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OTTAWA, MONTREAL — Cracks are beginning to show within the Conservative Party's vaunted political war machine after a new gaffe Thursday forced the suspension of the organization's chief spokesman.
The party suspended Ryan Sparrow after he questioned the motivations of the father of a slain soldier, who had earlier criticized Conservative Leader Stephen Harper. Mr. Sparrow suggested in an e-mail to CTV News that the father, Jim Davis, was a Liberal after Mr. Davis uttered strong words about Mr. Harper's pledge to withdraw troops from Afghanistan by 2011.
It was the third organizational mistake in less than a week that has flowed from the party's Ottawa war room, and has raised questions about judgment and ultra-partisanship within the organization.
“We can only win a war if you have disciplined troops,” said Antonia Maioni, director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada. “You get the sense of a bunker mentality from the Conservative Party.”
A photograph of Ryan Sparrow with Stephen Harper. (From Ryan Sparrow's Facebook account)
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Mr. Harper told a campaign gathering Thursday the e-mail was inappropriate.
“He has apologized to the individual in question, and I want to make it very clear that I have set a tone and an expectation as leader for this campaign,” he said. “I'm going to make sure that that is followed all the way to victory.”
Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion said the incident reflects Mr. Harper's style.
“Mr. Harper created the pattern in this party. He told them they need to be negative, to be real low-blow,” he said in Thunder Bay last night.
The mistake comes in the wake of another in which campaign workers posted on a party website a depiction of a puffin defecating on Mr. Dion's shoulder. Earlier, war room officials contradicted each other on plans to hold a daily 6 a.m. news conference. The 6 a.m. time slot was eventually cancelled, but only after days of confusion.
Another PR difficulty surfaced on Thursday between Tory staffers and TV reporters and a camera operator, who tried to approach Mr. Harper in St-Eustache, Que., to question him about Mr. Sparrow. Tory aides ordered the RCMP to eject a cameraman trying to get close to Mr. Harper on a tour of a local vineyard. A Conservative staffer later apologized to journalists.
NDP Leader Jack Layton said the incidents contradict the warm image Mr. Harper has been trying to portray.
“It looks like the sweater has come off,” Mr. Layton quipped. “I think we have seen in the House of Commons constant insults on the part of not just backbenchers, frontbenchers of the Conservative Party. If you disagree with them, you are open season for an insult.”
The war room's smooth operation was cited as one of the main reasons for Mr. Harper's victory in 2006. So far, however, this election's version looks more like the war room of 2004. It was during that campaign that an unchecked news release, sent out by a party staff member, suggested that then-prime-minister Paul Martin condoned child pornography.
The high-tech suite of offices where party workers help plan the campaign was introduced with much ballyhoo last year. Located in a light-industrial park, well away from the downtown media, the 17,000 square feet include a broadcast studio with satellite-uplink capabilities that allow regional media to dial in directly rather than rely on feeds from their national outlets. The tight security requires individuals not only to swipe a card to get into the facility, but also to swipe their way out.
The campaign is run by long-time Conservative organizer Doug Finley.
Prof. Maioni said the need for a war room located well outside of downtown Ottawa suggests secrecy. “What's to hide?” she said.
Tory Senator Marjory LeBreton, a national campaign co-chairwoman, said there is no excuse for Mr. Sparrow's behaviour. “When a family suffers the loss of a loved one it's a tragedy beyond belief. … And politics should never enter into it,” she said.
Ms. LeBreton said Mr. Davis's criticism was a justified comment. “It's an entirely appropriate thing for him to say because he lost his son,” she said.
Mr. Davis's son, Corporal Paul Davis, died in Kandahar in March, 2006. Earlier Thursday, Mr. Davis told CTV's Canada AM he was shocked by Mr. Harper's comments about a withdrawal. He said his son will have died in vain if Canada withdraws before its mission is complete and the Taliban take the country.
“I couldn't believe he would say something so irresponsible as that,” Mr. Davis told CTV.
In a later interview from his Bridgewater, N.S., home, Mr. Davis said he accepted Mr. Sparrow's apology. “His call to me sounded very sincere and I forgave him,” he said. “We all make mistakes and we learn from our mistakes.”
He added, however, that he stands by his comments.
Mr. Harper said he “doesn't accept” the notion that Cpl. Davis will have died in vain, and said Canada is determined to pull out by 2011 because by then it will have had soldiers deployed in the deadly province of Kandahar for six years.
“Six years in Kandahar? We were in World War II for six years. We've got to be able to get to the endpoint,” he said.
“If we don't set end dates and we don't have targets the mission will go on forever … [and] we will end up being responsible for the ongoing management of Afghan security.”
With reports from Jane Taber in Thunder Bay and Gloria Galloway in Montreal
