James Moore (Canadian politician)

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James Moore
In office
November 27, 2000 – 2004
Preceded by Lou Sekora
Succeeded by riding dissolved
Incumbent
Assumed office 
2004
Preceded by first member
Born June 10, 1976 (1976-06-10) (age 32)
New Westminster, BC
Political party Canadian Alliance, Conservative
Occupation radio host, webmaster

James Moore (born June 10, 1976 in New Westminster, British Columbia) is the Canadian Member of Parliament for Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam. He is a member of the Conservative Party of Canada. Moore is the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Works and Government Services and the Minister for the Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics.

Before being elected to Parliament, Moore was a student and hosted a campus radio program in Prince George, British Columbia. He was also the author of a website, "End the NDP", between 1996 to 1998. The website was a humorous representation of the New Democratic Party of British Columbia under Glen Clark.

Contents

[edit] Political career

He was elected to parliament in the 2000 federal election, beating former Coquitlam mayor and incumbent Liberal Lou Sekora, as a member of the Canadian Alliance Party. In 2003, the party merged with the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada to form the Conservative Party of Canada. In 2004, Moore was re-elected with 41% of the vote, down from 51% the previous election. He was re-elected by the same margin against another former Coquitlam mayor, Jon Kingsbury, in the 2006 election.

In parliament, Moore served in a variety of posts as a member of the official opposition, including transport critic, amateur sport critic, and public works critic. Some speculated he would be named to Prime Minister Stephen Harper's cabinet, but this turned out not to be the case.

On February 7, 2006, Moore was appointed as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister Public Works and Government Services. Principally, Moore will be responsible for answering questions regarding his department during Question Period. He also serves as Parliamentary Secretary to David Emerson, the Minister for the Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics.

Moore is known for having liberal views on social issues that sometimes put him in conflict with other members of his party. He was one of the few libertarians in the mostly socially conservative Canadian Alliance. In 2004, he voted in favour of same-sex marriage after conducting a riding-wide poll of constituents (54% supported the issue). The issue has proven controversial within his own riding, however. In 2006, an independent candidate (who was in fact a former member of the local Conservative riding association) ran against Moore on an explicitly anti-same sex marriage platform.

He is one of several members of the House of Commons to have started a blog, which he updated frequently during his bid for re-election in 2005. He shut it down shortly after, citing his newfound responsibilities as a Parliamentary Secretary as being incompatible with keeping a blog.

During a parliamentary session on December 5, 2007, Irene Mathyssen stood in the Chamber and accused Moore of looking at images of "scantily clad" women on his personal laptop computer. She openly questioned his integrity and said his actions "disrespected women". Mathyssen made the charge publicly before talking to Moore, and later when Mathyssen and Moore spoke in person about the incident, Moore explained that the woman in the image was of his girlfriend. Mathyssen has apologized for the incident, and was roundly criticized in the media for it. [1]

[edit] Chuck Cadman bribery allegations

PM Stephen Harper chose James Moore as his point man for handling opposition party questions in the daily Question Period, alleging misconduct on the part of two senior Conservatives, Doug Finley and Tom Flanagan. Dona Cadman says that prior to the May 19, 2005 budget vote her husband, Chuck Cadman, was offered a million-dollar life insurance policy in exchange for his vote to bring down the Liberal government.[2] Political insiders wonder why Prime Minister Harper chose Mr. Moore as his point man for the controversial file, a pick made over four other senior Cabinet ministers from British Columbia, including Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day (Okanagan-Coquihalla, B.C.), who also is the political minister for the country's western-most province; Gary Lunn (Saanich-Gulf Islands, B.C.), Minister of Natural Resources; Chuck Strahl (Chilliwack-Fraser Canyon, B.C.), Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs and David Emerson (Vancouver Kingsway, B.C.), Minister of International Trade. Sources speculated last week that "this issue is too sensitive and no B.C. Cabinet minister wants to touch it."

"James has been designated to be the spokesperson for this repetitive story and he's done a very repetitively solid job in repeating what he's supposed to repeat. From their perspective, it might be considered a good job because their perspective is stonewall, and give the same answer and not really respond to the questions at all. In that respect, he's a perfect repetitive naysayer, denier, and has done a very good job at being uninformative, non-responsive and steady," said Liberal MP Brian Murphy (Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe, N.B.) referring to Mr. Moore's answers to questions such as whether the Conservatives offered Mr. Cadman an alleged $1-million deal for life insurance.[3][4]

Moore told a news conference June 4, 2008 that two top audio specialists found that the tape in which PM Stephen Harper confirms financial considerations had been offered to Chuck Cadman had been altered. But Liberal MP Dominic LeBlanc, the critic for intergovernmental affairs, said on June 5, 2008 that the Tories have not been clear about what they claim was doctored on the tape. He said the Tories have also forgotten a huge part of the allegations -- the testimony of Cadman's widow, Dona Cadman. In her affidavit, Dona Cadman "repeats very clearly her recollection of her husband's words to the effect that two Conservative operatives... offered him a million dollar life insurance policy in exchange for his vote," said LeBlanc.[5]

Tom Zytaruk, the reporter who made the recording said "I know I didn't doctor any tape. So in a sense all this stuff that [Conservative MP] James Moore is saying is meaningless. I know what happened."[6]

[edit] References

  1. ^ CTV.ca News Staff. New Democrat will apologize for political blunder. CTV. Retrieved on 2008-03-10.
  2. ^ Gloria Galloway and Brian Laghi. Tories tried to sway vote of dying MP, widow alleges. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved on 2008-02-27.
  3. ^ Rana, Abbas. MPs say James Moore has three lines, no matter what the question. The Hill times. Retrieved on 2008-03-10.
  4. ^ O'Malley, Kady. Zytaruk tape listening party at the National Press Theatre!. macleans.ca. Retrieved on 2008-03-14.
  5. ^ CTV.ca News Staff. Tories using Cadman to distract from Bernier: Grits. CTV. Retrieved on 2008-06-05.
  6. ^ Mason, Gary. Tories trying to bully an honest reporter over a 'split-second' tape glitch. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved on 2008-06-07.

[edit] External links

[edit] Election results

Canadian federal election, 2006
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
     Conservative James Moore (incumbent) 19 961 41.12% $73,294.85
     Liberal Jon Kingsbury 13,134 27.05% $60,974.96
     New Democratic Party Mary-Woo Sims 11,196 23.06% $25,808.51
     Independent Greg Watrich 2,317 4.77% $26,557.70
     Green Scott Froom 1,623 3.34% $1,530.93
     Libertarian Lewis Dahlby 309 0.63% $508.06
Total valid votes 48,540 100.00%
Total rejected ballots 141
Turnout 48,681 63.19%
Canadian federal election, 2004
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
     Conservative James Moore (incumbent) 18,664 40.94% $65,906
     Liberal Kwangyul Peck 12,445 27.30% $69,875
     New Democratic Party Charley King 12,023 26.37% $54,851
     Green Richard Voigt 1,971 4.32% $643
     Libertarian Lewis Dahlby 276 0.60%
     Canadian Action Pat Goff 111 0.24% $869
     Communist George Gidora 94 0.20% $389
Total valid votes 45,584 100.00%
Total rejected ballots 169 0.37%
Turnout 45,753 62.96%
Canadian federal election, 2000
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Expenditures
     Canadian Alliance James Moore 28,631 49.68% $59,661
     Liberal Lou Sekora (incumbent) 16,937 29.39% $71,922
     New Democratic Party Jamie Arden 5,340 9.26% $25,248
     Progressive Conservative Joe Gluska 4,506 7.82% $4,011
     Green Dave King 839 1.45%
     Marijuana Paul Geddes 818 1.41% $647
     Canadian Action Will Arlow 452 0.78% $2,886
     Communist George Gidora 98 0.17% $189
Total valid votes 57,621 100.00%
Total rejected ballots 187 0.32%
Turnout 57,808 63.37%
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