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1 8 stoujfvilk suntribune thursday june 14 2007 deeply personal issues become public in politics from page 1 in the statement of claim the sisters further state their brother used the power of attorney to take out a 240000 mortgage on their mothers ballantrae farm wrote a 25000 cheque to himself and charged a total of 7800 on one of their mothers charge cards with out her knowledge or consent in court documents filed by mr calandra he denies mishandling his mothers assets he states the request to remove him as power- ofattorney was neither initiated nor made by his mother and the process was driven by his sisters who were motivated by selfinter est mr calandra said he did not want to comment further about the case this issue deals with my late mothers estate mr calandra said it is a deeply personal matter it is unfortunate that it has gone toward the court im hoping it will come to a resolution and be ami cable for all sides in a statement ms gehring and ms calandra said what could have been a private family matter has found its way into the courts the liberal party doesnt want to be embarrassed the party wants someone who has the qualities that the public wants out of respect for our late parents we all had an opportu nity to be fair caring and equal in our approach to the handling of the estate ms gehring and ms calandra stated unfortunately our brother acted in such a man ner that he left us feeling both sad and bewildered meanwhile when gus khouri decided hed like to take a run at the federal liberal candidacy in newmarketaurora he didnt know he had to answer a 40page ques tionnaire supply documents and go through a police check the 23year was asked if he has ever been arrested kicked out of school fired from a job declared bankruptcy had tax troubles or been named in a court case civil or otherwise i didnt mind the questions or having to go to the police for a clearance mr khouri said it has to be done the liberal party doesnt want to be embarrassed the party wants someone who has paul calandra oak ridges- markham conservative candidate embroiled in family lawsuit the qualities that the public wants before susan wadsworth got the nod as the green candidate in unionvillemarkham she had to be approved by party leader eliza beth may a potential candidate declares an interest fills out a fivepage application form to be approved by the party leader venessa long a newmarketaurora green party official said theres no police check we expect selfdisclosure because we work on the honour system when new democratic party hopefuls simon strelchik of thorn- hill wess dowsett of richmond hill and sylvia gerl of york simcoe each made their bid for a spot on the ballot they had to jump through party hoops lifes pins and needles for all federal wannabes especially mr calandra since stephen harpers minority government could be dissolved at any time candidates must be electionready with a law suit hanging over his head the bal lantrae resident has a full plate mr calandra won the oak ridg- esmarkham federal nomination in a threeway race in march defeat ing andrew keyes of markham and caroline allesley of oak ridges the 36yearold insurance broker has a history with the con servatives at both the federal and provincial level he worked in the office of former mpp and provin cial tory cabinet minister steven gilchrist and up until last week hee was president of the provincial oak ridgesmarkham conserva tives he was one of the key orga nizers to attract more than 1000 conservatives to a markham high school june 2 where whitchurch- stouffville councillor phil bannon was chosen candidate for the oct 10 provincial election in the runup to the conserva- gus khouri auroranewmarket liberal candidate didnt expect 40- page questionnaire tive nomination mr calandra answered the partys 35page can didatesearch questionnaire and was interviewed by a threemem ber candidatesearch committee i told them about the suit mr calandra said the nominating search committee knew about it and the party knew committee chairperson solette gelberg told the suntribune she had no knowledge of a lawsuit one day later after calling the candidate the king township resident called the newspaper and said mr calandra may have men- tioned the legal matter stressing three potential candidates were each interviewed for two hours we conservatives are pretty tightlipped about these things whats internal stays internal mr calandras campaign web site states he opened and success fully operated two businesses after completing university what it doesnt say is mr calandra did not graduate from carleton university initially he told the york region media group he had a university degree and then after persistent questioning he said he did not graduate because he was short credits required for a degree after being informed of what mr calandras website states ms gelberg suggested mr calandra should fix the education information a day later she told the newspaper mr calandra informed her he has enough credits for a university degree he just hasnt applied for the degree ms gelberg said belinda stronach education and marital status were discussed during leadership bid his website says he completed university for him he was finished the fact newmarketaurora mp belinda stronach dropped out of york university after attendingfor one year is no secret the education issue along with two divorces attracted much media attention when in 2003 she ran for the conservative leadership and again when in a surprise move in 2005 she crossed the floor and joined the liberals some suggest ms stronach does not have a history of steadfastness when it comes to husbands or education still ms stronach never altered information about either her education or her marital status the issue is not how much education a candidate has its about truth its about how truthful a candidate seeking a seat in parliament is about all things including education political parties especially the liberals have been stung by candidates fudging resumes even though few grits would admit it the 1994 ghost of jag still haunts them markhamstouffville mp jag bhaduria was booted out of the caucus and but of the party mr bhaduria captured headlines across canada when he was caught lying about his eduction on his resume and writing a threatening letter to his former employer at a toronto school board mr bhadurias antics sparked quite a reaction more than 35000 constituents signed a petition calling for his resignation a standingroom only crowd took over a markham hall demanding to know how such a dishonest individual found his way into a house of commons seat some went one step further and picketed the shamed liberals home the jag issue no doubt helped change political parties protocol when scrutinizing potential candidates the liberals demanded documented proof of mr khouris education he recently graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering from the university of ottawa as well when former aurora mayor tim jones jumped into the local liberal nomination race he too went under the partys microscope i had to give my high school and university records mr jones said i had to go to the police station they got it all out of me before i got the green flag mr khouri and mr jones are waiting for the federal liberals to give the goahead for the local nomination newmarketaurora became vacant when ms stronach announced she is not seeking re election canadas political parties dont all take the same approach when it comes to whats public and whats not i had to go to the police station they got it all out of me before got the green flag the green party doesnt pry into their potential candidates backgrounds the liberals post their complete candidatesearch questionnaire on the party website neither the new democrats or the conservatives allow their questions to be made public david schellenberg the communications officer for the conservatives said the partys candidate search process is considered an internal matter we conservatives are pretty tightlipped about these things mr schellenberg said whats internal stays internal since the conservatives search process is dominated by secrecy nobody knows if mr calandra or the other federal candidates are honourbound to declare if theyre involved in a lawsuit or if theyre required to give documented proof of education the bottom line is if youre seeking a seat in the house of commons your life should be an open book of course you should tell the truth and nothing but the truth canada deserves nothing less mifwiiiniuhw ii q shoeless joes presents the good brothers saturday june 30th wwwstrawberryfestivalca 90564berry 905 6423779 lfl