PM tries to calm Copps commotion

By BRUCE CHEADLE
Canadian Press

[Ottawa]  Paul Martin was ready to guarantee the Liberal nomination of
Sheila Copps if she'd agreed to switch ridings, the Prime Minister said
Wednesday.

Ms. Copps, locked in a bitter nomination battle with a Martin cabinet
minister in Hamilton, Ont., rejected a colleague's offer earlier this week
that would have opened up another riding. Mr. Martin confirmed Wednesday he
had approved veteran MP Beth Phinney's offer, and had agreed to ensure Ms.
Copps received the nomination in Ms. Phinney's riding of Hamilton Mountain.
"Beth actually put it to me quite straight: 'Would you be prepared if
there was going to be a problem, would you be prepared to appoint Sheila?'
And I said, yes, unequivocally," said the Prime Minister.

His guarantee appears to fly in the face of earlier statements from Mr.
Martin that the fight between Ms. Copps and Transport Minister Tony Valeri
in Hamilton East-Stoney Creek was a local matter, and that MPs had to be
prepared to fight on the ground for their nominations. Local Liberal party
members, Mr. Martin said earlier this month, "should choose who their
member of Parliament is. This is a battle that is taking place
locally."

But the Copps-Valeri spat is clearly taking a toll on the party that Mr.
Martin would like to see stop. "I think it's really very, very
unfortunate," Mr. Martin said. "I really hope that it can be
worked out."

Ms. Copps was campaigning door-to-door in Hamilton on Wednesday afternoon,
said an aide, and was not immediately available for comment. But in
rejecting Ms. Phinney's offer on Tuesday, the former deputy prime minister,
heritage minister and two-time Liberal leadership hopeful said the entire
episode smacks of backroom politics and is disrespectful of voters.
"We are treading on dangerous ground as Liberals if this is how we
think we respect democracy," Ms. Copps said. The irony, she added, is
that Mr. Martin was claiming he couldn't intervene. "My initiative was
to ask the Prime Minister to ask Tony Valeri to go to the riding where he
lives, and he's told me that he can't interfere."

Recent electoral boundary redistribution melded the old ridings of Mr.
Valeri and Ms. Copps into one, but Mr. Valeri lives across the riding
boundary in neighbouring Stoney Creek-Niagara, which includes a wide swath
of rural voters. Ms. Copps has also been courted by the NDP, and has not
ruled out the possibility of switching parties should she lose the Liberal
nomination in Hamilton East-Stoney Creek.


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