Finnigan Confirmed: McKay's criticism "Unfortunate"

A review of the Liberal Nomination held in November for the riding of Miramichi - Grand Lake is complete, and the results stand. The party issued a notice to riding members yesterday confirming Pat Finnigan as the winner, and dismissing John McKay's public ridicule of the process as "unfortunate" (letter below).

The nomination process was contested by McKay (who finished second to Finnigan after 4 ballots) because 372 membership registrations were disqualified. Those 372 people who were signed up by Keith Vickers were signed up on photocopied forms, and not forms with individual identification numbers. McKay has questioned the decision to reject the memberships in the media, stating that winners in other ridings in New Brunswick used unofficial forms as well. The results in those ridings were also challenged, but the party upheld the results. But in a letter to members of the Miramichi - Grand Lake riding, the party is saying the 372 memberships that were rejected in Miramichi was because they were not accompanied by sufficient payments.

Each membership was to be accompanied by an individual $10 payment by November 14th.

In early statements to the media, McKay speculated Vickers' membership forms were delivered 4 days before the deadline. After those memberships were rejected, Vickers only received 48 votes on the first ballot and was out of the race. Local politicos speculate that McKay was expecting second ballot support from many of the Vickers supporters, hence the challenge of the results. McKay has maintained that the rejection of 372 memberships, through no fault of the people who paid their $10 and signed up, hurt the party's image.

“It’s not a question of people getting their money back, the problem is they were denied their chance to participate, through no fault of their own. Whether it was an honest mistake or not, it’s not right that a quarter of the people were denied the right to participate.” McKay said he feels that asking for a new nomination convention will not hurt the unity of the party locally. “There is a sense of fairness at play, and the result is not the only consideration. The process has been compromised, and I am being kind when I put it that way. I think all of the candidates would want a convention where all delegates would have a chance to participate when they thought they were going to have a chance to do so.”

The loss of the 372 memberships most likely did hurt McKay. The numbers show that the majority of second ballot support from the other two candidates went to Finnigan. McKay and Vickers live on the same side of the River, and it might not be a stretch to imagine a different result if those votes had been in play.

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http://www.miramichionline.com/close-race-decides-liberal-candidate-for-2015-video-photos/

http://www.miramichionline.com/second-nb-liberal-nomination-appealed/

	Spoiled	K. Vickers	V. Arseneault	A. Lordon	J. McKay	P. Finnigan
Ballot 1	17	48	174	182	240	225
Ballot 2	23	--	182	192	251	236
Ballot 3	67	--	--	262	275	282
Ballot 4	101	--	--	--	330	455 (x)

Official Notification of Appeal Results

Letter to members from Britt Dysart, President of the New Brunswick Liberal Association

As a member of the Liberal Party in Miramichi - Grand Lake, I want you to be among the first to learn that today Pat Finnigan has been confirmed as your candidate by the Party's Permanent Appeal Committee.

As you may be aware, in December former nomination contestant John McKay launched an appeal of the results of the Miramichi - Grand Lake nomination meeting. The appeal was regarding the fact that the Membership Office rejected membership forms prior to the nomination that had been submitted by one of the candidates.

Since then, an arms-length panel - called the LPC Permanent Appeal Committee - heard Mr. McKay's appeal. Today that arms-length panel dismissed Mr. McKay's appeal concluding that the Membership Rules were respected in the Miramichi - Grand Lake nomination by rejecting these forms as there was insufficient payment accompanying these forms at the time when they were submitted. This decision by the LPC Permanent Appeal Committee confirmed without any reservations, Pat as our candidate for Miramichi - Grand Lake.

It is unfortunate, that throughout the appeal, Mr. McKay has decided to take his grievances to the airwaves instead of focussing on working through this arms-length process. We have respected the process and have reserved comment until the decision was reached today and felt it was important to clarify the facts of the appeal.

It's time to now roll up our sleeves and join together to get Pat elected as the new Liberal MP for Miramichi - Grand Lake!