The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Flin Flon accountant and longtime conservative Nazir Ahmad will oversee the melding of the right-wing political movement in Northern Manitoba. Ahmad has been elected president of the new Conservative Association of the Churchill Riding, a group born out of the federal merger of the Progressive Conservative Party with the Canadian Alliance. "Hopefully we have put our forces back together again and we will be more effective than was otherwise possible," said Ahmad. Ahmad hasn't seen any problems arise from bringing together supporters of both former parties. Membership in the new association consists of 59 paid members, 20 from the PC party and 39 from the Alliance. "We respect each other's views and so we are willing to accommodate, on a democratic basis, each and every issue," he said. "Every issue will be put on the table and the membership will decide what we adopt as our policies." Joining Ahmad on the executive of the new association are Flin Flonners Ken Stelnicki (vice-president), Doreen Murray (secretary), Pat Ahmad (treasurer), and Lorne Moorhead (one of the directors). More directors will soon be appointed. Ahmad is upbeat about the Conservative Party of Canada's chances of taking back federal power, if not in this upcoming election than in the next. "Being in a political party, you are always optimistic," he said. "I think eventually people will look for some alternative. The Liberals have had the government for simply too long. They're showing that. They have become arrogant, they are losing touch with the people. The conservatives would be an alternative." For the party's sake, Ahmad hopes the party adopts policies closer to that of the PC party than of the Alliance. "In my viewpoint, the Alliance was too right-wing whereas the electorate are middle of the road, particularly socially," he said. "I still maintain that if the original platform of the Alliance had carried through, it would not reflect my viewpoints." See 'Wrong' P.# Con't from P.# So where did the conservative movement in Canada take a wrong turn? Ahmad points to infighting as the culprit. "I think we were fighting amongst ourselves rather than fighting on issues and platforms," he said. "People have to see some cohesive policies and reliability. Between the two old parties divided, they couldn't provide that to the electorate." Ahmad hopes to begin approaching prospective MP candidates after the Conservative Party's leadership convention on March 21. The Churchill Riding is one of the largest federal ridings in Canada and includes Flin Flon, The Pas, Thompson and Snow Lake.
