The 3 Day Story - Day 50

The story simply will not die. David Emerson's opportunistic stroll across the floor is about to go to airborne. Manuel Pereda, a Vancouver-Kingsway constituent has hired a pilot, a plane and a banner specifically for the opening of Parliament.

A Vancouver-Kingsway resident has hired a small aircraft and pilot out of Toronto to fly over Ottawa as Parliament opens April 4, towing a banner with a message for Emerson.
That message will read "David Emerson Call Home" in 1.5-metre-high letters along a 40-metre banner.

Voters in the Vancouver-Kingsway riding have lost their patience with Emerson. Since his defection to the right-wing Conservatives, he has refused to meet with constituents.

"We're going to send a message to him in Ottawa," said Pereda. "This has gone beyond just the matter of crossing the floor. Now it's a matter of Mr. Emerson not even being available to his constituents."

Emerson hasn't been available to the media either. The daily Vancouver Province has been attempting to contact him with no success.

Emerson's press secretary has repeatedly declined to return calls and e-mails from The Province seeking comment on the minister's troubles in the riding.

Of course, he's a cabinet minister in Harper's cabinet and that means he's not allowed to talk to anybody. How convenient for him.

The Parliament Hill protest will come a day after critics hold a Walk for Democracy in the riding to express their anger at Emerson.
Pereda has launched a website called Message in the Air to raise money for the protest and register names of supporters for the stunt.

You can find the website here.

Meantime, protests continue elsewhere in the riding. Nine teams hit the streets Saturday, filling requests from homeowners for lawn signs that read De-elect David Emerson.
About 600 signs have been posted in the riding since last weekend. There is a backlog of 180 requests.

In other news of Conservative MPs (those who actually ran as conservatives), Kamloops MP Betty Hinton, who unbelievably tried to compare Emerson's treachery with the actions of former British prime minister Sir Winston Churchill, was a no show for her Reform Conservative riding association annual general meeting. Further, she offered no explanation short of being "called back to Ottawa".

Hinton has been accused of being unavailable in the past and any call to Hinton now results in: crickets chirping.

That really was fast! Normally it takes about a year before government MPs forget who gave them their job. Hinton can probably be excused. She grovels in the presence of anybody she deems superior and behaves with unbelievable arrogance when challenged by the public.

Emerson is another story. If ever there was a poster-boy for effective recall legislation, Emerson is it.