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Date Posted: 00:39:51 12/14/03 Sun
Author Host/IP: d150-108-94.home.cgocable.net/24.150.108.94
Date: Tue, 9 Dec 2003 16:38:17 -0500
For immediate Release
Communist Party to Challenge Proposed Name of Merged Conservative/Alliance
Party
The Communist Party released today the text of a letter sent by CPC Leader
Miguel Figueroa to Jean-Pierre Kingsley, Chief Electoral Officer of
Canada,
contesting the proposed name of the new Conservative Party . The text of
the letter follows. For more information, please contact M. Figueroa at
416-469-2446 or mailto:figueroa@cpc-pcc.ca>figueroa@cpc-pcc.ca:
December 5, 2003
Mr. Jean-Pierre Kingsley, Chief Electoral Officer of Canada Elections
Canada, 257 Slater St. Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0M6
Dear Mr. Kingsley:
I am writing on behalf of the Central Executive Committee of our Party to
raise a serious concern with you regarding the proposed merger of the
Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative Parties.
Our Party realizes that no formal application for the merger of these two
parties has yet been submitted; however we believe it only fair and
reasonable to bring our concerns to your attention and to the attention of
those parties at this time.
According to the unity agreement which is to provide the basis for the
merger, the name of the new formation shall be the Conservative Party of
Canada / Parti conservateur du Canada . Furthermore, the abbreviation or
acronym for the new party shall be CPC/PCC , which is identical to the
acronym of our Party, the full name of which, as you know, is: Communist
Party of Canada / Parti communiste du Canada
(CPC/PCC) .
Article 368(a)(i) of the Canada Elections Act states:
its name, short-form name, abbreviation or logo does not: (i) so resemble
the name, short-form name, abbreviation or logo of a registered party or
an
eligible party that it would, in the Chief Electoral Officer s opinion,
likely be confused with it, or&
(emphasis added)
In our view, the registration of this new party under the proposed name
would create conditions that would inevitably lead to substantial
confusion
among members of the electorate, with respect to properly identifying our
two respective parties in the future.
As you are well aware, acronyms are widely used in public life especially
in the press and media to identify political parties
(e.g., NDP, PCs, etc.).
Our Party is often referred to as the CP .
Unless this situation is averted, the possibility for substantial
confusion
looms large. Imagine how horrified and outraged our members and supporters
would be to see the following headline in their morning paper: CP to Make
Homosexuality a Criminal Act ; nor, presumably, would supporters of the
Conservative Party welcome a story which read: CP Calls on Canada to Quit
NATO, NORAD!
But the biggest issue is how such a circumstance might affect Canadians in
general, impairing their ability to clearly differentiate between the
federally-registered political parties in this instance.
We therefore urge you to intervene with the responsible officers of the
Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative parties to bring to their
attention our concerns with respect to their proposed name for the merged
party.
I also wish to inform you that, should an application for registration
under the current proposed party name proceed, our Party will have no
other
option but to launch a formal challenge to any such an application, under
Article 368(a)(i).
Miguel Figueroa
Leader Communist Party of Canada
cc. All registered federal parties
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