David Orchard - Orchard Joins The Liberals

Orchard Joins The Liberals

On November 19, 2005, CBC Radio News reported that the Liberals were trying to recruit Orchard as a candidate in the 2006 federal election. According to the report, Orchard would be a Liberal candidate in either Saskatchewan or rural Ontario. Orchard did not run as a Liberal in the 2006 federal election but he announced his support for the Liberals and campaigned for Chris Axworthy in Saskatchewan, Yves Picard and Isa Gros-Louis in Quebec City, and Susan Whelan in Ontario. Orchard also officially became a member of the Liberal Party of Canada during the 2006 election.

After the Liberals were defeated, and leader Paul Martin stepped down, there was some media speculation that Orchard would seek the Liberal Party leadership. Instead, on August 17, 2006 Orchard endorsed Stéphane Dion to be the next leader of the federal Liberal Party. At the 2006 leadership convention, Orchard led a group of approximately 150 delegates, including 32 from Saskatchewan, in support of Dion. Those delegates ended up being pivotal in helping Dion pass Gerard Kennedy for third place on the first convention ballot, and eventually win the leadership when Kennedy swung his own support behind Dion after the second ballot.

Subsequently, Orchard declared that he would be seeking the nomination in the Saskatchewan riding of Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River as a Liberal candidate in the forthcoming by-election in that riding. Again, however, Orchard's ambitions created political controversy. Orchard's nomination fight was ultimately terminated on January 3, 2008 when Dion announced via a news release that Joan Beatty would be appointed as the candidate for that riding, a decision that was the subject of some controversy.

Métis leader Jim Durocher, an Orchard supporter, wrote a letter to Dion complaining about his decision to appoint a candidate rather than allow for party members to vote in a nomination meeting. He argued that "the people of this riding resent, and I personally resent mightily, the attitude of certain southerners that they know what's best for our riding." Durocher, a former Liberal candidate, also told Dion "If you impose Joan Beatty, the Liberals will lose this riding."

National Liberal campaign co-chair David Smith, however, defended Beatty's appointment by saying that Dion had made getting more women into politics a priority, saying that the party is "prepared to bite the bullet to demonstrate that our commitment to increasing our number of women candidates - particularly well-qualified ones - is very real." The media also reported that Liberal party House Leader and Saskatchewan MP Ralph Goodale, a former finance minister, was opposed to Orchard's candidacy in the by-election.

Beatty lost the ensuing byelection to Conservative candidate Rob Clarke. On August 14, the Vancouver Sun reported that David Orchard would challenge Beatty for the Liberal nomination in Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River for the 2008 federal election. Orchard won the nomination and placed second in the election, losing to Clarke by 3,148 votes.