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>Montrealer named top Tory >Lynch-Staunton will be interim leader > >HUBERT BAUCH >The Gazette > >Thursday, December 11, 2003 > >John Lynch-Staunton was initially taken aback when it >was suggested be become the first nominal leader of >the new Conservative Party of Canada, formed through a >merger of the Canadian Alliance and Progressive >Conservatives. > >"I had a little reticence," he said in an interview. >"Would the Alliance people want a Tory senator from >Quebec?" > >But there was no objection from the Alliance side, and >Lynch-Staunton, the official opposition leader in the >Senate, ultimately took it as a compliment and a good >sign for the merger. > >"The fact that a Tory is there at this stage is, I >think, indicative that so far it's a merger of equals >and not a takeover of one by the other," he said. > >Lynch-Staunton will serve as interim leader of the new >party until an elected leader is installed in March. > >His position is largely a formality required by >electoral law, and he jokes that his main function >will be to answer the phone on behalf of the party. >Stephen Harper and Peter MacKay, leaders of the >parties that merged, will speak for the party on >political matters. > >Lynch-Staunton has long been prominent in Montreal >business and political circles. > >He is the former CEO of De Kuyper Canada Inc. and >served as president of the Montreal Board of Trade. > >He was a Montreal city councillor for 14 years >beginning in 1960, and served as vice-chairperson of >the executive committee under Jean Drapeau. > >A devoted Progressive Conservative through the party's >lean years in Quebec, he was named to the Senate by >Brian Mulroney in 1990. > >Lynch-Staunton, unlike some prominent PC figures, was >pro-merger all along and feels the new party is off to >a promising start. > >"I think in time it will become a very credible >alternative," he said. "Yes, it'll take time, but >they're working hard on it." > >He notes that many Alliance people are former >Progressive Conservatives, and says the merger is to >some extent a family reunion. > >"I'm sorry to see that there's no longer a Progressive >Conservative Party as such," he said. "But I'm >delighted to see that there is a bringing back >together of conservatives who did make up that party >and allowed it to form a government." > >He said he felt a greater loss when the Mulroney PC >coalition broke up a decade ago, with western Tories >defecting to the Reform Party and Quebec PC support >shifting to the Bloc Québécois. "Now I like to think >that part of that coalition is coming back," he said. > >Lynch-Staunton said recalcitrant Tories, such as >former leader Joe Clark and Nova Scotia MP Scott >Brison, who yesterday jumped to the Liberals, aren't >giving the new party a fair chance. > >"All the principles this party stands for are mainly >our principles," he said. > >"Brison can bitch all he wants, but he has to take >things at face value, and that's that the progressive >policies of the Tories are for all intents and >purposes reasonably well confirmed." > >hbauch@thegazette.canwest.com > >Profile of John Lynch-Staunton > >© Copyright 2003 Montreal Gazette

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