Laval-Les Îles needs an open convention that would respect the democratic process

On three separate occasions Mr. Nick Furfaro has rushed to defend, in the pages of Courrier Laval Weekly News, Raymonde Folco, Liberal MP for Laval-Les Îles. Twice (Jan. 14, 2007 and Feb. 25, 2007) Mr. Furfaro signed his own letters. On the third occasion, on February 11, 2007 he joined ten other members of the Board of Directors of the Laval-Les Îles Riding Association in another attempt to defend what can only be described as indefensible, the poor performance of the MP.

Why has Mr. Furfaro rushed to the defense of Mrs. Folco rather than Folco defending herself? As usual, he chose to comment about events whereof he was neither present nor privy to key information he would have needed to base his opinions on facts. But he is not interested in facts, since he is only interested in defending the indefensible using half-truths.

Let me give you a short history of Nick Furfaro, since he has not been an active Liberal for that long. He became active, in a matter of speaking, in 1997 when Mrs. Folco arrived. He was an acquaintance of Folco’s late husband. He was present during that campaign and that about sums-up his contribution. Last election I actually saw him twice; at the opening of the committee room and the night of the election. Unless he came during the night, that was the extent of his participation, otherwise I would have seen him since I was there night and day. This is why we are asking ourselves why he is rushing to the forefront and commenting on events for which he does not have first hand knowledge.

Meanwhile, where is Mrs. Folco? Can’t she defend herself? Why doesn’t she defend herself? She can’t, that’s why! And in any case why should she, when she has Mr. Furfaro doing it for her. Quite an effective way of turning this into a crisis about everyone else rather than about the real problem in Laval-Les Îles - herself. We are not satisfied with her performance, but Furfaro tries to make it our fault. Deception at its best!

I will not fall into the faulty Furfaro pattern of commenting about events which do not concern me. I will correct Furfaro’s version of events concerning my presidency.

When I was president and had difficulty working with Mrs. Folco, I was offered the presidency of Laval Center by the party since they were aware of the strained relations between the MP and me. As president of Laval Center, I still resided in Laval West as it was called. It was only later after living some forty years in the riding that I moved across Labelle Blvd to Laval Center, but still in Chomedey. Now Furfaro claims that I should not aspire to run for office in the riding in which I lived the greater part of my life. Well, if that is the case, I’ll make a deal with Mrs. Folco. I won’t ask to run in Laval-Les-Îles, if she returns to her riding of residence in Montreal West where she belongs. My goal is to open the riding to a democratic process whereby the people will choose their representative, whoever that may be.

This sham has gone on long enough. The name calling, innuendos, and attacks have got to stop. The issue here is not necessarily who said or did what, the real issue is that there are many members of the riding's Liberal Association who do not want Raymonde Folco as their candidate and their voices must be heard, if we are to respect the democratic process. They are entitled to be heard because they are members of the Liberal Party of Canada in the riding of Laval-Les Îles, and they should be given the opportunity to say yes or no to any individual aspiring to represent the party in the next federal election. That is one of the main reasons why they pay their dues, both in money and in time. We want an open convention because we are simply not satisfied that Raymonde Folco is the best person for the job of Laval-Les Îles Liberal candidate. And if she thinks she is, let her prove it by being nominated in a fair and democratic convention. But she won't go to the people because she knows that this time she'll lose.

Frank Mansi