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| Last updated at 3:23 PM on 08/09/08 |
Westcott Running in St. John's East 
Veteran journalist would certainly raise hell in Ottawa
GEOFF MEEKER (MEEKER ON MEDIA) 
The Telegram
I must say, I did not see this coming.
Craig Westcott will be the Conservative Party candidate for St. John’s East in the federal election.
He is hoping to win the seat vacated by the retiring Norm Doyle.
Westcott is a seasoned local journalist, businessman and managing editor of The Business Post. He has been critical of the Williams government in the past, and is one of those journalists who is certainly not on the premier’s Christmas card list.
Westcott announced his candidacy today on the CBC Radio Morning Show, followed by a news conference at 10 am at the Capital Hotel.
Westcott says the ABC campaign is what nudged him from writing about the premier to actually taking him on, after a fashion, as a federal Conservative candidate. He said the ABC campaign will have a negative impact on families, seniors and the economy.
"We have to think about what ABC really means for our province," said Westcott, in his press release. "It could mean spending four years with no voice in the Government of Canada. Do we really want an MP from another province serving as a part-time regional Minister for Newfoundland and Labrador? Isolating ourselves from the rest of Canada is not a goose egg, it's a rotten egg, and it will hurt the people of our great province."
"The Premier's admission on Friday that he would continue to rail against the Conservative government even if Newfoundlanders and Labradorians voted ABC shows this isn't really about sending a message - it's about a personal political vendetta. It's a never-ending fight, and people are getting tired of it,” Westcott said.
In an interview, I put Westcott on the spot. I reminded him about his stubborn, take-no-bullshit approach to journalism, and asked what he would do if forced to accept a decision in caucus – or even Cabinet – that was not in this province’s favour. Westcott said he has always stood firm on points of principle, and this would not change within government.
“Anyone who has ever worked with me or knows me pretty well, knows that I’ve always stood up, sometimes to my detriment,” Westcott said. “You’re either made that way or you’re not. For better or for worse, I’m just made that way. I quit the best job I ever had in my life, as the Sunday Telegram editor, because they killed two columns – by Ray Guy and Peter Fenwick.”
Realizing that I didn’t know the detail of this little-known chapter in local media history, I asked Westcott for the full story. He said it happened in 1995, when the referendum on denominational education reform was making headlines.
“At the time, Bill Barry, the fish merchant, had tried to get the Pope to intervene. Peter Fenwick wrote a column, pretending that he had intercepted an exchange of faxes between the Pope and Bill Barry. It was pretty funny for Fenwick. They killed that without even telling me. I came in on Wednesday or Thursday… and they decided to kill it without telling me about it. I found out about it on Thursday, and wasn’t too pleased about it.
“Then, on Friday, Ray Guy’s column came in. He had a paragraph about how the Pope, during World War II, had turned a blind eye to the Holocaust. So (the editor) said, ‘We have to kill that. It will offend too many people.’ I said there was a body of historical evidence that the Pope did know about the Holocaust.”
Westcott said the editor recited the old line, about not wanting to offend his 85-year-old aunt, so the column was killed.
“We had two young children and my wife was five-months pregnant at the time, but I quit anyway.” he said. “I remember thinking that I didn’t want to bring up children in a world where people aren’t free to publish their own opinion. Career-wise, that was almost suicidal, but I just did it.”
(There wasn’t time for me to engage the paper’s editor in this discussion, so I will not name him here. He has since retired from the paper.)
Westcott walked on a point of ethics, something he sys he would not hesitate to do again.
“If I could stand up for myself and quit the best job I ever had, with two children and a pregnant wife, I’m sure I would have no problem standing up in Ottawa and doing what’s right.”
Westcott said there is a “very real possibility” that the province might not send any Conservatives to Ottawa, while the prospect of Harper winning a majority government. “That’s why I’m doing it,” he said. “We could end up with nobody on the government side, sitting here in isolation for four years… There’s no positives in it for us at all.”
As CBC’s David Cochrane said this morning in his news item, the race for St. John’s East “is about to get a whole lot more interesting.” Cochrane’s story also revealed that Topsail MHA Elizabeth Marshall is the only member of the provincial PC caucus who will stay neutral in the ABC campaign. People in this part of the province know that Marshall is the most talented person on the Williams team, yet is not in Cabinet because she doesn’t see eye to eye with the premier. And this riding has supported Conservative Norm Doyle for 11 years. On top of that, Westcott grew up in the riding, and is well known in the community.
Will people of the Riding have the good sense to vote as they please, as they normally would, and not follow the orders of Danny Williams?
Will they have the good sense to pay no attention to this ABC campaign, which is all about emotion (and political grandstanding) but completely devoid of strategy?
I think they will. And I think Westcott is the one who can win this seat. He has my vote, but not because I know him, or because he is a journalist.
He has my vote for no other reason than I trust him to shake things up in Ottawa.
You can read more on this here and here.
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08/09/08
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Aiden Martin from CBS, NL writes: Good Luck to Craig and kudos to Beth Marshall.
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| Posted 08/09/2008 at 9:57 AM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment |
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Dennis Rice from St. Johns, Newfoundland and Labrador writes: Westcott's right: we need a man in the Harper government. It's worked out great for us so far...
(Geoff, get that retired editor on the horn and write more about that story. Sounds interesting.)
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| Posted 08/09/2008 at 10:31 AM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment |
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Mark Watton from NL writes: If the purpose of going to Ottawa is ''raising hell'', as your headline suggests, then the rest of your article is a bit contradictory, no?
I agree entirely with the points Craig has raised with respect to the nonsense of this ABC campaign. I admire him for his principled criticism of the provincial government over the past couple of years and have the utmost respect for his consistency and tenacity.
Send Craig to Ottawa because you support him. Or because you support the position he and his Conservative party hold with respect to GST cuts, ignoring the environment, running the country's finances back into deficit, and diminishing the federal government's role in social programs, etc.
But don't send him to Ottawa just because he'll ''raise hell''.
If that's the point of running, or the rationale for supporting him, then you've decided to battle the ABC campaign by claiming a similar low ground.
Let's not make this federal campaign about the whims and wishes of the Premier. Let's make it about the federal political options that are on the table from which we, like our fellow citizens in the rest of the country, have the opportunity and responsibility to choose.
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| Posted 08/09/2008 at 10:46 AM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment |
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Craig Welsh from Nunavut writes: I just wish I still lived in the riding so I could vote for him. Remember when Newfoundland MPs had some character, colour and managed to get things done? That's what he could do. I really hope he gets in...
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| Posted 08/09/2008 at 11:05 AM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment |
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Michelle Stewart from Labrador City, NL writes: Finally he is seeking a place where he can truly make the most resounding difference. Westcott was meant to be in Parliament—there's a lot of moral fibre beneath his ability to raise hell that should have Newfoundlanders and Labradorians comfortable with his representation. He has too much knowledge, principles and spunk to resist this calling. All Behind Craig could be a great tagline...hmmm ABC might take on a new meaning.
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| Posted 08/09/2008 at 12:20 PM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment |
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Glenn Allen from NL writes: Good luck Craig. I hope you and the Harper Conservatives get a squeeker of a majority and continue to keep the gst at 5%, ignore environmental shysters and stick to fixing localized pollution problems and made in Canada solutions, keep running a surplus, and diminsh the role of government bureaucrats in our day to day lives, etc.
I have never met Craig but have always enjoyed reading his columns and opinions and would definitely vote for him if I could. I like his moxie, he took on the biggest employer in the province over principle and it cost him. But he was correct and his Weighing the Cost of Lost Opportunities speech at NOIA summed up the political and business situation in NL perfectly. (http://meekermedia.blogspot.com/2007/03/weighing-cost-of-lost-opportunities.html)
Is there any contact info in case someone wanted to donate to the cause?
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| Posted 08/09/2008 at 1:35 PM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment |
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Suzanne Norman from Vancouver, BC writes: I just spoke with Craig a week or so ago after having not seen him for several years. I was once again very taken by his obvious sense of decency and right and wrong.
I worked with Craig many years ago and I know that fairness and balance meant more to him than just getting the story . He needed to get it right and get it all.
I certainly agree that Craig will bring the elusive element of trust to the political sphere and I suspect he may be one of the rare individuals not sucked into and caught up in the power vortex that often leads to politicians subverting their own principles in order to hang onto to their jobs.
I only wish I could vote for him.
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| Posted 08/09/2008 at 2:22 PM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment |
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Jerome Kenny from Fermeuse, NL writes: One question for Craig. WHY?
I've read almost everything Craig has written over the past few years and listened to most of his commentaries, and I'm surprised,baffled, dumbfounded and shocked that he would enter an election where he will, in all likelihood, finish a poor third.
If this was to be an opportunity to express his opinions on the numerous issues facing our province in a debate, I would, to a degree, understand his motives.
Craig, as an astute follower of politics knows, he will be going back to his regular job on Oct. 15th.
I have always looked forward to his insightful columns and commentaries and will continue to do so.
Again: WHY Craig?
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| Posted 08/09/2008 at 4:36 PM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment |
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Peter Jackson from NL writes: I'll reserve further judgment for now, but doesn't ANYONE have a problem with a candidate whose main plank is We've got to have a member in government ?
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| Posted 08/09/2008 at 8:13 PM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment |
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Ed Hollett from St. John's, NL writes: Sure Peter, it's a huge problem if that's all Craig winds up running on.
But as Mark pointed out yet again earlier in this thread, it's just as bad as the raising hell argument or any other low ground argument.
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| Posted 08/09/2008 at 11:36 PM | Alert an Editor | Link to comment |
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