David Orchard
(Source:davidorchard.com)
David Orchard is a Canadian political figure and a member of the former Progressive Conservative Party.
Orchard was born on June 28, 1950, in Borden, Saskatchewan. He is a 4th-generation organic grain farmer, also a the author of the book The Fight for Canada: Four Centuries of Resistance to American Expansionism and co-founder of CCAFT (Citizens Concerned About Free Trade), in 1985. Orchard is an opponent of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, the North American Free Trade Agreement, the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas and the World Trade Organization.
He was educated in Borden and then went on to study arts and science then law at the University of Saskatchewan in nearby Saskatoon. He later studied French at Quebec City's Laval University.
Orchard is seen by some as a "Red" or moderate Tory and claims to be ideologically inspired by his political idols former prime ministers John Diefenbaker, R.B. Bennett, Robert Borden and John A. Macdonald. He is quite passionately opposed to Canadian economic integration with the United States, including the free trade agreements, which he says impedes Canada's economic and cultural sovereignty. He is also a devoted monarchist. He also supported the crusade against the Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords calling them "The mortal weakening of the central government". He also advocates that 3 to 5 per cent of the GDP go to military spending. He is opposed to gun control.
Orchard has many critics, both within the Conservative party and elsewhere. He was accused of being an opportunist socialist who tried to hijack the weak Progressive Conservative Party and steer it in a more radical direction. Orchard describes his own views as being in the "historical mainstream" and "centrist" of the Tory party and claims they would appeal to moderate Canadians. Despite holding many leftist economic views, Orchard holds many socially-conservative positions such as his avowed support for the traditional definition of marriage.
He has never been elected to the Canadian House of Commons or to any public office. He sought election in the federal riding of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan in the 2000 federal election, placing a distant third, but the highest percentage of the vote of any other Progressive Conservative candidate in Saskatchewan.
Orchard ran twice in PC leadership elections, in 1998 and in 2003. In 1998 he was a distant second to Joe Clark on the final ballot but attracted a very different group of supporters to the Tory party in doing so. Many of Orchard's supporters were former members of several other political parties (including the BQ, CAP, GPC, Liberal, Reform, and NDP). During the relatively quiet race, Clark famously referred to Orchard as a "tourist" in the Tory party based on his left-leaning economic platform and opposition to the free trade agreements brokered by the Brian Mulroney government in the late 1980's and early 1990's. However, Orchard did gain respect from PC circles when he chose to stick with the Tories after Clark's victory. Orchard and his political advisor Marjaleena Repo worked remarkably hard at rebuilding PC constituency associations and improving PC membership sales across Canada.
Ironically, Orchard was one of Clark's staunchest defenders during the lead-up to the August 2002 convention that saw Clark resign as Tory leader after the disintegration of the parliamentary PC-DRC coalition caucus in May 2002. Growing respect for Orchard under the Red Tory wing of the PC Party could be reflected in the fact that roughly one-quarter of the party supported him during the 2003 PC Leadership race including Joe Clark's wife, Maureen McTeer. Orchard ultimately came in third in the 2003 PC leadership race, behind Calgary Lawyer Jim Prentice and Nova Scotia MP Peter MacKay on the fourth ballot. Orchard helped Peter MacKay win the leadership with a deal on the final ballot. The deal promised a review of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, no joint candidates with the Canadian Alliance and to rebuild the Progressive Conservative Party. The agreement also mentioned the PC's promise to put resources into rail based transportation, and to protect the environment. This agreement prompted much outrage and controversy. It was soon violated, and in the fall of 2003 Peter MacKay agreed to merge the PC with the Alliance party.
Orchard tried unsuccessfully to kill the merger with the Canadian Alliance and prevent one of Canada's founding party from being merged. Some other notable Tories such as former prime minister and former PC leader Joe Clark sided with Orchard on the merger issue.
In a last-ditch attempt to stop the merger, Orchard went to court, seeking an injunction against the merger vote. The case was thrown out of court on the grounds that it did not violate the Progressive Conservative Party constitution. The merger was ratified successfully by both the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in a fraudulent, undemocratic process. It was claimed that over 90% of the Progressive Conservative Party membership voted in favour of the merger, when in actual fact, over 90% of the pre-October 2003 membership did not vote in favour of the merger. Nevertheless, the two parties "merged" as the Conservative Party of Canada. Orchard refused to join or work with the new party. He was asked to take over the leadership of the Canadian Action Party after the resignation of its leader, Paul Hellyer, but Orchard did not reply to the invitation. He was also rumoured to be in discussions with the New Democratic Party of Jack Layton and the Green Party of Canada of Jim Harris.
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