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 OTTAWA
(PoliticsWatch posted January 21, 2003 @ 1:00 p.m. ) Staying
true to his anti-free trade and pro-environment platform of the
past, Saskatchewan farmer and activist David Orchard launched
his leadership bid for the Progressive Conservative party
Tuesday.
The 53-year-old ran in a three-horse race for the leadership in
1998. Now he is back to replace Tory Leader Joe Clark, the man
who beat him in 1998 and called him a tourist within the
party.
The native of Borden, Sask. stuck to his guns Tuesday, calling
the Kyoto Accord on climate change "the only game in town
to reduce (C02) emissions" and Canada-U.S. free trade
agreements "a threat to Canada's sovereignty."
"Free trade would be a good idea if we actually had
it," he told reporters in Ottawa, pointing to clauses in
the free trade agreements Canada has with the U.S. that
apparently "don't resemble free trade at all."
"By signing the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement in 1988,
we've placed ourselves under U.S. trade law, and our standard of
living has decreased ever since."
Orchard pointed to many examples of how the U.S. now attempting
to use free trade agreements as leverage to unjustifiably get
what it wants from Canada. These examples include the many legal
challenges it has launched against the Canadian Wheat Board, and
the "tens of millions" spent on legal fees by the
softwood lumber industry deemed necessary to fight the U.S.'s
allegations over unfair subsidies, he said.
According to Orchard, the health of Canadians is threatened
because of Chapter 11 of the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA). The controversial chapter gives companies the power to
sue state signatories over expropriation. This power resulted in
a legal battle that led Canada to reverse its environmental
policies on MMT, a gasoline additive that is said to be
carcinogenic. It is not banned in Canada because of Chapter 11,
Orchard said.
A staunch anti-free trade activist, Orchard founded the Citizens
Concerned About Free Trade in 1985 and wrote a book in 1993
entitled The Fight for Canada. While Orchard says
he is opposed to unilateral free trade deals with the U.S., he
is open to a multilateral approach advocated by the World Trade
Organization.
 Last
week, Tory leadership hopeful Jim Prentice said there was
no room for someone in the party that was opposed to free trade,
signalling that the issue will be hotly-debated among the
candidates in the months ahead.
When asked what direction would steer the Tory party if elected
leader, Orchard said he would move toward the political centre
so his party could attract the votes needed to challenge the
Liberal party.
"My goal is to decrease the distance between the
Conservative party and the people. We won't do it by moving
toward the (political) extremes. There aren't enough voters on
the left or the right. It's the middle we have to go for."
For this reason, Orchard said he would oppose a merger with the
Canadian Alliance.
"The Conservative party is the only viable national
alternative to the Liberal party," he said, suggesting a
Tory-Alliance merger would ruin the party's chances of mounting
a credible challenge to the governing party. "I want to
draw all voters in who have, in the past, voted for the NDP,
Alliance" while retaining the views of our party.
 Prentice
has said he will aim to unite the fractured right and that the
Alliance would be "interested in what I have to say."
When Tory MP Peter MacKay declared his candidacy last week, he
made it clear that he is "not a merger candidate."
So far, Orchard, MacKay and Prentice are the only official
candidates vying for the Tory party's top job. Nova Scotia MP
Scott Brison is expected to throw his hat into the ring next week.
Heward Grafftey, a former cabinet minister, has said he intends
to run, while Hugh Segal, the chief of staff and policy adviser
to former prime minister Brian Mulroney, said recently he won't
take another run at the PC leadership.
Read
these related PoliticsWatch stories:
 'I'm
not a merger candidate,' MacKay says
Prentice
promises to unite 'fractured' right
MacKay
to announce leadership intentions
Tory
will not run for Conservative leadership (
November 1)
MacKay
serious about Tory leadership (
October 31)
Lord
won't seek Tory leadership (
October 23)
Clark
wants to remain at the helm of the PC Party
( April 15)
Harper
& Clark fail to reach deal( April 10)
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