More nomination drama in Simcoe-Grey

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20100503/helena_guergis_riding_100503/20100503?hub=QPeriod

With 3 potential nomination candidates already established (http://theliberalscarf.blogspot.com/2010/04/conservatives-starting-to-gear-up-for.html) the local riding association is resisting efforts by Tory HQ to appoint a star (and parachute) candidate, Kellie Leitch, a surgeon and director of the Health Sector MBA program at the University of Western Ontario's Richard Ivey School of Business. The riding association has uncharacteristically harsh words for HQ:

"...Head office personnel have deliberately interfered with, obstructed and circumvented our autonomy as an association, and our right to freely express our opinions...The concerns we express go to the heart of grassroots democracy, fairness, respect for the relevance and autonomy of EDA's that operate within the Conservative Party's constitution and their EDA constitution."

The article goes on to paint a scene of a riding association divided between Guergis diehards and party loyalists, which could potentially lead to a nasty split.

Also, in all this talk of Guergis loyalists fighting a "parachute" candidate, it is worth noting that Guergis was a parachute/sacrificial lamb candidate for the Ontario PC's in the 2003 provincial election in the downtown Toronto riding of Trinity-Spadina.