Staff problems

Some signs of unrest among the people who slave behind the scenes   in politics  -- in Conservative and Liberal ranks.

 A lengthy Facebook post/invitation discusses how a group of people within the Conservative party would like to form a youth wing, but they're being thwarted and apparently threatened by Parliament Hill staffers.

The Conservative Party of Canada has chosen to turn a blind eye to the activities of its own staffers who - unsatisfied with only impugning the motives of grieving parents of fallen Canadian soldiers [** ed note: that's a reference to Ryan Sparrow, party aide now back in government working on EI}  - have now decided to employ their defamatory rhetoric to create a "phony war" against fellow conservatives in the hopes of proving their loyalty to the PMO and keeping their cushy party jobs. The party cannot turn a blind eye to the activities of those under their employ.

As I understand it, there's a rift behind the scenes between those who believe the Conservatives should have a youth group and those who don't. This is  rooted in an even older battle between Conservatives and old Reformers...  in the libertarian spirit of the old Reform Party, everyone was equal already and there was no need for special women's groups, or youth groups, or such things.

At any rate, before Liberals are tempted to be smug about this behind-the-scenes struggle, they might want to turn an ear to some reports from Michael Ignatieff's meeting with staffers the other day. The Liberal leader didn't earn any goodwill, it's said, by chiding staffers for a 10 a.m to 3  p.m. work ethic. Many of the staffers who work longer hours than that took umbrage at the insult.

So there it is. It's the middle of a summer without heat or much political news in Ottawa, but some hot tempers are reportedly simmering in the staffers' ranks. It's worth noting because if politicians are turning off/angering  even those young people closest to them, how on earth do they expect to make themselves appeal to the groups of youth -- and beyond -- who don't give a damn about politics?

Comments

[Parthi]

a far cry from this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnhmByYxEIo

[Ted]

It's actually a lot smaller and pettier than that. Some young people formed a group called the AYCC (Association of Young Canadian Conservatives). At this point it's really just a Facebook Group which aspires to be a national organization and debating forum for young conservatives but isn't even campaigning for a youth wing or any kind of formal association with the Conservative Party. Then the President of the Group supposedly got interviewed by the Ottawa Citizen (the article is supposed to come out in the next couple of days). Some Parliament Hill staffers (mostly from the Elite Parliamentary Internship Program the party runs to train future career staffers, but including many permanent party employees and two veteran national councillors) heard about this and decided to form a group of their own to attack the AYCC (they may or may not have been encouraged to do this by the powers that be on the Hill). They proceeded to threaten, insult and question the loyalties of the people on the AYCC group who have repeatedly indicated, to no avail, that they aren't actually trying to form a youth wing. Your description of the Reform-PC difference of opinion on youth wings is accurate. The trouble is that some people in the party won't tolerate any partisan youth group, and even blacklist (remove from internal party positions, fire from jobs, or refuse to hire)the people involved in some of the provincial Progressive Conservative Youth Wings.

[Wascally Wabbit]

A far cry from the new Liberal position...which is to...sort of encourage the grassroots...well - on a shortish leash...which also meant turning down a somewhat reactionary motion from the Liberal youth to give them numeric advantage in the new One Member One Vote structure...

[MyThought]

One side of the story only. In fact, I've never worked at a place where there weren't people that chronically complained. Non-story at best.

I bet there are NDP stories too behind the scenes - you never write about any woes of the NDP - I know why after watching you at a conference about women in politics. When talking about partisanship, I laughed - you never interjected when Ann McGrath's whole speech was partisan BS.

[Norm]

Yeah, but I don't think the Grits and the Dippers would have their Ottawa staff and national execs. out campaigning against a youth facebook group with like, 350 members. Just looking at the dueling discussion threads you can see what a mean, paranoid attitude these people have. Harper is making the tory youth in his own image.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/wall.php?id=52335889670

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/wall.php?id=101480646938&page=1&hash=02dd7a1e14818d38b04dd0430ca18cbc

[A real Michael]

well Iggy has already decided that 50 percent of Canadians and 2/3 of BCers are no longer welcome under the LIberal fold with his asinine support for the War on Pot and C-15.

He's a dinosaur.

perhaps it is time I held a press conference of my own.

[Terry]

A 380-member facebook group

vs.

The governing party of Canada

this should be good!!!

[Roy]

Susan, actually both the majority of PC and Alliance members supported having a youth wing. According to http://www.freedominion.com.pa/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=6441&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0 which is a recap of what I believe to be the last Canadian Alliance debate on a youth wing shows that 61% of members wanted a youth wing but didn't mean the % to amend the constitution. So well there was no formal youth wing in the Alliance the general membership did indicate the support for one.

I’m not sure if the higher ups fear a youth wing today but certainly when it was brought forward at the founding convention the fear from the inner circle largely seemed be the fear that Belinda would attempt to use the youth wing against Harper.

[Jack Dreaddy]

I always felt that the past experiences of the old Federal PC party and their youth wing in the 19990's was a key reason a youth wing was not endorsed. Essentially, the youth wing of the PC party went strongly against the party line and endorsed the merger, while the establishment was against it. With the allready tight leash in the Conservative party I doubt Harper wants the same situation, or anything remote to it, happening in his party, especially among grassroots, let alone MP's

[Adam]

The AYCC didn't just form in a Facebook group. It existed earlier, as a breakaway conservative youth party in a nascent organization called the Canadian Youth Assembly (check out http://cya-ajc.ca). The CYA is still growing and active, but when the AYCC members (and their leader in particular) became dissatisfied and wanted to seek greater prominence themselves, they withdrew to become their own organization. This new ruckus is just an attempt to gain national attention, nothing more.

The CPC needs a youth wing, but believe me, the people who lead the AYCC are nothing but trouble.