Coun. Parnell flirting with Progressive Conservatives

Lesley Parnell is one of two Peterborough city councillors representing the south-end Otonabee ward. First elected in 2010 and re-elected in 2014, she won the highest number of votes in the ward on both occasions. In the 2014 election, she increased both her own 2010 vote count and her winning margin over second-place finisher Dan McWilliams.

She was, for four years, the only woman on city council, a status that offered the advantage of a unique voice and the disadvantage of cultural isolation. Like many strong women in male dominated governance bodies, she played neither card, forging her own path as an energetic, opinionated independent with an obvious enthusiasm for her work and a laudable focus on ideals. While she has no misgivings about selfpromotion and is a pioneer in political photo bombing – some say she would attend the opening of an envelope, invited or otherwise – she has definitely earned the popularity she enjoys in her ward.

Her path to politics has long been aligned with the Liberal party. She is a former constituency assistant to Liberal MP Peter Adams and attended his tribute in 2012. She appeared at Liberal MPP Jeff Leal’s nomination announcement in 2011 and his election night celebration in 2014. That same year, she announced her own candidacy to become the local federal Liberal candidate, only 20 days after her re-election as a city councillor.

This summer, Parnell began to show an interest in the Ontario Progressive Conservatives. (PC) She attended a July 13 rally for Ontario PC leader Patrick Brown in the run-up to this month’s PC nomination meeting for the Peterborough-Kawartha riding. When the PC membership voting list for that meeting was released on Aug. 30, it indicated that she had purchased a membership on June 5, officially becoming a member of the PC party. When I asked her about her newfound interest in Tory partisanship, she said that she was assisting a colleague during the nomination process and that “party affiliation is not my primary filter...” That’s a skilled response from a politician, but one that raises a number of ethical questions.

For example, some will find it disingenuous to join a political party on the basis of self interest – such as personal support for a colleague – rather than a commitment to party principles. Some will see an act of expediency – an action designed to get your way without regard to the well being of the organization that enables it. Some Liberals will see an act of political infidelity that raises questions of loyalty and standing. Some PCs will see a transient interloper engaged in opportunism.

It is plain that municipal politicians are entitled to flirt with partisanship and even change parties if they wish. They can also lay claim to a neutrality in party affiliation so that they can spin the populist message that they work with all parties. The rub comes when you have publicly declared yourself to be a candidate for one party and then join another while doing your best to keep it under wraps. I had approached Parnell on the question of her new PC membership in July, and her response was that “I would rather not be in your column, thanks.” That’s understandable ... not many do. When the wraps come off, however, constituents and voters have a right to know whether their representative’s partisanship is based on a principled approach to public life or contrivance.

The PC nomination meeting is tonight. Voting privileges are limited to members of the party, regardless of their motivation for being there.