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OTTAWA — The Conservative government appointed a raft of Tories to federal boards, agencies and as citizenship judges yesterday.
At least seven of the 11 appointments yesterday to the National Film Board, Via Rail, the CDIC, two shipping agencies, and citizenship judgeships, went to people with Tory links. They include a former MP, a former Manitoba MLA who now works for a Conservative MP, a former Canadian Alliance candidate, and advisers to federal and provincial Tory ministers.
Immigration Minister Diane Finley, whose husband Doug is the Conservative Party's campaign manager, yesterday appointed three citizenship judges, a post that pays $82,800 to $97,400 a year. Two have Tory ties.
Harold Gilleshammer, an aide to Manitoba federal Conservative MP Merv Tweed and former Tory MLA in that province's legislature, was made a citizenship judge.
So was George Gibault, a Victoria consultant who was an aide to Tory prime minister Kim Campbell, and B.C. premier Bill Vander Zalm.
“All three persons appointed today have met the qualifications for the position of citizenship judge,” Ms. Finley's spokesman, Mike Fraser, said in an e-mail.
On the same day, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty appointed a new member to the board of the Canadian Deposit Insurance Corp., the federal agency that insures bank deposits.
The appointee was Barry Moore, Tory MP for the Quebec riding of Pontiac-Gatineau-Labelle during Brian Mulroney's years in power, from 1984 to 1993. Mr. Moore is now a senior auditor at accounting firm Dumoulin Ethier Lacroix.
Heritage Minister Josée Verner, meanwhile, announced the appointment of communications consultant Mary-Lynn Charlton to the National Film Board of Canada.
In the 1980s, Ms. Charlton was an aide to Saskatchewan Progressive Conservative finance minister Lorne Hepworth, aides to Ms. Verner confirmed last night.
More recently, her Regina-based firm, Charlton Communications, sent a controversial e-mail urging prairie farm groups to join a letter-writing campaign in support of the Conservative government's effort to remove the Canadian Wheat Board's monopoly status.
She has also worked for the CBC and served on the board of the provincial film agency SaskFilm.
“We stand on our record and will continue to make qualified appointments, regardless of whether the appointee has a political affiliation or not,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper's communications director, Sandra Buckler, said in an e-mail.
Also yesterday, Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon announced three appointees to Via Rail's board.
One was William Wheatley, an executive with Regina-based Greystone Capital Management, who in the 1980s served as chief of staff to Saskatchewan Tory finance minister Gary Lane. More recently, Mr. Wheatley donated to the campaigns of Palliser Conservative MP Dave Batters.
Another was Leo Housakos, a candidate for one of the Conservatives' predecessor parties, the Canadian Alliance, in the 2000 election, who tried to organize a 2004 Conservative Party leadership bid for former Montreal Gazette publisher Larry Smith.
Mr. Housakos has recently been a fundraiser for the Action Démocratique du Québec.
Mr. Cannon also made three appointments to boards of rail and shipping authorities, but only one had apparent Conservative ties: former Mulroney-era political staffer Daniel Veniez, chairman of DDV Enterprises, was named chair of Ridley Terminals Inc.
