Copps won't leave her home turf quietly

By GLORIA GALLOWAY
Canadian Press

(Stoney Creek, Ont.) The day after her ignoble defeat at the hands of a
Paul Martin cabinet minister on her beloved home turf, Sheila Copps was not
going quietly.

Defiant but calm, the former minister said she's considering a formal
challenge to Transport Minister Tony Valeri's nomination win in Hamilton
East-Stoney Creek. "A lot of these people are really hurting and I owe
it to them to explore whatever options are available, and if there are no
options, well, that's an option, too," said Ms. Copps as she entered a
Sikh temple in Stoney Creek to thank her supporters.

It was here in this gritty steeltown neighbourhood late Saturday night that
the Copps campaign received its fatal blow after weeks of frantic
scrounging for votes by both sides. Party sources said Mr. Valeri won by
just 311 ballots out of a healthy turnout of 5,313 votes cast. The woman
who once called herself "nobody's baby" said she's looking at all
options, including a formal appeal to the party and action through the
Canada Elections Act.

The political damage was palpable as the once-loyal Liberal footsoldier
cast blame on party brass and Prime Minister Paul Martin's own circle for
manipulating the process. "When the party takes sides, that's a
problem," she said. "When the leadership selectively uses the
rules to massage an outcome, that's a problem."

Mr. Valeri dismissed the insinuation as "rhetoric" from a
vanquished street fighter. He said Ms. Copps's claim that 400 of her
supporters who had transferred their memberships to the riding had been
left off the voting list by provincial wing officials was just a last-ditch
attempt to overcome his support. "I guess if the margin was 500, she'd
pick 600 [as the number of missing forms]  it's nothing more than
rhetoric." At least 500 of his own supporters had been left off the
list for the same reason, he said. The minister also said Ms. Copps'
complaint that the official list of members was delivered Friday at
midnight instead of seven full days ahead of the vote didn't hold water  he
got his list at the same time, he said.

Mr. Valeri contends the battle for the nomination in the newly-formed
riding had nothing to do with Mr. Martin's desire to purge the party of
remnants of the Jean Chr‚tien era, after years of animosity between the
prime minister and his predecessor. "I refute the argument," he
said. "We're Liberals. We're not Chr‚tien Liberals. We're not Martin
Liberals."

Does Mr. Valeri have strong feelings about knocking out a longtime Liberal
heavyweight? "Absolutely," he said. "I didn't relish the
fact we were in a nomination fight." But he adds, "every time
we've had a nomination battle, every time we've had a leadership race, the
party has come together."

Still, with similar bloody battles brewing elsewhere, political watchers
and the party's old guard are growing increasingly concerned about civil
war on the brink of an expected spring election call. A Pandora's box of
riding wars has opened up in Ontario, with sitting MPs striking out at each
other and charges that Mr. Martin's supporters are meddling in local
affairs.

Last November, Mr. Martin said he would not guarantee any sitting MP their
nomination. In Mississauga-Erindale, another epic battle was to be played
out Sunday between the feisty Carolyn Parrish and former cabinet minister
Steve Mahoney. In Ottawa on Saturday, Martin favourite David McGuinty beat
out former city councillor Diane Deans for the nomination in Ottawa South,
a riding his brother  Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty represents
provincially.

Mr. Deans had complained of being pressured by Mr. Martin's inner circle to
drop out of the race. Concerns about grassroots strength is greater than
before now that the Liberals have dropped in the polls in the wake of a
sponsorship scandal, which last week prompted Mr. Martin to fire two key
Chr‚tien appointees  Jean Pelletier and Marc LeFrancois at Via Rail.

Ms. Copps's strength grew last year across the country as she campaigned
against Mr. Martin for the party leadership; many of those organizers have
decided to opt out of involvement in a likely spring election as a result
of the Hamilton contest. Other star candidates will choose not to run after
the Hamilton battle. Former provincial Tory speaker Gary Carr, for example,
won't seek a Liberal nomination, sources said.

Ms. Copps confirmed Sunday she's received offers from ridings in B.C. and
Quebec to seek the Liberal nomination there. But she said first she wants
to get some sleep and talk to her family before making any decisions. She
has 72 hours to challenge the Valeri outcome at the party level, and her
organizers are collecting documents now, she said. But, Ms. Copps added,
"I don't have a tremendous amount of faith in the party to resolve
these issues."

And, for the first time in her 20-year federal career, Ms. Copps said she
may have to accept the message from above. "I guess the other [option]
is to hear the message which seems to be fairly loud and clear from the
current Liberal government that I guess they don't really want me in
Ottawa."


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