"Earlier this summer, the Tories opened their nomination meetings across the country to elect candidates for the next federal election, allowing challenges to sitting MPs' nominations. The party is trying to complete all of its nomination meetings for incumbents in early fall so that it doesn't interfere with lawmaking and Parliamentary duties in Ottawa. There is, however, criticism from challengers to incumbent MPs who are accusing the party of favouring incumbent MPs. So far, nomination papers of at least three candidates–Paul Lalli in the B.C. riding of Fleetwood-Port Kells, David Xiao in the Alberta riding of Edmonton Centre, Walter Wakula in the Alberta riding of Calgary West–have been rejected without "specific reasons." The three would-be challengers have expressed their disappointment with the nomination process. "I'm disappointed, hurt and was not provided any specific grounds. I'm not happy with the decision," said Mr. Lalli, a long-time party member in an interview with The Hill Times. And Mr. Xiao, in an interview last week with the Canadian Press, also expressed similar feelings. "I'm a business immigrant from mainland China–the reason we came here is for democracy, freedom and equal opportunities," he said. "Ironically, I find myself in the s ituation of fighting for these principles. It's really unfortunate." Similarly, the Rocky Mountain Outlook community newspaper in Alberta reported last week that Doug Campbell, who intends to challenge sitting Tory MP Myron Thompson (Wild Rose, Alta.), was awaiting confirmation of whether his nomination papers would be accepted. "Campbell was left scrambling to get his nomination papers in order after learning of a clause at the last minute that does not consider nomination signatories who have been party members less than 21 days. However, the political rookie was able to have longer standing members sign on just in time for the Aug. 20 deadline," the Outlook reported. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) last week ducked a question about the fairness of Tory nominations in a press conference. "

Honesty, transparency, accountability but also clearly hypocrisy. It sure seems that the Conservatives cannot get even the basic right.

"The Federal Accountability Act, the FAA, or Bill C-2, "Bill C-2 is much weaker and loophole-filled than it should be, mainly because the Conservatives failed to include 21 promised measures in the bill, " Democracy Watch coordinator Duff Conacher.said . "Ironic as it may be, the unelected Senate should uphold voter rights by amending the bill to include the Conservatives' 21 promised measures, and send it back to the House of Commons to force all Conservative MPs to choose between keeping their election promises and breaking them." Some promises the government broke, Mr. Conacher said, include strengthening the Access to Information Act by not "implementing the Information Commissioner's recommendations for reform of the Access to Information Act" and "giving the Information Commissioner the power to order the release of information." Among the 21 "broken promises" in the Federal Accountability Act, Democracy Watch's website ( http://www.dwatch.ca/news.htm) says, is that "the public will not be allowed to file complaints with the proposed new Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner because the Conservatives broke their election promise to 'allow members of the public, not just politicians, to make complaints to the Ethics Commissioner." Bill C-2 requires that members of the public have an MP or Senator file a complaint on their behalf, Democracy Watch said. "