Another side of the Laval Les-Îles federal constituency controversy

I read with interest Yvan Fortin's article which appeared in the Courrier Laval Weekly News just before Christmas, in which Mr. Frank Mansi states his views regarding the nomination of Mrs. Raymonde Folco as the candidate in Laval-Les Îles. His views are, to say the least, misleading.

Before, I address these views, permit me to state that in the Chomedey News as well as in an article in the Journal de Montréal Mr. Mansi states that his group represents the majority of the Board of Directors and the majority of members of the association. These are misleading statements. He has only 5 out of 14 board members in his group and about 70 individuals (possibly not all members) showed up to their meeting. How this represents a majority I really do not know.

In the January 11 issue of the Chomedey News his campaign of misleading statements continued. His group plays on the issue of fear that the riding may be lost etc. To answer all the allegations he makes would cover two full pages in any newspaper, so I will restrict myself to the Courrier Laval Weekly News article and allow the reading public to judge Mr. Mansi and his group.

The procedures in place for the convocation of nomination assemblies are established by the constitution of the party which is ratified by the members at the general assembly held by the party. Mr. Mansi and others are well aware of these procedures which have existed for quite some time. They were explained to us at a Board meeting by the Director General of the Québec wing of the Liberal Part of Canada. Obviously, what was being explained did not sit well with Mr. Mansi’s (and others') ambition and thus this whole negative campaign started against Mrs. Folco.

As a matter of fact, when one similar campaign started a few years ago led by the Barbara Mergl faction the resulting nomination meeting was won by Mrs. Folco after a long and bitter feud between the two. At that time, Mr. Mansi, as a former president, and others of his present group were quick to denounce the then President, Mr. Jean Lymburner and Barbara Mergl for attempting such a back-stabbing way of unseating a sitting MP. The local media published articles and letters from Mr. Mansi and others defending the great work done by Mrs. Folco in the riding and how dare some individuals attempt to try to oust her. Obviously Mr. Mansi has done an about face on the issue because now it is he who may want to be nominated.

As far as the actual nomination meeting of Mrs. Folco is concerned, it was duly called by the Liberal Party according to the articles of the constitution. Mr. Mansi has been around for a long time and he knows that unless the nomination meeting is for a high profile individual, not too many militants attend these meetings. To infer that attendance is a statement indicating dissatisfaction with the candidate is ludicrous. The meeting was also attended by the President of the Québec wing of the Liberal Party of Canada who not only gave an overwhelming personal endorsement of Mrs. Folco, but also that of the Party as well. No matter how Mr. Mansi twists and turns it, no matter how much he disagrees with the constitution, it does not change the fact that Mrs. Folco was constitutionally elected.

Mr. Mansi wants to make an issue of the fact that since 1997, there have been six presidents of the association. So what? Since he chooses not mention the reasons for this number. I will do so.

The first, Mr. Agop Everelakian, accepted a paid position for Mrs. Folco’s staff and therefore had to resign. The second, Mr. Frank Mansi, resigned because he moved out of the riding and thus could not continue as president. He became a member of his new riding and then asked not only to return to help with the re-election of Mrs. Folco, but also to return as a member of the Board so that he could help Mrs. Folco better. The third, Aglaia Revelakis, also moved out of the area and wanted to concentrate her efforts in helping with the municipal elections. She later volunteered to help Mrs. Folco in subsequent elections. The fourth, Mr. Jean Lymburner, resigned after a bitter feud which led to a nomination meeting which split the association. His candidate lost the nomination and since there was so much bad blood on other issues as well, he resigned. The fifth, Flavia Di Fazio, resigned for personal reasons, but chose to stay on as a Board and Executive member.

It now seems, according to Mr. Mansi, that they have all bonded together and formed a campaign against Mrs. Folco, which is not the case. Furthermore, implying in some statements that the resignations were all because of their dissatisfaction with Mrs. Folco is a falsehood.

Mr. Mansi reproaches Mrs. Folco for not always living in Laval. He has often stated that he knows the needs of the members of Laval-Les Îles because he lives in the riding. The truth is that he does not live in the riding. Maybe he does not know the riding’s boundaries and does not realize he lives beyond them. He is insinuating that unless you live in the riding you cannot do a good job representing it. If we were to follow his own argument to its logical conclusion, he would be a poor representative if he were the MP. Mrs. Folco’s record speaks for itself as to her work both within the riding, the island of Laval, and for the Liberal Party of Canada with the many important dossiers which have been assigned to her. Whether one lives in the riding or not has no bearing on how well they represent it.

Mrs. Folco has not been an absentee MP as he claims. She does try hard to juggle, as do all MPs with key dossiers, her responsibilities between Ottawa and the riding. Most members are satisfied with the service they receive.

As far as the question of membership forms is concerned, had he and his group attended Board meetings he would have been told, like the rest of us, that many individuals have the forms and that they are not all in Mrs. Folco’s office as be insinuates. He also knows what the Party’s rules are as to whom within the association can ask for these forms and how many can be taken out at any given time. However, he chooses not to mention this. He is outright misleading the readers when he says that the only other alternative is to register through the Internet and only if one is willing to give a credit card number on line. If he really went to the web site, he would discover that at the very beginning of the registration process, the individual is given the choice of whether he/she wishes to continue on line or request that a form be mailed home.

One final comment regarding Mr. Mansi’s seeking the ouster of Mrs. Folco so that he or possibly others can be the candidate in the next election. It seems rather bizarre that he and others are concentrating their efforts in being nominated in Laval-Les Îles, (in which he does not live) rather than in the riding in which he does live and which has not yet, to my knowledge, selected a candidate. As a matter of fact, there are two such ridings on the island of Laval. I question his and his group’s professed devotion for the party when he is creating animosity and weakening one riding rather than trying to gain one or two more seats for the party by presenting themselves as candidates in those other ridings. It seems to me that they are taking an easy way out by asking to replace a re-nominated sitting MP so that they do not have to roll up their sleeves and try to unseat a Bloc member.

(Photo: Martin Alarie)

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