ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Less than two months after Danny Williams resigned as premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, the province’s ruling Conservatives find themselves embroiled in an ugly political mess that has complicated their bid to replace one of Canada’s most colourful leaders.
Brad Cabana, a rural businessman and political outsider, has accused a minister’s executive assistant of trying to force him to withdraw from the leadership race last week.
Cabana said Chick Cholock, assistant to Environment Minister Ross Wiseman, threatened him when the staffer suddenly appeared at his home in Hickman’s Harbour, N.L., last Saturday.
Wiseman’s riding of Trinity North includes the picturesque community, a three-hour drive east of St. John’s.
Cabana quoted Cholock as saying: "’If you decide to proceed with this, we are going to destroy your character’ … He outright threatened me. He said he would be the one to personally lead the charge."
Cholock did not return a message seeking comment Thursday.
Wiseman has confirmed Cholock tried to dissuade Cabana from entering the race, saying such a bid would be a waste of time.
"Why would you come into a race when there’s not a chance of winning it?" Wiseman told reporters Wednesday.
Those comments have led Cabana to raise questions about the party’s commitment to an open leadership process.
"My thinking was that this is a healthy exercise for the party," said the 46-year-old former military officer. "A light needs to be shone … We need openness."
Wiseman, who did not return calls Thursday, has insisted his aide was acting on his own.
But Cabana said Cholock told him the minister had requested the intervention.
"He said, ‘I’m here on behalf of the minister,"’ Cabana said in an interview from his home.
He said Cholock described him as a fringe candidate who would buckle under constant public scrutiny.
"I was really angry," Cabana said. "It was insulting to me … that a paid member representing a minister would come out to my home and threaten me, and spend three hours trying to dissuade me, instead of letting the democratic process take place."
The leadership race has only one declared candidate so far: Premier Kathy Dunderdale.
On Thursday, Dunderdale said she welcomed the competition.
"There’s a number of positive elements to that," she said after her shuffled cabinet was sworn it. "We still have to have a leadership convention … That all has to happen in the spring regardless."
Dunderdale has the support of the entire Tory caucus.
Cabana is appealing a party ruling that concluded his nomination papers were invalid because some of the 73 signatories were not members of the Conservative party.
Cabana said the ruling should be struck down because party officials used a murky interpretation of the party’s constitution. He said the document clearly states those signing nominations papers should support Conservative values, but it says nothing about party membership.
Born in Manitoba and raised in the Saskatoon area, Cabana said he moved to Newfoundland a year ago because he was inspired by Williams’s leadership.
The owner of a painting and decorating firm, Cabana admits he’s a political neophyte. But he is quick to point out that his family roots stretch back 200 years in Newfoundland.
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