were present. You think the Martinites were kool-aid drinkers? You have not meet a kool-aid drinker until you talk to an Orchard fan. David Orchard could get them to commit ritual suicide en mass in Regina if he told them that he information that aliens were coming to earth to destory it in revenge for Peter McKay.

    The Liberal Party is down and out right now, but I really hope we are not so weak that we need a little bit of cash from some border line insane Orchardites. They could proabably take the majority of delagetes in rural Manitoba and Saskewan (15 ridings) plus there have to be enough wackaloons in other places across the country to cheery pick a few more in weak riding association. The last thing I want while getting pissed drunk at the convention is to listin to some guy lecture me on the danger of cell phones of giving me cancer or whatever wackaloon issue Orchard is going to push.


    I don't like Joe Volpe and think he is easily the worst choice (including the urinating Fiddler guy), but I would be wearing a Volpe pin before I would ever support Orchard.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:46 p.m.  

  • Not me...Orchard before Volpe and then I burn my membership card.

    By Blogger Zac, at 11:53 p.m.  

  • Did anyone see that Brian Mulrony love-in on CBC tonight?

    He is the GREATEST Green PM ever according to the environmental activists. Plus he can still light up a room. Instead of looking at all these old bad toris like Stronach, Keith Martin, Brison, or Orchard, why not go for the prime cut from the PC's?


    Brian Mulroney for Liberal Leader!

    You hear a lot of Liberals say that they fear a turn to the left, so why not go with the Mulrony jugernaught?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:00 a.m.  

  • The Liberal Party may be morally bankrupt and do anything to regain power, but unless you can show me some realy good poll numbers that Mulroney would do well than I will act outraged.

    If however he does poll well than count me on the bandwagon.

    Mulroney is emotive, that's for sure! And I guess he likes the environment. So he would have Cherniak's vote for sure.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:32 a.m.  

  • Whenever I hear the name, "Orchard" I think of "dull".
    I have seen him give some speaches and being interviewed in the past, he came across as dull.

    If Harper does not cut the GST on gas, as a conservative, I may throw my hat into the liberal three ring circus as well and join Mr.Dull.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:12 a.m.  

  • It's good that he is running. We need as many new ideas as possible. And he will have re-juvenate the party as well financially as he will bring in tonnes of new people to the party. He also brings in farm vote which is rare for Liberals.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:06 a.m.  

  • He's an organic farmer and has a hands on opinion of Genetically modified crops. Check out his web site. Chantel Hebert says today in the star that a green agenda is the best way to win over voters in Canada today. You bet talking about GMO's in the leadership debate will bring on young organized voters. The greens are taking 5% of the vote in every general electionbecause Canadians do care about these issues.

    This debate and these ideas would be most welcome in the Leadership race and make it interesting to a whole lot of Canadians. I hope he joins the race. We could do worse than a farmer from Saskatchewan in the race for Liberal Leader. It would look good on us.

    Calling people's supporters insane is really jeuvenile by the way.

    By Blogger S.K., at 10:17 a.m.  

  • s.b you are insane, and do a diservice to whatever candidate you support and I say that as a Kennedy supporter.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:29 a.m.  

  • Well David had an event in Edmonton last night, the average age was 69, so I highly doubt he is bringing in "young voters". I think you should stick to talking about how there is not going to be a kingmaker at this convention s.b. because of the fact that you have to list your support from 1-10 and stay away from Orchard, cause you know about an equal amount about both.

    Sincerely
    A guy still laughing at your holier than though "there will be no kingmaker" post that you quickly took down when you realized you had no idea what you were talking about

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:51 a.m.  

  • I've seen Orchard up close and spoken with him on a number of occassions...he seems like a reasonable guy in person. What worries me about him is the religious devotion of his supporters. Wherever he goes, there's a group of little old ladies who staff him as well as any cabinet minister is. I can't quite explain it, but it's certainly quite creepy. This guy obviously cannot win this race (thank God!) but he could go to Montreal with 10-15% of the delegates, which is a scary thought indeed. I pray that he doesn't run every night...he's not a Liberal.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:20 p.m.  

  • You know, no one knows everything and the great thing about blogs is dialogue. I have always welcomed corrections when they were necessary for things I have written and appologized if I offended someone.

    I've never been at a Liberal leadership convention, so I asked at our AGM how it was going to work.

    The outline of how the leadership vote was given to me and the entire riding association by a high ranking member of the National Executive. This person is involved in how that vote will be made. Why it would be descibed as a preferential ballot in detail and at length, by an LPC executive member, I don't know. If it weren't for the constitution, I wouldn't place bets that there won't be a preferential ballot in Dec.

    Perhaps that's what we'll see in the future, as this executive member is also one of the members of the Liberal Renewal Committee. We'll see.

    Hey Anonymous, supposed Kennedy supporter, you are juvenile. You know jeuvenile is ok whe you're having fun, but not when you're acting like a bully. Like I've said before, if all you can do is attack me then I guess you don't have too much to either defend in your candidate (I doubt Kennedy) or attack in mine. Attack me all you want. It delegitimizes you. But I guess that's why you're anonymous.

    By Blogger S.K., at 3:37 p.m.  

  • actually sb you delegitimize every candidate you support because no one want to be known as the wacko's choice for leader

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:04 p.m.  

  • No one wants to be known as anonymous' choice for leader. Or should I say the anonymi choice for leader.

    You know what's funny. Wackos vote. So do insane people. So do douches. So do convicted criminals. So do lots of people. Let's just say for a momment that I am a wacko, insane douche, criminal. So what?

    I'm not running for office or Liberal leader. I'm entitled to an opinion.

    I vote, which is more than about 35% of eligible Canadians. Being a part of a political party makes me more formally politically involved than 98% of Canadians. Participating actively in political discussions on political blogs is what, more involved than 99.999% of Candians, or something like that. I'm just guessing there.

    Not to mention I've taken several second and third year University courses in History, Politics, Modern Political Phylosophy, Sub Saharan African Politics, Latin American Politics, Women's Studies, and continue to be interested in these topics to this day. That doesn't make me an expert or anything, just more informed than the vast majority of Canadians.

    You must not have a lot of respect for average Canadians opinions if you heap that much scorn on me, eh anonymi?

    Canadians are just insane, wacko douches etc.etc. if they have an opinion you disagree with or, god forbid, get a fact wrong on a post or comment.

    No political leader should want the endorsement of anyone so cowardly and distainful of Canadians and our opinions as the anonymi.

    By Blogger S.K., at 5:09 p.m.  

  • Orchard beat Brison last time. Can Scottie best Davie this time around?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:52 a.m.  

  • Mais. Mr. Orchard, le nut job d'Ouest, ne parlez pas le francais, la meme comme Ms Belinduh at s'il ne parlez pas le ding-dong, ne leadership pas le Party-On Liberals de Torrana & Montreal

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:33 a.m.  

  • If David Orchard does run he could be competing with Joe Volpe over who gets to be the kingmaker.

    For me I would expect that he would be reluctant to support Michael Ignaetief and be more ampt to back either Bob Rae or Gerald Kennedy. After all like Orchard those two are most likely the closest to the NDP in terms of philosophy.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:26 p.m.  

  • By Blogger raybanoutlet001, at 1:19 a.m.  

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