Haldimand "Federal Election 2008 Dunnville Chronicle Ourview"

Abandonment has an impact
OURVIEW
Posted 2 hours ago

In the far eastern corner of her riding, in a place called Dunnville, Diane Finley will not attend an Oct. 2 all candidates meeting due to a previous commitment that she will not disclose.

We can accurately categorize this as abandonment. She's turning her back on a place that has, in the past, voted mostly in the Conservative way. For some unknown reason - some might speculate the leaders's debate -she will not change her plans to come here to speak to the people, to hear their questions, to stand before them.

Lorne Boyko aptly described her absence as a slap in the face to Dunnville.

Really she should show up merely because she is the federal representative for this riding. She is the incumbent. I believe it's actually incumbent on the incumbent to attend all candidates meetings. But now we can drop the "all" from the Dunnville meeting title.

This smacks of Caledonia 2006. In March of that year, the Hennings, the previous owners of Douglas Creek Estates, petitioned the federal government for intervention as did those people of Six Nations who were on the site.

But at that time, the federal government had taken a big step back saying this was a land titles and policing issue resting with the province. It became apparent that the federal government clearly refused to recognize that land claims were part of the dispute. They later did so.
In those early months, I made several attempts to speak directly to Finley but only had success when she was a sitting duck in the Mudcat Festival Parade staging area.

Now we are moving toward the first election after First Nations issues began to rock Haldimand County. A rumour suggesting Finley was not attending the Caledonia all candidates meeting was proved false. In that town, she will face the wrath of people who wanted her to act, who wanted her to at least show up in 2006. She did so in October of that year.

She carries a legacy of abandoning Caledonia for at least four months during some the darkest times in the community's history. Now it's Dunnville's turn. The shades of Wal-Mart linger as a reminder of Six Nations impacts in this town.

What a sad turn of events. I believe that a leader stands with the people. Don Ricker said she has a commitment to the people in Dunnville and that is true.

Whether voters put their mark by her name on the 2006 ballot or not, her decision to be elsewhere on Oct. 2 might influence where that X lands on Oct. 14.
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