NDP candidate Constance Barnes says Leadnow's pursuit of strategic voting overlooks Liberals' support for Bill C-51
Last weekend, the citizens' group Leadnow was outside a Vancouver Safeway store encouraging people to vote for the local candidate best positioned to defeat the Conservatives in their riding.
The organization is collecting names, email addresses, and phone numbers so it can advise voters who's most likely to beat Stephen Harper's candidate in different ridings.
However, the NDP candidate in Vancouver Centre, Constance Barnes, says she has a problem with strategic voting.
She's competing against Liberal MP Hedy Fry, who's won seven consecutive elections in Vancouver Centre.
At an August 8 NDP rally at the Westin Bayshore, Barnes told the Straight that Liberal MPs voted for Harper's Anti-Terrorism Act 2015, aka Bill C-51.
"In this riding specifically, in Vancouver Centre, we just had the Pride parade," Barnes said. "It’s all about the charter of rights and freedoms. And what has happened is much of the charter is taken away with C-51. So when you look at strategic voting, we need to take into consideration that to vote Liberal is voting for a party that supported Bill C-51.”
Fry defended her party's position in her last newsletter to constituents, noting that Liberal amendments to Bill C-51 resulted in many improvements.
For example, she pointed out that new language ensures that peaceful protests remain legal. There are also new limitations over the minister's power to intervene over airlines.
In addition, Fry wrote that the Liberal amendments resulted in narrowing the information-sharing to "17 relevant government security departments, therefore restricting the possibility for abuse".
"Liberals believe that government has a duty to protect Canadians from threat while guarding their rights and freedoms," Fry stated.
Barnes, on the other hand, insisted that the government's antiterrorism bill overrides the charter.
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association announced last month that they're challenging aspects of the legislation in court.
The NDP candidate likened the Liberals' vote for Bill C-51 to her, as a Vancouver park commissioner, voting for an NPA-sponsored measure that she disagreed with—then promising to amend it after Vision regained control of the board.
"That's not the way that democracy, in my opinion, works," Barnes said. "I need to be listening to what the people of my riding are saying."
She added that she hasn't heard a single resident of Vancouver Centre tell her that they support Bill C-51.
"Pierre Elliott Trudeau fought long and hard to bring the charter of rights and freedoms in," Barnes said. "He now has a son who says, 'Guess what dad? Not so much.' "
Comments
20 Comments
Jim Green
Aug 10, 2015 at 12:32pm
Wait what? Barnes actually sounds reasonably sensible for once - the apocalypse must be nigh!
Progressive Change
Aug 10, 2015 at 2:12pm
The Liberal Party is not a progressive party. True they are not the Conservatives, but they aren't that far apart and their support of Bill C-51 is just another example of this. They have been voting in lockstep with the Conservative government for years now. I'll be voting NDP this time.
Phil Chamberlain
Aug 10, 2015 at 2:20pm
Barnes is clearly using unfounded fears about C-51 to drum up fear and hope that translates into votes.
The NDP voted *against* Liberal amendments to the bill and further limitations will happen when Trudeau is in government. That's responsible government.
Thank goodness these amendments passed, despite the NDP voting against them.
Hedy Fry has the experience and proven results to represent Vancouver Centre. Barnes is looking more and more inexperienced and appealing to empty populism more frequently as the election approaches.
Let's be clear.
Aug 10, 2015 at 2:24pm
Like the $15/hr minimum wage, the NDP are misleading on this.
NDP voted against the Liberals amendments to add parliamentary oversight, to not allow CSIS to arrest people.
So the NDP are in favour of having a police state, and preventing people from being arrested at protests. Pretty fickle politics with the NDP.
Ian B
Aug 10, 2015 at 3:22pm
Leadnow actively campaigned against Bill C-51 so Constance is right: if your values align with Leadnow and Charter rights, you should be voting NDP in this election.
@Phil
Aug 10, 2015 at 3:28pm
Stop you are exposing what has been Barnes MO from day one. I mean look at what she did at the parks board.
Warren Walker
Aug 10, 2015 at 5:13pm
Fry took pride in misleading voters with a story that the Liberals got amendments to one of the stupidest pieces of legislation Harper ever passed...LibCons is what I call the C51 supporters... and I don't see much difference between them.
Honestly, the more I've heard and seen of Tom Mulcair and Constance "Energizer Bunny" Barnes the more I support them. I've butted heads with both of them in the past and I've since changed my points-of-view in alignment with them.
Leadnow and the Greens are a distraction siphoning off valuable votes to Harper. I welcome them in 2019 to fight hard if the NDP doesn't fix Canada.
But right now my objective is to see Oilman Harper out on his ear, hopefully in jail, and the NDP in power.
I don't think people realize how much corruption that Oilman Harper has allowed on his watch. Luckily for Oilman Harper, lynching and tar-and-feather were outlawed last century. Maybe we can send him to China where Firing Squad is still legal.
Mischa O
Aug 10, 2015 at 8:06pm
Vote for the party that has a chance of forming government, the NDP, that's the soundest strategy there is. Barnes will fight for her constituents and will actually be around.
Yes please let's do be clear...
Aug 10, 2015 at 8:47pm
The NDP voted against Bill C-51 as it is an intrusion on the rights and freedoms of the Canadian public. This was a principled stance that they took even though at the time the Bill was actually quite popular with voters. However, when the details of the Bill became more widely known, people rightfully began to reject it in waves.
The Liberals, and this includes our own Hedy Fry, unfortunately didn't want to take a stance that they perceived to be unpopular and instead came up with some convoluted argument about how they opposed the Bill but would vote for it anyway. Now that's what I call leadership...
I'm sorry but I don't want a watered down version of this Bill. I don't want any version of this Bill. The NDP are the only party that will repeal it.
Vancouver Watcher
Aug 10, 2015 at 10:06pm
As usual, Barnes will say anything without regard to the truth. Ask any of members of the Boards of the Community Centers that she was the liaison from the Park Board. What a mess she and her fellow NDP/ Vision members left for new commissioners to straighten out. Barnes did not run again as she knew that she could not be reelected. The only NDP/Vision member who ran again was defeated. Note that only one member of the NDP/Vision party was elected to the Park Board and she was not an incumbent. Barnes was defeated in her attempt to run for a nomination provincially and now she wants to be an MP? Give the voters of Vancouver Centre a real NDP candidate they can feel good about voting for.