Federal Liberal leadership candidate Bob Rae's British Columbia campaign chair promised federal Liberals supporting his candidate a "celebration dinner.†But, in an interview with Public Eye, Mason Loh said that dinner won't violate party regulations forbidding candidates from incurring campaign expenses "for the purpose of facilitating in any manner whatsoever...the presence of any member of the Party at a delegate selection meeting.â€
At issue: on September 25, Mr. Loh sent a letter to supporters inviting them to attend a dinner scheduled for sometime in October. Those wanting "admission" to the dinner were instructed to "bring the envelope for this invitation to my volunteers at the polling station for stamping before you cast your vote." But Mr. Loh says the dinner invitation was "absolutely not" meant to encourage Rae voters to show up to delegate selection meetings.
"When you want to thank people after a campaign, you have to know who are your supporters and who are your volunteers. And you have to make a list of all these people that you're going to make sure you thank at the celebration. So basically it's a way of keeping track of who your volunteers and supporters are," explained the former Vancouver-Kingsway nomination candidate.
Mr. Loh also suggested questions were being raised about the dinner by "sitting MPs or some MP wannabes who aren't happy they couldn't even get their own members in the riding to vote for the people they support. They're obviously not supporting Bob Rae. So they're trying to kick up a fuss when there's no fuss."
***
Mason Loh, Q.C.
INVITATION
September 25, 2006
Dear Friends,
Re: Liberal Party Leadership Race - Bob Rae & Celebration Dinner
Thank you again for signing up to be a member of the Liberal Party of Canada to support Bob Rae's bid to be its leader. You should have received a notice from the Party for a:
HISTORIC MEETING
Date: Friday, September 29, 2006
Time: Between 5:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m.
Place: Birch and Alder Rooms,
Executive Plaza Hotel and Conference Centre
405 North Road, Coquitlam
Identiication: Bring either "a" or "b"
a. Driver's License; or
b: Student ID - Senior Card - Immigrant Card - Landing Paper - Citizenship Card - Care Card - or any other photo ID.
** For ID "b", you need one more proof of address such as, phone bill, utility bill, credit card bill; or bank statement.
Bob Rae has the experience, integrity and vision that the Party needs at this critical juncture. The result of this meeting will determine the future of our Party and our country. Therefore, I sincerely urge you to come to this meeting and vote for Bob and his delegates.
I also cordially invite you to a:
CELEBRATION DINNER
Admission: Please bring the envelope for this invitation to my volunteers at the polling station for stamping before you cast your vote.
Date, Place and Time: We will inform you in October.
If you have any questions, please contact Linda (Mandarin) or Sabrina (Catonese & English).
I look forward to seeing you at the historic meeting and the Celebration dinner.
Yours truly,
Mason Loh, Q.C.
B.C. Chair
Bob Rae's Leadership Campaign
It looks like the rules were broken.
But Chan broke them too with his bus.
So they're even.
Yawn. Can we please move on to other topics?
Mason better hope that Rae wins. He seems to have made a lot of enemies recently.
This is priceless. He better get close to Emerson/Harper that is the only way he will be a candidate in the next election unless Rae wins.
The chances of Rae winning are slim at best.
Mason has not learned about politics in Canada.
Hmm, here we go again...
I would think whoever is paying for the appreciation dinner needs to claim it as a political donation, as Mr. Loh as already confirmed that this event is for a political activity. Then, of course, it is also subject to individual contribution limits, etc. This the law, not simple internal Liberal party rules.
Speaking of internal party rules, it is clearly a function associated with the Bob Rae campaign, so the costs will also have to be reported as a leadership expense against his cap limit.
Somebody better make sure the paperwork on this is filed correctly.
Mason should smarten up. It's unwise to take on Raymond after an unsuccessful bid in Kingsway. Richmond will never be Mason's regardless.
The truth of the matter is Raymond could not care less when Mason was trying to dump his rage in RMD last Friday...Mason could get as jealous as he wants, but at the end of the day, Raymond is THE sitting MP and there is nothing Mason could do to change that.
The same goes for Kingsway, Yuan has been successfully nominated and she pulled 5 delegates for Dion on Sunday. If it's not at the mercy of Yuan's Indo-Canadian friends for Rae, Loh would have once again lost the battle to Yuan.
If I were Loh, I would not want to make so many enemies in the Liberal rank. Get over it, Mason. I hate to conclude that Raymond will remain to be the RMD sitting MP for a long time...and Bob Rae, a turn coat (sound familiar ? ) will never become the leader of Liberal Party.
I'm new at this game.Could Sam enlighten me as to what I should know about politics in Canada?I do not belong to any party at this time.
Tim
As I see it, this is another indication that the Liberal Leadership non-race is unfolding as it should. One of the Eastern Liberal Bloggers in Toronto, a Dion supporter, is quite certain that Joe Volpe will go to Bob Rae. Beautiful! The prospect of seeing Volpe embrace Rae, surrounded by Ujjal Dosanjh, Buzz Hargrove and Dave Haggard is enough to make me want to watch this non-event on TV when the small day finally rolls around.
Having watched the Mason Loh/Bob Rae operation in person at the Plaza 500 on Sunday in Vancouver, it was clear that a whole lot of Van-Kingsway supporters showed up envelope/invitation in hand pushing their way through the crowds to get their envelopes stamped in the Bob Rae/Mason Loh room.
Say what you will about Raymond and his bus, but how much different is it if "other organizers" rent 15 mini-vans and shuttle people around using those? Perhaps more efficient, if not as visibly in violation of rules, IMO.
Volpe going to Rae would be the last straw.
Marcus