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This article was published 13/12/2014 (2190 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
PHOTO COURTESY JOHN SCOTT
Rolf Dinsdale in a photo taken by Brandon photographer John Scott for a poster promoting a performance by the Liberal Party of Canada Brandon-Souris nominee in September at the Double Decker Tavern.
OTTAWA – The Liberal candidate who almost staged a major political upset in Brandon-Souris last year says he only lost the 2013 byelection because of meddling by the national Liberal office,
Rolf Dinsdale issued a scathing letter on Facebook on Friday, saying he won’t be seeking the nomination for the riding again and that "the Liberal Party has made deciding not to run an easy choice for me to make."
But a Liberal party source said Dinsdale is blaming everyone but himself for the loss and doesn’t even live in Brandon.
"He’s always playing the victim," said the source.
The dispute is the latest in a string of nomination dustups pitting Leader Justin Trudeau against candidates who say Trudeau’s promise to have open nominations in every riding is a lie.
The Liberals came within 391 votes of defeating Conservative Larry Maguire in November 2013, in large part because of a party nomination dispute among the Conservatives which prompted Killarney-Turtle Mountain Mayor Rick Pauls to announce plans to run as an independent.
Dinsdale, already seeking the Liberal nomination, said he was thrilled at the prospect of seeing Pauls split the vote with Maguire, leaving the Liberals to come through the middle with a win.
Instead, he says everything went haywire when the Liberals decided to lure Pauls in to run against Dinsdale for the Liberal nomination.
"This outside meddling in the Brandon-Souris Liberal nomination had the triple effect of damaging my confidence, delaying my nomination, and taking away the advantage a conservative family-feud and split vote would have provided the Liberals," Dinsdale wrote.
In the end Dinsdale defeated Pauls for the nomination, but lost the election to Maguire.
Dinsdale also says the party has gone to great lengths since the byelection to find someone other than him to run in the next election. He says he’s giving up and staying in Toronto, where his 10-year-old daughter lives, so he can continue to share custody of her with her mother.
Two people have announced intentions to run in Brandon-Souris, including Brandon realtor and decorated Afghanistan war veteran Glen Kirkland, and Brandon lawyer Jodi Wyman. Thus far Wyman is the only one who has been given the green light by the national party to seek the nomination.
Liberals close to the riding say Dinsdale brought the entire thing on himself because he took forever to actually file his nomination papers, and had he done so he would have been acclaimed as the candidate long before Pauls was in the picture.
Pauls was recruited on the advice of riding association members who were not thrilled with Dinsdale’s lack of action and worried that he would be seen as a parachute candidate. He already had lived in Toronto, returning to Brandon shortly before the seat became open.
A Liberal said Dinsdale would probably have been the Liberals preferred candidate in Brandon because he did so well in 2013 and has good local name recognition (his father was beloved Conservative cabinet minister Walter Dinsdale).
However he upset local Liberals because after the byelection he fled back to Toronto, not even bothering to show up to thank volunteers. The source also said the party steered $125,000 to` the riding, lots of organizers, and three visits by Trudeau.
"We threw everything and the kitchen sink at it," he said.
Trudeau and his team are facing numerous allegations of meddling in local contents, maneuvering to ensure their preferred candidates get on the ballot. In two ridings in Ontario Trudeau is facing a defamation lawsuit after candidates were barred from running for the nomination for differing reasons.
In 2013 Trudeau pledged he would allow open nominations, although he later clarified that did not mean he would stay entirely out of the process. The party also reserves the right to deny anyone the right to run, and all candidates must get the green light from the national office.