Canadians head to the polls in 10 days time. The Conservatives hold close to a 10 per cent lead in the polls, but that could change in light of a scandal brewing with one of their B.C. candidates.
Derek Zeisman, candidate in the Southern Interior riding, is facing charges of smuggling alcohol and a luxury car into B.C. He is accused of making false statements, attempting to evade duties and attempting to smuggle goods into Canada on July 3, 2004.
He claims he's innocent and expects to be exonerated on the charges when the case goes to trial on Feb. 6. The Conservative party claims they were never informed of the charges before Zeisman was named the candidate in the riding.
On Thursday, Conservative leader Stephen Harper said if Zeisman was elected, he could not sit as an MP until his legal troubles were resolved.
You are innocent until proven guilty, but this doesn't sit well with us. We understand it is too late for the Tories to remove him as a candidate, but Zeisman should voluntarily step aside.
This election has been centred on scandal and corruption. The Conservatives are taking the Liberals to task on a perceived misuse of funds. The Conservatives claim the Liberals have lost the trust of the people and they are not fit to govern. Now we find out the Conservatives have a skeleton hidden in the closet. It makes one wonder what else this party could be hiding.
Isn't this a situation of the pot calling the kettle black? We'll see how this plays out in the minds of voters. This election campaign is just starting to heat up. Anyone who thought the Conservatives were home free had better think again.
Show some respectWe're disappointed for other reasons this week.
The first all-candidates' meeting for this riding was held Tuesday in Sechelt. It was a lively debate amongst the five candidates. In general, the audience was well behaved, but there were a few people who chose to be quite rude and obnoxious.
Cat calls and booing from some while others were trying to answer questions.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion and which candidate they choose to support. But this type of behaviour is childish and uncalled for.
The best way to send a message to the candidate(s) you don't believe in is not voting for them on Jan. 23. Put yourself in their shoes. How would you like to be booed? It doesn't feel good. It's easy to sit on the sidelines and criticize. Maybe next election the people who we see booing should step up for public office and see how they like it.
