Independent Senator Don Meredith, now ejected from the Conservative Party, is subject to ethics probes over allegations he harassed and bullied staff and had an affair with a 16-year-old girl. Having termed himself until recently 鈥淒r. Meredith,鈥� and having sought payment for an unauthorized trip add to the question of how such a person became a senator.
Meredith鈥檚 career in politics began when in December 2007, he was nominated by the Conservative Party of Canada as its candidate in the downtown Toronto riding of Toronto Centre federal byelection. Meredith won the Conservative nomination by acclamation several weeks after the party controversially removed Mark Warner as its standard-bearer.
Warner, who from February when acclaimed as candidate by the Toronto Centre Conservative Riding Association had been campaigning, was arbitrarily removed. 鈥淚 learned that the party鈥檚 national council has taken the unprecedented step of disallowing my candidacy over the objection of leading members of the Toronto Centre Conservative EDA (electoral district association),鈥� Warner wrote.
Meredith鈥檚 acclamation as Warner鈥檚 successor was a decision of the central Conservative Party, presumably after acceptance of his multi-page application demanded from individuals seeking permission to stand for nomination. This application would have included his attending but dropping out of Ryerson Polytechnical Institute.
Most interesting, then, is that the Prime Minister s Office specifically mentioned Meredith鈥檚 master鈥檚 degree from CSCU when it announced his appointment as a senator.
Though transparency and accountability were the watchwords of the Conservative Party of Stephen Harper. The appointment of Don Meredith as a senator and reasons leading to inaccurate facts being overlooked in the now obviated decision of appointing him as a 鈥淐onservative鈥� may well have been related to this statement: 鈥淪enator Don Meredith Protected Tweets @SenatorDonM Fourth African-Canadian, fi rst Jamaican in the Senate of Canada.鈥�
Yours very truly
Joe Hueglin
Niagara Falls
