oust those who are doing the complaining. Yeah, thats logical
Alliance ponders expelling anti-Day dissidents as infighting continues By JIM BROWN
OTTAWA (CP) - The lingering question of whether to make it official and formally throw eight renegade MPs out of the Canadian Alliance is up for debate again. And it may finally be time to settle the matter once and for all, says Alliance president Clayton Manness.
"This is moving toward a final chapter, there is no question," Manness said Wednesday as he prepared for consultations with the national council, the party's governing body.
The eight dissidents have formed a parliamentary coalition with the Progressive Conservative party and have been expelled from the Alliance caucus, though they remain members of the party.
But the councillors, who are to confer by phone Thursday evening, will have more than the dissident Gang of Eight on their minds.
They also face the daunting task of finding a new chief fundraiser to replace Michael Burns, a Vancouver businessman who pronounced the party "wacky" and quit this week following a run-in with party leader Stockwell Day.
Manness admitted Burns may be difficult to replace.
"These people do not grow on trees," said the party president. "We'll have a challenge, but somebody will come and do the job. They always do."
Dan Robertson, a spokesman for Day, said it was understandable Burns left after clashing with the boss over the timing of party fundraising dinners.
"If the leader and a party functionary disagree, then it's appropriate for the functionary to step down," said Robertson. "That's what Mike did, and he did the right thing."
Party officials are drawing up a list of possible successors but say it will be several weeks before somebody is chosen.
Meanwhile, there is pressure from some quarters - although Manness is trying to play it down - to postpone the party leadership convention scheduled for March 8.
Alliance organizers in Ontario worry that provincial Conservatives will be too preoccupied with their own leadership convention later that month to pay attention to the federal race.
Nobody had filed a formal motion as of Wednesday afternoon to put the matter on the national council agenda. But a party insider said on condition of anonymity that it could well be added before the conference call.
"It will be open-ended, there won't be a specific alternative date," said the source. "But there will be a motion coming forward, and it will be from Ontario."
Manness was cool to the idea, saying there have been "strong representations" from the party grassroots to stick to March 8.
"A change of date at this point in time would be a very tough exercise, it would be backing out of a lot of commitments."
Some Alliance MPs make no secret of the fact they considered joining the eight dissidents, and decided not to only because Day promised an early leadership race.
The parliamentary caucus recently voted overwhelmingly - with Day abstaining - to stand by the March convention date.
It is widely assumed Day will run again, but those close to him deny he is manoeuvring to delay the convention to improve his chances. They say national council will likely reject any change in timetable.
The question of what to do with the eight dissident MPs has been simmering since the summer, when they started calling themselves Democratic Representatives and formed the coalition with Joe Clark's Conservatives.
The national council has since been in touch with some to ask what it would take to heal old wounds. But Chuck Strahl, the informal leader of the eight, dismissed that as a sham.
"It sounds to me like they're going to do whatever they're going to do anyway," Strahl said Wednesday.
"I don't know if I'm going to bother fighting. I'm just frankly tired of fighting with them."
Deborah Grey, former deputy leader of the Alliance and a founding member of its Reform predecessor, said her main concern now is broadening the coalition with the Tories.
She won't give up her Alliance membership willingly, she said, but neither will she brood if she is expelled. "I've done my grieving. I'm building now."
Jay Hill, another who was in on the founding of Reform, said there's no chance of reconciliation with Day at the helm.
He attributed the campaign to expel the eight to hard-core Day supporters who took control of the national council after opponents were purged.
"What it really comes down to is just vindictiveness," said Hill.
