conservative.ca considers backbenchers to be irrelevant

I wanted to learn more about the newly elected MP here in my parents’ riding of Richmond Hill. So my first instinct was to visit the Tory’s official website, www.conservative.ca. I was a little mind-boggled, yet not surprised, to find that no such listing of MP’s actually exists (or that it’s really well hidden beyond the web-surfing capacity of the average voter). According to the “TEAM” tab at the top of the page, the only relevant parts of the Conservative “team” are the cabinet and the team of unelected Senators. What about local MP’s? What about parliamentary secretaries?

Am I surprised? No… Under Harper, most backbenchers are just puppet-moles who stand up and sit down once in a while to vote as per the wishes of the PMO, in hopes they don’t get whacked after saying “extreme right wing” statements to the public (i.e. Cheryl Gallant, Rob Anders). The lack of any backbencher MP presence on the Conservative.ca website, just comes to show how little the federal Tories actually value grassroots issues now that they have a majority. Yes, Martin and Chretien also had a reputation for running a PMO-controlled government, but at the very least, their local members were recognized on their respective party websites.