New Conservative in trouble

[Saturn]

OTTAWA - Elections Canada revoked the legal registration of new Conservative MP Wajid Khan's former Liberal riding association in December because it failed to file financial returns for 2004 and 2005, the Ottawa Citizen has learned.

The riding association transferred $32,000 to Mr. Khan's campaign for the 2004 election and a further $50,000 to his campaign for the January, 2006, election, the returns show. Mr. Khan's auto dealership, Dufferin Mazda, also lent $86,388 to Mr. Khan's campaign for the 2004 election, his financial returns for that election show. The returns list Mr. Khan as the guarantor for the campaign loans.

The transactions suggest Mr. Khan was using his car dealership as the primary source of funding for his election campaigns, said NDP MP Pat Martin.

"It's hard to count the serious problems here -- massive loans from a business in excess of donation limits that might not be repaid, enormous spending outside the election period. I wouldn't know where to start," Mr. Martin said.

Dufferin Mazda lent Mr. Khan's riding association $88,377 on Dec. 31, 2004, the same day the association transferred money to Mr. Khan as a candidate, and $91,569 on Dec. 31, 2005. The association had transferred $30,000 to Mr. Khan on Dec. 22 and another $20,000 on election day.

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/st...be-165642372fc2

And then there is that $13,000 trip that Mr. Khan took at the taxpayer's expense. His report (if he ever produced one) is suddenly secret.

Mr. Khan himself painted his cross-party assistance and any report that might come of it as a boon to all. “I think this is a supra-partisan issue, a non-partisan issue ... I want to make sure that the Prime Minister gets it and all parliamentarians get it, because my work is not limited only for the Prime Minister.” Does that mean, The Globe and Mail asked, that all parties would get to see his report? “Oh yeah,” he said.

That was then, this is now. Mr. Khan travelled last September at public expense ($12,764, exclusive of the costs of the Foreign Affairs official who travelled with him) to Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, the West Bank, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and conferred with diplomats and people in and out of government. This week, when Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion said Mr. Khan should share his findings with the public, Harper spokesman Dimitri Soudas made a sneering remark that Mr. Dion just wants to find out what the Liberals' own policy should be. As for releasing the report, Mr. Soudas said, that would defeat “the purpose of Mr. Khan being an adviser to the Prime Minister. He would then be a pundit rather than an adviser on such an important issue.”

Instead, the refusal to produce a report suggests that the September trip was merely a junket designed to woo Mr. Khan to the Conservative benches, along with yet another trip Mr. Khan is making to Central Asia. It was too convenient by half that the Conservative cabinet appointed Raminder Gill, Mr. Khan's Conservative opponent in the last election, to the post of citizenship judge on Oct. 30 — almost as though the Tories figured Mr. Khan would be joining them and they had to make room for him.

There is no accountability and transparency in this sad business.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...ialComment/home

In addition, Jewish groups have also attacked Mr.Khan:

Wajid Khan is on record for favouring dialogue with terrorism-sponsoring regimes such as Syria and soon-to-be nuclear Iran, lumping the deliberate targeting of civilians by the likes of Hezbollah with incidental civilian deaths caused by Israel`s response to terrorist attacks against its civilians and describing the Canadian government’s support for Israel’s right to defend itself (the only country whose right to do so is called into question) as mere pandering to US policy.

http://www.judeoscope.ca/breve.php3?id_breve=3034

[sharkman]

Hell hath no fury like a party scorned...

[BubberMiley]

Next they'll be calling him a whore...oh, wait. No, that's just the hypocrite party that would do that.

[mikedavid00]

Wajid Khan is on record for favouring dialogue with terrorism-sponsoring regimes such as Syria and soon-to-be nuclear Iran

Does that really suprise anyone here?

Ricki?

[Ricki Bobbi]

Does that really suprise anyone here?

Ricki?

Favouring dialogue? No, not really surprising.

Pretty broad term. Depends on the subjects he proposed to be discussed before we can judge him on that.

[mikedavid00]

Does that really suprise anyone here?

Ricki?

Favouring dialogue? No, not really surprising.

Pretty broad term. Depends on the subjects he proposed to be discussed before we can judge him on that.

There was another article in the paper saying that Wajid is almost garunteed to lose this riding next time around. Muslims are mad at him too. Some muslims called the radio yelling where the host had to hang up. Even the president of the Canadian Islamic Congress said that he supports him and says that Wajid is sincere becuase 'if he wanted to get re-elected he wouldn't have made this move'. I think he kind of let that slip out without realizing what he was saying.

Think about it. If you are Muslim, and you have a Priminister who openely support Isreal, you won't want a fellow brother officially joining on side with someone who supports Isreal.

To be honest, I just don't see him getting re-elected in this riding.

I should give him a call though and say good luck to him.

[Ricki Bobbi]

There was another article in the paper saying that Wajid is almost garunteed to lose this riding next time around.

Think about it. If you are Muslim, and you have a Priminister who openely support Isreal, you won't want a fellow brother officially joining on side with someone who supports Isreal.

To be honest, I just don't see him getting re-elected in this riding.

I should give him a call though and say good luck to him.

Getting re-elected won't be easy but it isn't completely out of the question.

He won 46% to 35% as a Liberal last year. Can he lure one out of every seven voters from the last election?

[geoffrey]

Ethnic incumbants are hard people to beat in ethnic communities.

[jbg]

Ethnic incumbants are hard people to beat in ethnic communities.

He may not be my favorite, but drawing entreprenurial ethnics into mainstream politics, hopefully the CPC, is vital.

[mikedavid00]

Getting re-elected won't be easy but it isn't completely out of the question.

He won 46% to 35% as a Liberal last year. Can he lure one out of every seven voters from the last election?

What about his $13,000 trip that we know nothing about? Is this justified at all?

[mikedavid00]

Ethnic incumbants are hard people to beat in ethnic communities.

Not when your representative backed a gov't that openly supported Isreal, is anti-terrorism, and when there will be another known Muslim in this community running against him.

I don't think he'll win personally.

[M.Dancer]

Next they'll be calling him a whore...oh, wait. No, that's just the hypocrite party that would do that.

He's no whore, but clearly a bimbo......

[HoratioCaine]

Wajid Khan is on record for favouring dialogue with terrorism-sponsoring regimes such as Syria and soon-to-be nuclear Iran, lumping the deliberate targeting of civilians by the likes of Hezbollah with incidental civilian deaths caused by Israel`s response to terrorist attacks against its civilians and describing the Canadian government’s support for Israel’s right to defend itself (the only country whose right to do so is called into question) as mere pandering to US policy.

I have no problem with talking to the bad guys in an effort to stop them from being so bad. All of us who care to admit it have seen how poorly the U.S.'s current head in the sand approach has worked with North Korea and Iran. What's the harm in talking? If the U.S. and the Soviet Union didn't talk during the Cuban Missile Crisis I doubt we'd be having this lovely conversation.

That being said I'm still waiting for this guy's Bye-Election, along with Turner and Emerson.

[madmax]

I can't believe the CPC wanted this Turkey under any circumstance.

He could have sat as an Independant, and "advised" the Harper government until the next election.

[Ricki Bobbi]

That being said I'm still waiting for this guy's Bye-Election, along with Turner and Emerson.

Agreed about Emerson (and Stronach and Brison).

Turner is a different story for two reasons. He is sitting as an independent and he was kicked out.

[mikedavid00]

I can't believe the CPC wanted this Turkey under any circumstance.

He could have sat as an Independant, and "advised" the Harper government until the next election.

But then Harper would be anti-muslim. Can't you see the CBC headlines?

[HoratioCaine]

That being said I'm still waiting for this guy's Bye-Election, along with Turner and Emerson.

Agreed about Emerson (and Stronach and Brison).

Turner is a different story for two reasons. He is sitting as an independent and he was kicked out.

Stronach and Brison have already faced the public since their switches, that's why I didn't mention them.

And as for Turner, Yeah ok I can go along with the whole kicked out thing. The Indi thing doesn't matter to me tho, so if he had left to sit as an Indi of his own accord.

[jbg]

All of us who care to admit it have seen how poorly the U.S.'s current head in the sand approach has worked with North Korea and Iran. What's the harm in talking?

We talked plenty with NK during 1994, and former President Carter delivered an unverifiable deal that the North Koreans tore up after they got their bribes, and after they secretly built nukes anyway.

If the U.S. and the Soviet Union didn't talk during the Cuban Missile Crisis I doubt we'd be having this lovely conversation.

Yes, the US got a Communist thorn in its side 90 miles away, and was forced to withdraw missiles from Cuba. JFK's conduct there and with the Bay of Pigs was a disgrace.

[jdobbin]

We talked plenty with NK during 1994, and former President Carter delivered an unverifiable deal that the North Koreans tore up after they got their bribes, and after they secretly built nukes anyway.

And now Bush is talking to North Korea for no discernible benefit as he can't invade because he lacks the forces to do so.

[Saturn]

That being said I'm still waiting for this guy's Bye-Election, along with Turner and Emerson.

The (by-)election is coming soon given that Harper has started shoveling money out the door already. What I'm wondering is whether this "bimbo's" car dealership will be able to pay his way back into Parliament.

[Saturn]

Harper claims that he had no idea about Khan's woes even though Elections Canada deregistered Khan's association before Khan joined the Conservatives. Effectively, Harper claims ignorance as his defense.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper was unaware his star defector from the Liberal party left his former riding association in a tough financial situation or that Elections Canada was pressing the association for long overdue financial statements, his office said yesterday.

And, after the disclosure that former Liberal Wajid Khan lent his own election campaign and his riding association $268,000 over two elections through his Toronto car dealership, a top Liberal official said the association has almost no money and will likely be unable to repay the money it owes Mr. Khan.

If the money is not repaid -- and a Conservative source said the outstanding debt to Mr. Khan is rumoured to be between $60,000 and $70,000 -- the loan would be considered a contribution and likely ruled illegal because it exceeds the Elections Act donation limit.

Mr. Khan's extensive financial support for the association and loans he signed for his own election campaign in 2004 were disclosed in statements filed so late that Elections Canada deregistered the association effective Dec. 31 -- five days before Mr. Harper held a news conference to show off his new recruit.

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/s...19a8ccc&k=37552

[Ricki Bobbi]

Harper claims that he had no idea about Khan's woes even though Elections Canada deregistered Khan's association before Khan joined the Conservatives. Effectively, Harper claims ignorance as his defense.

Why wasn't he kicked out of the Liberal caucus for this de-registration?

Why has nobody here complained about the Liberals not sanctioning Kahn while he was in their caucus?

Is there any reason for this double-standard?

[Saturn]

Why wasn't he kicked out of the Liberal caucus for this de-registration?

He more or less was. But MPs don't normally get kicked out of caucus for cheating. Cheating is far too common in politics - it looks bad but you'd have MPs getting kicked out of caucus every other week. But making big noise and welcoming known cheaters to your party, well, that's not so common.

[hiti]

That being said I'm still waiting for this guy's Bye-Election, along with Turner and Emerson.

Agreed about Emerson (and Stronach and Brison).

Turner is a different story for two reasons. He is sitting as an independent and he was kicked out.

Stronach and Brison already went through an election and got re-elected.

[madmax]

Why wasn't he kicked out of the Liberal caucus for this de-registration?

Why has nobody here complained about the Liberals not sanctioning Kahn while he was in their caucus?

Is there any reason for this double-standard?

Why would you want to defend this opportunist? Do you think he is a good addition to the CPC?