March 11, 2004: Letter to the editor about Grewal's nomination style

Electorate will get wise to sign-ups someday

The Editor,

Re: "Grewals 'hedging bets,' Polak charges," the Now, Feb. 18.

Dear Mary Polak, welcome to Surrey. It would appear that Mr. and Mrs. Grewal are engaging in political manoeuvering that is similar to the 1997 federal election. During the nomination process for the federal Reform party, Gurmant Grewal showed up at the Reform office with hundreds of signatures of new members. The Reform party turned a blind eye and due to that, Lorna Dysart, one of the candidates, withdrew from the process.

I guess I still believed in the democratic way of doing things and I stayed in the race. Well, the nomination night arrived in due course and it was pure comedy. Grewal handily won the nomination.

Now Chuck Cadman is confronting this method of election strategy with Jasbir Cheema. Grewal says Mary Polak's complaining is "sour grapes." He said the same thing in '97 when I complained. Well, Mr. Grewal, sour grapes make good wine and wine, like the electorate of Surrey, will get better and stronger with time.

Mike Runte
Surrey