Adams asked PM to let her run again
MP crossed the floor to the Liberals, but pleaded to PM to run as Tory weeks before
Weeks before her defection, Eve Adams made a personal appeal to Stephen Harper to allow her to run again as a Tory, sources say. She was bluntly rebuffed.
OTTAWA— Toronto-area MP Eve Adams joined the Liberals Monday, condemning the “mean-spirited” leadership and “divisive” politics of the Conservative party she leaves behind — and did it with the backing of fiancé Dimitri Soudas, a one-time senior adviser to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
But just a few weeks earlier, Adams — already on the outs with the Conservatives — had made a personal appeal to Harper, asking to be allowed to run again, the Star has learned.
In a meeting at a Mississauga hotel, Adams, who represents the riding of Mississauga—Brampton South, pleaded her case with the prime minister to run under the Conservative banner in this year’s federal election.
But Harper was not moved, bluntly telling Adams that he does not get involved in discussions around nominations, leaving those decisions up to the party, according to a source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
At a press conference in Ottawa later Monday, after a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Harper said: “The situation is very simple. The national council of our party is responsible for an honest, clean nomination process.”
Adams could be not reached to comment on the meeting with Harper. However, John Walsh, president of the Conservative Party of Canada, said that after Adams asked about seeking the nomination in a new seat, he told her she would not be allowed to run for the party in the next election because of “misconduct” during the nomination race in Oakville North—Burlington.
“I communicated clearly that our party takes our nomination rules and procedures seriously, and we made a commitment to run fair and open nominations, and any misconduct from candidates, including caucus members, would not be tolerated,” Walsh said in the statement issued Monday.
With the door shut on a future as a Conservative MP, Adams reached out to the Liberals several weeks ago in a bid to keep her political career in Ottawa alive. That overture led to Monday’s surprise news conference, when she appeared alongside Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, applauding his leadership and condemning the party she leaves behind.
Adams, who had been the parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Health, said she made the decision to cross the floor after a “very long” period of reflection.
“I want to work with someone who inspires, not with fear-mongers and bullies,” Adams said.
Her defection announcement immediately leads to questions about the future of Soudas, Harper’s former director of communications who just last year was executive director of the Conservative Party of Canada and privy to the party’s campaign plans.
However, his own intentions were less clear Monday. Trudeau refused to comment whether Soudas might come onboard as well, saying only that, “I look forward to working with her and everyone she brings with her.” But a Liberal official told the Star that while Soudas was expected to help Adams’s campaign, no role was planned for him within the Liberal party.
Jason Lietaer, a consultant and Conservative strategist, dismissed the impact of the surprise defection, saying Adams had been barred from running for “good reason.”
Lietaer said that Trudeau “made an error in judgment” and added, “he’s going to wish he made a different decision going into this day.”
Indeed, Adams has been in the headlines, most recently with a bitter election battle against chiropractor Natalia Lishchyna for the nomina- tion battle in the new Oakville North—Burlington riding, a battle marred by allegations of dirty tricks.
On Monday, she insisted that her real motivation in leaving the Conservative was that the “party no longer shares my values.”
A beaming Trudeau basked in the defection, applauding Adams’s record serving constituents and her past track record as a Mississauga councillor. Adams said she will contest a Liberal nomination in the Greater Toronto area but refused to disclose which one.