Grewal to run uncontested?!

wow, what a boneheaded move!

Good. Lalli created too much unnecessary controversy and was a distraction. Nina can now focus on what she and Gurmant Grewal do best - winning elections.

They were the first husband and wife team and Nina Grewal is a great asset for the Tories - a strong Indo-Canadian woman.

The Tories should use her more and move her into cabinet after the next election and what will be her third win!!

I guess the committee decided that those rumours of many Liberals backing Lalli were convincing . . .

Should not Mr Lali had been a little smarter before he started his attack campaign on the Grewals and been approved to run by the party. Now he looks like a complete fool.

Gurmant Grewal is an embaressment to the party and his wife will lose the next election.Lalli does not look like a fool the party does!

Are you saying that the Conservative Party of Canada has undemocratically told a member he can't be a candidate for election.

Gee, where I come from we let the voters make that decision.

Is there something we don't know about in the CPC that allows those entrusted to do the right thing to simply choose favorites, while the party membership is treated as a pack of baboons who will do as they are told?

Have I missed a few lessons in democracy?

I posted it hear a couple of weeks back. Nina and Gurmant made good with that visit by the PM to Surrey, and introducing the PM to thousands of Indo Cdns at the park for that event made headlines. I also predict that Newton ND will have heavy "Grewal" backing and anything will go to kick Sukhs butt. Lalli got it by the grewals. Politics is tough and the Grewals have the toughest skin around here. To the victor go the spoils

lol

Well...I guess the party realized that a battle so ugly would only do damage. Lalli lost in Squamish and now he lost here without even running. Pretty sad for the so called "golden boy".

I don't mean to digress but I don't see the need to qualify what a Canadian is. A Canadian is a Canadian. I don't live in Indo-Canada or Scots-Canada or Madagascar-Canada. I believe the only "official" exception is French-Canada.

With the inevitable change in demographics in the Western Hemisphere I suppose the next "offical" change will be Spanish-Canadians.

I don't care to hear anymore about Indo-Canadians or Chinese-Canadians or American-Canadians or anything other than Canadians. Why can't these candidates be referred to as simply Canadians?

There are some things we just have to let go.

The conservative party have shot themselves in the foot, first they say they won't protect any candidates and now this.... Nina will lose the next election for sure.

Does this guy live in Surrey or is he parachuting in from Squamish? If the latter, I can see why they'd reject him.

So much for Chris Gardner and crew...

"Are you saying that the Conservative Party of Canada has undemocratically told a member he can't be a candidate for election."

Them's the rules, but it usually something extra-ordinary that would cause them to do that.

You don't know the entire picture.

"Gee, where I come from we let the voters make that decision."

Where the federal Liberals come from, the leader does that for them.

"Is there something we don't know about in the CPC that allows those entrusted to do the right thing to simply choose favorites, while the party membership is treated as a pack of baboons who will do as they are told?"

You don't and we don't know the entire picture.

The federal Liberals and NDP are baboons who do as they are told. Witness the candidate appointments made by Chretien and Martin. The federal Liberals are too scared to strip that power away from their leader.

"Have I missed a few lessons in democracy?"

The federal Liberals sure have.

Sumthin' aint right with Lali's campaign.

Lalli moved to Surrey prior to the last federal election.

Surrey Girl is right - good riddance to Lalli. When it comes to real politics no one plays it better than the Grewals.

Remember, Gurmant nearly brought down the Federal Liberal Government single handedly.

Bring on Sukh Dhaliwal:)

What's with all this ANTI-TORY PRO-LALLI support..lol...That is a good sign for the conservatives though. It shows that the liberals are starting to fear us. I say carry on, Grewals, and use your influence to your advantage.

Some valuable lessons for those hoping to avoid being "Lalli-popped" in the blood sport of politics:

1. do not move into a community and think that you are going to unseat an incumbent MP - it will only succeed if you have an organization as well-oiled at that of Russ Heibert's in South Surrey when he defeated incumbent MP Val Meredith.

2. do not fight everyone in the party and expect to win friends and win nominations. Few supported Lalli - locally and in the party organization.

3. do not go to a gun fight carrying a knife. Lalli had nothing on the ground. Anyone can sign up 2,200 "members" in Surrey. In the end,it was clear Lalli had no one but himself.

4. do not go up against a successful incumbent. Nina and Gurmant are a political force to be reckoned with in Surrey - make no mistake they have a machine and when they use it they win.

Look at Surrey Councillor Tom Gill, if it were not for the Grewals, Tom Gill would not be on Surrey City Council today.

5. Finally, get a reality check. Lalli fell victim to his own ego. I met Lalli once, and yes he is a nice guy. But if you believed his story, he was single-handedly going to win every riding in Surrey.

A Party is about a common vision and working toward common goals - Lalli was not a team player and was clearly a loose cannon.

Na na na na, na, na, na, Paul Lalli good bye:)

Drover... your post makes it sound like Nina just won a fair and square nomination battle.

Lalli didnt lose because hes a paraschute (after 1 year, hes still a paraschute?!), or because he didnt have a well oiled organization, or because he has no supporters, or because the grewals are a political machine. Those would be valid points to make on the day after a legitimate loss at a nomination meeting, if Lalli couldnt get more people out than Nina.

No. Lalli probably lost because someone in Ottawa didnt like him enough to let him run, or because someone in Ottawa liked Nina too much to allow a competition.

This is what I think of the situation. Whoever is the Conservative contestant for Fleetwood--Port Kells regardless will loose more votes if another election is called in the Fall due to our opportunist Prime Minister who wants to have a majority government in his palms to ruin the lives of Canadians.

Bob - I guess you are forgetting that the CPC is indeed a democratic party.

1. the party did not protect Chuck Cadman and oversaw a fair nomination meeting that resulted in Chuck Cadman losing to Jasbir Cheema.

2. the party did not protect Val Meredith and oversaw a fair nomination meeting that resulted in Val Meredith losing to Russ Hiebert.

Lalli was disqualified. The issue here is not the protection of an incumbent, but about a candidate not meeting the criteria set down by the party.

Bob, surely you are not advocating that Lalli be given special treatment?? How democratic is that??

Nina will win again in Fleetwood and the Grewals will play a key role in bringing down Sukh Dhaliwal in Newton!!

For your information; I belive this is a rule that came with the mergers of the two parties. At that time any one who want to run for Alliance Party had to be approved by the Nomination board. It was to weed out bad backgrounds, wing nuts and single interest people, that would not be in the best interest on the Alliance Party. All parties have some type of check.

This nomination was going to be a battle fought between two distinct camps. Chris Gardner apparently worked tirelessly to advise and manage Lalli. I wonder of if this defeat will hurt Gardner and further more hurt Mayor Watts. Watts is doing a great job but her only advisor is Gardner. The follow out from this, unfortunately, will hurt Watts.

BLT - on that point you are wrong. Gardner stays away from Federal politics like the plague. As for Watts - the Grewals supported McCallum in the last election so who cares. Watts remains very popular.

I dont know how much faith you can have in Nina if you are a Conservative member in Fleetwood Port-Kells...

All the wingnuts posting here about what they think happened are incredible.

Lalli's support was so deep the party was flooded with calls yesterday. He was getting calls at home from long time Grewal supporters who had had enough--that was from when he first announced. Two of them wanted to write significant funds.

Drover, surrey girl, Anth and the rest of you who are on the Grewal gravy train should pay attention:

1) The Grewals are done. The party was scared out of their mind when they saw the support Lalli was getting.

2) The local EDA is populated with some anti-abortion types. Lalli recognizes still that wedge issues aren't at the forefront of Canadians minds. Well that wasn't good enough for some of the EDA. Nina has the support of that group. Nice folks.

3) Chris Gardner will not be hurt by this simply because the CPC mishandled this so very badly that when the full story comes out there will be many a Grewal hoover that will be eating crow pie by the handful.

4) When was the last time the Grewals did a fundraiser? Lalli's people were preparing an event that already had a committed group just north of 1100 people.

5) Between the last two elections we lost 50,000 votes. The trend is downward for Nina, not upward.

CPC mismanagement in throughout the valley is what has caused this.

Lalli came along and whipped up such supporter Nina had two meetings with party brass to whine and complain. Then the lies started.

Wait until the full story comes out.

Lalli and his crew look like a million dollars in this affair. It is the Tories and more like the Alliance losers who are still playing with the controls that have screwed this up.

Drover old pal!

You finally have posted something that makes sense!

Gardner is a demi-god in Surrey. This whole matter makes him look even better. Where d'ya think the groundswell of support came from for Lalli?

Watts is extremely popular. She's on her way up, way, way up.

Meanwhile, the Grewals.....

No one ever looks like a million dollars after any nomination or in this case possible nomination battle. As for Chris Gardner who has earned his stripes but in this case he made a big mistake. Watts victory had more to do with voters throwing McCallum out than anything. When a political advisor starts to feel as though they are made of teflon there is a real problem. Gardner went at it for the right reasons in the wrong way with Lalli. Lalli worked with Gardners network but the network fell short. I also think it is short sighted when politiicans start relying on their press and losing sight of the people are to represent. Polular today but gone tomorrow

I think the Conservative Party just alienated about 2200 members supporting Paul Lalli. These members are looking for alternatives to voting for Nina Grewal. Not a good situation for Nina, considering she only won this riding by about 900 votes last time around. I think the Party, unknowingly, just lost this riding...

This is against everything I as a conservative member believe in. By disqualifying Paul it shows that the process is not open and transparent. It's not democratic ...its wrong!

Certainly the CPC was ham-fisted in dealing with Lalli the way they did. The CPC has succeeded in alienating someone who when out worked hard and signed up 2,200 members.

This had nothing to do with McCallum, Falcon, Hayer, Priddy, Watts or Dhaliwal - all of which watched the goings on with great interest and no of whose backroom people got involved.

While many conspiracies theories abound, other than the Grewals, there was no involvement by the major front room or back room players in Surrey in this race.

The hard work was all Lalli's, the CPC mishandled the entire affair. Lalli may have miscalculated the willingness of the CPC to protect Nina Grewal, but other than that, he conducted himself well.

The result is that the CPC has turned an otherwise safe CPC seat into a swing riding.

The real question is: what will Lalli do now / next?????

How did Lalli fail?
1. The CPC had rules (silly things - like the candidate had to be a member for at least 6 months to be eligible) - You'd think a true blue Tory like Lalli would have been a member longer than June of 2006, especially if he wanted to run as a candidate in the fall of 2006.
2. The CPC asks candidates to keep their campaigns against fellow Tories positive - not call the press to attack your opponent or tell Peter O'Neil your aren't trying to defeat Nina Grewal but that its superlalli mano a mano against Gurmant Grewal.
3. Claiming you now live in riding, but having the home address you give registered to another owner who actually lives there with his family makes one a tad suspicious. One could claim to be renting the property I guess, but you'd think a full time renter would have his own phone. Lalli's home phone number is listed as belonging to the non absentee homeowner. You do get an answering machine for Lalli though. Maybe that's what he meant by moving into the riding.
4. Assuming 2200 new memberships would be enough is simply wishful thinking on Lalli's behalf. He didn't have enough support by a very wide margin.

Paul Lalli got more media attention than any other candidate. Nina was very scared. The puppeteers don't want him in.