When did Doherty get elected?

Prince George-Peace River MP Bob Zimmer met with members of the Prince George Legion, city council and Mayor Lyn Hall recently.

The city has backed the Legion’s call for Ottawa to re-open the Veteran’s Affairs office in Prince George and, obviously, they had things to discuss.

The meeting itself isn’t out of the ordinary … in fact it’s good that they are meeting. Hopefully a solution can be found.

However, tagging along at the meeting was Todd Doherty.

Doherty is the Conservative candidate for Cariboo-Prince George. He’s not the MP for Cariboo-Prince George, he is only the Conservative candidate. It should be noted that it appears the riding’s actual MP, Dick Harris was not in attendance.

Why does Doherty get a seat at the table? He is just an ordinary citizen.

It’s slimy politics, pure and simple.

Doherty had no to right to be at that meeting. It gives him an unfair advantage over other candidates in the upcoming election when he gets to share the stage with elected representatives.

When asked about why he was at the meeting, Doherty sent us the following:

“As a candidate for the CPC, when we have our local MPs and ministers visit I have the opportunity to meet with them and occasionally I get invited to attend community meetings.

“As a candidate in the upcoming federal election its important to fully understand the issues that are affecting those in our region.

“After the nomination we immediately got busy and that includes meeting with groups from across our riding.

“As you know firsthand I want to be the best representative I can be and have not taken this opportunity lightly.

“I attend many meetings and this was one I was fortunate to have been invited to.”

This wasn’t a “community” meeting. It was a meeting between elected officials (which Doherty is not) and a community group (which Doherty is not part of). He had no right to be there.

The reason Doherty was invited to that meeting was to bolster his election chances this fall … pure and simple.

It reminds us of when Harris announced that then Houston Mayor and Conservative candidate Sharon Smith was the government’s representative in Skeena-Bulkley Valley, conveniently ignoring the fact the riding already had an MP in Nathan Cullen.

It’s just not right.

Zimmer and Doherty don’t seem to see that it is wrong and the fact they don’t see that it is wrong is one of the things that is wrong with politics today.