Do you think this will help Anne?
Clark, McLellan: They had it made
Greg Weston learns of a secret plot by the Tories and Liberals to rig key ridings in 2000 election
In what may have been a series of similar deals, sources say the Tories also agreed to "stand down" to help Liberal Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan hang on to her Edmonton seat, which she won by only 733 votes.
....
A strong Conservative candidate supported by the national party could well have stripped away the 734 Liberal votes from McLellan that would have given the riding to the Canadian Alliance candidate, Betty Unger.
Instead, the Tories acclaimed Rory Koopermans to run, a then 25-year-old political neophyte with almost no money or organization.
Koopermans says he knew nothing of any backroom deal, and that he campaigned hard, even though he had "absolutely no chance" of winning and got barely 6% of the votes cast.
But he does admit he got no financial or organizational help from the national party, and not even an encouraging phone call from the Tory leadership.
Greg Weston learns of a secret plot by the Tories and Liberals to rig key ridings in 2000 election
In what may have been a series of similar deals, sources say the Tories also agreed to "stand down" to help Liberal Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan hang on to her Edmonton seat, which she won by only 733 votes.
....
A strong Conservative candidate supported by the national party could well have stripped away the 734 Liberal votes from McLellan that would have given the riding to the Canadian Alliance candidate, Betty Unger.
Instead, the Tories acclaimed Rory Koopermans to run, a then 25-year-old political neophyte with almost no money or organization.
Koopermans says he knew nothing of any backroom deal, and that he campaigned hard, even though he had "absolutely no chance" of winning and got barely 6% of the votes cast.
But he does admit he got no financial or organizational help from the national party, and not even an encouraging phone call from the Tory leadership.