David Orchard Column

For immediate release Thursday, August 10, 2006 Press conference Prominent Canadians speak out against the bombing of Lebanon Friday, August 11, 2006 10:30 a.m. (ET) Mayfair Room, Banquet floor Intercontinental Hotel, 220 Bloor St. West Toronto, ON With the war in the Middle East entering twenty-nine days and counting, Canadian artists and intellectuals are speaking out against the bombing of Lebanon and calling for an immediate ceasefire.

Is this the end of NAFTA? Chasing the utopian dream of secure access to the U.S. economy has left Canadians holding a bag of ashes by David Orchard SASKATOON - For two decades, those of us critical of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, and the successor North American Free Trade Agreement, have pointed out that these deals didn't give us free trade, but would cost us a large part of our sovereignty and national well-being. Today, even promoters of the FTA as a "rules based" nirvana of "secure access" to the U.S. market -- and part of a move toward global "free trade" -- have been forced to face hard realities.

Harper playing dangerous political game with Quebec wild card

Conservative-Bloc minority government won't serve Canada well
by David Orchard

While the sponsorship affair rages across the country, it is in Quebec where it burns the hottest – threatening far more than the Liberal party.

The opposition parties, particularly the Conservatives, appear prepared to play with this fire for their own ends.

Polls in Quebec show support for sovereignty at over 50 per cent -- its highest level since the Meech Lake Accord. The Charest government is very low in the polls and has been for months. Waiting impatiently in the wings is the PQ, with its promise of another referendum "as soon as possible in the next mandate."

Yet the Conservative party under Stephen Harper is not worried. It is ready to damn the torpedoes and join with the Bloc to trigger an election. A national news item, reporting on the lack of concern in the Conservative party about the dramatic rise in separatist momentum in Quebec, quoted a top Conservative: "We have a philosophy of federalism that is more in tune with how Quebecers see a federal state operating." What exactly does this mean and of which Quebecers is the Conservative party speaking?

April 27, 2005 ETHICS? WHAT ETHICS? AN OPEN LETTER TO STEPHEN HARPER AND PETER MACKAY Dear Sirs, You ceaselessly point your fingers at the Liberal government members in the House of Commons and pontificate about their ethical misdeeds, alleged and real. You demand that they come clean, confess to their malfeasance and accept punishment, long before the Gomery Commission is able to present its findings of fact and recommendations. Now you want to force the whole country through an early and expensive election because of the ethical failures of the Paul Martin government! But who are you two to talk about ethics and “moral authority?” Are you not staring yourself blind at the speck in the government’s eye, while ignoring — and hoping that no one else would notice either — the beam in your own? Let’s take a quick look at your own documentable lack of ethics: You, Peter MacKay, signed an agreement with PC leadership candidate David Orchard at the convention in May 2003, the main plank of which was that you would NOT merge with the Canadian Alliance and that you would uphold the constitution of the PC Party in order to PREVENT a takeover by the Alliance (the PC party had adopted in 1999 a constitutional clause which required that the party would run candidates in all ridings in every federal election,) Your agreement with David Orchard and your signature on it enabled you to become the leader of the party.

MEDIA RELEASE, MARCH 15, '05

David Orchard, twice leadership candidate for the Progressive Conservative Party, has had his member-observer status yanked by the Conservative Party leadership just before the convention.

Orchard, like all former PC party members, had his party membership automatically renewed until the end of 2004. He renewed it again in early February to attend the Montreal convention as a member-observer, wanting to witness the evolving nature of the Conservative party. His registration for the convention was sent and paid for online, the receipt of which was confirmed later by phone. Consequently, Mr. Orchard made travel and hotel arrangements to attend the convention which begins in two days.

On March 14 he was notified by the executive director of the party, Ian Brodie, that his observer registration was being cancelled because he was not a member! "Since your membership has expired and has not been renewed, you are not eligible to be an observer," Mr. Brodie wrote.

When it was pointed out to Mr. Brodie that the membership had indeed been sent, and when Mr. Orchard re-sent it online, Mr. Brodie made it clear on March 15 that it was not a question of not having renewed, but that Mr. Orchard's membership was now rejected by the Party's Interim Joint Council. In his words, "The Committee has decided to decline [his] application for membership." No reason was given.

The Conservative Party is publicly declaring itself to be a "Big Tent" party, ready to present a moderate face to the electorate. The "Big Tent" appears not to be big enough to tolerate the presence of David Orchard, even as a convention observer!

December 14, 2004
Bush evoking World War II
By David Orchard

“Evoking World War II, Bush prods Canadians,” read the headlines after the U.S. president’s recent visit to Canada. Mr. Bush used the keynote speech of his Canadian visit to “stiffen Ottawa’s resolve,” read one commentary and, seeking to rally support for his position in Iraq, Mr. Bush quoted a 1942 speech by Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King: “We must also go out and meet the enemy before he reaches our shores. We must defeat him before he attacks us, before our cities are laid to waste.”

Listening to Mr. Bush use this quotation in defence of his actions in Iraq one can only be struck by incredulity.

Mackenzie King delivered his message in response to the actions of Nazi Germany -- at the time the greatest military power on earth. It had invaded Czechoslovakia and Poland, committing atrocities later held to be war crimes.

King was urging his countrymen to stand up to the bully of Europe, to come to the aid of Great Britain which, battling under the leadership of Winston Churchill, stood almost alone against the might of the Third Reich.

Where is the parallel today? The U.S. is by far the world’s most powerful nation, with an arsenal and military budget roughly equal to that of the rest of the world combined. In comparative and absolute terms U.S. power vastly exceeds that of World War II Germany. It is the U.S. that has invaded a succession of countries in recent decades, in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia -- leaving six million killed and wounded in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos alone.

Under Prime Minister Diefenbaker Canada said no to the U.S. request to send troops to Vietnam. And history has proved our country correct in that decision.

Dear Friends --

Following his successful speaking tour this November of central Canada where he spoke (with David Suzuki at Concordia University) to over 1000 students in Montreal, and to high school, college and university students and other well attended public meetings in Ontario, David Orchard will be Ken Rockburn's guest on CPAC's "Talk Politics," Tuesday, December 14 2004, at 9 p.m., rebroadcast at 12 midnight EST.

If you're not able to watch the programme tomorrow, you'll find it on David Orchard's web site in a few days at
www.davidorchard.com

The show promises to be an interesting half hour -- Rockburn intersperses the conversation with footage from the last PC leadership convention.

Please pass the word! Date updated Kevin ;) Dr.C

[fair use only]

Oct. 1, 2004. 01:00 AM

How free trade changed us

Jobs are only one part of the trade equation. As the U.S. chips away at Canada's economic independence, we're slowly losing our sovereignty, says David Orchard

The Canadian Labour Congress chief is rethinking his opposition to free trade with the U.S. and suggests we should be "thinking about industrial strategies in a North American rather than purely Canadian context."

Jul. 6, 2004. 01:00 AM

Math didn't add up for the Tories

DAVID ORCHARD

The election is over and the great experiment of "uniting the right" has been put to the people.

Dear Friends,

Thank you so much for your immediate response to our request for help in reaching a wider range of print media in distributing David's article, 'Why I'm not voting Conservative'. Your efforts have enabled us to send the article out to many smaller papers. We would appreciate if you could keep an eye out for David's article in your local media.

The following are three TV interviews with David Orchard coming up quickly!

The new Conservative Party under Stephen Harper declares itself a moderate alternative to the Liberals, ready to govern Canada. In reality, the party has never had a convention or a meeting of its members. It has no constitution. Policies are set with no control by, direction from or accountability to a membership - whoever those members may be.

By GRAEME SMITH

NEAR BORDEN, SASK. -- A spray-painted poster hangs on a fence alongside Highway 16 northwest of Saskatoon: "Liberal culture of corruption," it says.

Off the highway, at the end of a dirt road, David Orchard sits in his farmhouse and frets about the many signs that point to voters' discontent with the Liberals.

full article:

TONIGHT, SUNDAY, MAY 2, 2004
6:40 p.m. PT (9:40 p.m. ET)

PAUL BIGIONI, lawyer for David Orchard and others in the PC-CA merger appeal case will be on CKNW Radio, the STIRLING FAUX SHOW 980 AM in Vancouver, live on the internet at http://www.cknw.com

To call in and talk to Paul Bigioni:
1-888-568-9800 OR 604-280-9800
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The programme can also be heard on some of the Corus Network radio stations:

CHED AM630 Edmonton, AB
QR77 AM770 Calgary, AB
CJOB AM680 Winnipeg, MB
CFPL AM980 London, ON

The Stirling Faux Show airs live Saturday & Sunday nights from 6-10 PM PT. Tonight's line-up is as follows:

WE'RE REBUILDING OUR COUNTRY, ONE CANADIAN AT A TIME.

News update from David Orchard's website.

Dear Friends and Supporters,

David Orchard will be in Toronto next week to attend the Appeal Court Hearing of the Legal Challenge to the merger of the PC and CA Parties. The Legal Challenge, as you know was heard on December 5, 2003. To view the legal documents and coverage of this case please go to David's website: www.davidorchard.com