Sheila Copps

The Honourable Sheila Maureen Copps, PC, (born November 27, 1952, in Hamilton, Ontario) is a Canadian journalist and politician.

Nomination battle

Riding redistribution subsequently placed Copps in a serious nomination battle with another Liberal MP, Tony Valeri. Valeri was elected in 1997 and 2000 in the riding of Stoney Creek. With redistribution, part of Valeri's riding was merged with part of Copps's Hamilton East to create Hamilton East?Stoney Creek, while the remainder was merged with other neighbouring ridings to create Niagara West?Glanbrook. A slight majority of the constituents of Hamilton East?Stoney Creek were from Valeri's Stoney Creek riding.

Related Topics:
Tony Valeri - Stoney Creek - Hamilton East?Stoney Creek - Niagara West?Glanbrook

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Valeri's position was that the majority of his former constituents live in the new Hamilton East?Stoney Creek, while Copps maintained that Valeri should have sought the nomination in Niagara West-Glanbrook, where he resides, even though Copps had long since established her home in Ottawa with husband Austin Thorpe and daughter Danelle.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In a December interview with Hamilton's CHCH-TV, Copps complained that Martin was trying to drive her and other women and Martin opponents out of the Liberal caucus. On January 14, 2004 she refused to rule out running for the New Democratic Party in the upcoming election if Valeri won the Liberal nomination. Copps later retracted this threat.

Related Topics:
CHCH-TV - January 14 - 2004 - New Democratic Party

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On March 6, 2004, Valeri defeated Copps in the nomination battle by 311 votes; Valeri received 53 percent of the ballots to Copps's 47 percent, with 5,313 members of the Liberal Party voting. In the days following, Copps alleged improprieties in the nomination process and the conduct of the vote, and called on various authorities to investigate. She initially appealed the vote results to the Liberal Party even though her appeal was filed late and was therefore not in accordance with the constitution of the Liberal Party of Canada and the Liberal Party of Canada (Ontario); however, she dropped this appeal on March 29, 2004, alleging a lack of transparency in the process.

Related Topics:
March 6 - 2004

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In July 2005, Hamilton police announced a formal end to the investigation after finding no evidence to substiantiate Copps' allegations including tampering of her telephones on the day of the nomination. As the access codes to her phone system were apparently listed on a bulletin board, the police estimated that at least 40 individuals had access to the phone system.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~