Politics 101 for Mr. Harris; getting hung out to dry is fun...

They haven't quite come out and called him a bone head, but the official response to Dick Harris' liaison program is one of distance, as in somebody else can go get him off the cliff thank you.

The Conservatives said all the right democratic things today about who constituents in the Bulkley Valley-Skeena should contact if they have any concerns about government issues, and short of publishing his riding phone number even the Tories grudgingly admitted that yes, Mr. Nathan Cullen, NDP member of Parliament is the duly elected representative of the people from Bulkley Valley-Skeena.

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Government officials have distanced themselves from Mr. Harris's unofficial appointment of Ms. Smith as the riding representative in Ottawa.

"He just kind of did that himself," government spokesman Ryan Sparrow said of Mr. Harris's move. "[Ms. Smith] is the Conservative candidate in the next election. That's her only official capacity."

Mr. Sparrow was unequivocal when asked whom local residents should contact for federal help: "They should contact their local member of Parliament. ... Ms. Smith is working hard to be that person after the next election, but for now, the riding is held by a New Democrat."

This issue heated up last week after Mr. Harris appeared on the Daybreak North program and pointedly directed riding residents to contact his liaison, Sharon Smith who also happens to be the candidate for the conservatives whenever we again trudge to the polls.

The backlash has been rather loud and has made national news as the optics of trying to go around the democratically elected representative backfired on Mr. Harris and his go to gal in Houston.

Having been thrown under the bus as it were by the federal office, we suspect that there won't be much more in the way of sending anyone off to spend some time with Ms. Smith, which is probably good news for the folks in Houston, who probably would prefer their mayor to just concentrate on her duties for the city until she makes her attempt to be the elected liaison between the people and the government, providing of course that Mr. Harris' party still holds that title after the next election.

The Globe and Mail provided full details on the backpedaling machinations from the National office, unfortunately neither Mr. Harris or his liaison were available to provide feedback to the Globe regarding these differing interpretations about how the elected process works in Canada.

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Though apparently not for lack of trying, the Globe reportedly made attempts over a 48 hour period to get their side of the story, without success, makes you wonder what kind of success a mere constituent might have had trying to get in touch.

Want services? Forget your MP, Tory chair says
Dick Harris tells radio listeners to go to Conservative candidate instead of NDP MP
ALEXANDER PANETTA
Canadian Press
August 30, 2007

OTTAWA -- Forget your duly elected local MP. If you want government services in your riding, you'd be better off going to the local Conservative running in the next election.

That's the message the Tories have been peddling in a British Columbia riding they don't hold - and now they're vigorously backpedalling.

The Conservatives' caucus chair in the province had been telling radio listeners and public audiences in the Skeena-Bulkley Valley riding not to bother with their elected New Democrat MP.

For a better chance at federal funding, speedily returned paperwork and help with infrastructure projects, Dick Harris told them they should talk instead to the woman who will run for the Conservatives.

"Realistically, to have access to the ministers you know - realistically - you have to be part of the government," Mr. Harris, who is also a B.C. MP, said in a radio interview. "There is sort of a little bit of a pecking order in Parliament."

An area newspaper also quoted him urging constituents to approach the federal government through Sharon Smith - the mayor of Houston, B.C., and the federal Conservative candidate.
"Constituents ... will derive a huge benefit from having direct contact with the government, something they have not had since 2004," Mr. Harris said in a story in the Terrace Daily Online.

That unorthodox tactic for raising the candidate's profile came as a surprise to Nathan Cullen, who was elected by residents of Skeena-Bulkley Valley to represent them in Parliament. The New Democrat was first elected by an almost 1,300-vote margin in 2004 and more than quadrupled his margin of victory in 2006.

Government officials have distanced themselves from Mr. Harris's unofficial appointment of Ms. Smith as the riding representative in Ottawa.

"He just kind of did that himself," government spokesman Ryan Sparrow said of Mr. Harris's move. "[Ms. Smith] is the Conservative candidate in the next election. That's her only official capacity."

Mr. Sparrow was unequivocal when asked whom local residents should contact for federal help: "They should contact their local member of Parliament. ... Ms. Smith is working hard to be that person after the next election, but for now, the riding is held by a New Democrat."

The sitting MP said his jaw hit the floor when he heard Mr. Harris on the radio recently. "It's the vulgarity of it. ... Mr. Harris is essentially trying to contest the last election," Mr. Cullen said in an interview yesterday.

"He's also suggesting that the whole voting process is almost unnecessary by the Conservative perspective - because they'll just simply appoint whom they wish to hear from, as opposed to whom the people have chosen. And that's so fundamentally wrong."

Mr. Harris and Ms. Smith did not respond to interview requests made to their offices over two days.