The Patronage Appointment of Leo Housakos

After saying that he would never appoint a senator, Stephen Harper appointed 18 of them in December, so terrified that if the Coalition took power, they would give Elizabeth May one of the seats. She had wiped the floor with him during the debates, and vindictive thing that he is, couldn't allow that to happen.

One of the men he appointed was a longtime Alliance/Reform/Conservative fundraiser, and friend of Harper's aide Dimitri Soudas, Leo Housakos.

Housakos had run for the Alliance Party under Stockwell Day in the 2000 election, and while the Party was gaining momentum, was thought to have a pretty good chance. While the Reform Party was always opposed to multiculturalism (and still are), the Alliance tried to exploit it (and still do)

Montreal Gazette
15 November 2000

Alliance strategists are basically hoping to attract three groups in the Quebec electorate: former Conservatives, soft nationalists from the Bloc Quebecois and voters from cultural communities. They think the seats in ethnically diverse Montreal neighbourhoods will make or break their march to power if the outcome is close.

Giulio Maturi, a former chief organizer of Hugh Segal's Conservative leadership campaign in Montreal and now an Alliance organizer, said that as the election campaign picks up steam, so will the efforts of his party to target the cultural communities.

"Right now, we are approaching people from the cultural communities on an individual basis," Maturi said. "But as we get better organized, there will be a concerted effort to take our message to cultural communities of Montreal as a whole."

Leo Housakos is running against Liberal incumbent Raymonde Folco in the riding of Laval West, where 20 per cent of the voters are Greek.

However, the expected steam cooled off as scandal after scandal dampened Stockwell Day's chances. From buying his seat to allegations of kick backs; his dreams of becoming Canada's Prime Minister in 2000, fizzled.

At one point during the election campaign, when he thought that Jean Chretien would only win a minority, Day made a secret deal with the Bloc, to form a coalition to oust the Liberal chief.

But alas, that dream also died when the Liberals won a majority, and the Alliance only picked up an additional six seats, despite the fact that they had joined forces with the Reform Party who already had sixty. (Note: the Conservatives, Reformers and Alliance are all now under one blanket, the Conservative Party of Canada. Stephen Harper was with the Reform and Alliance wing)

As to the riding of Laval West, Liberal Raymonde Folco had 31,758 votes to Leo Houskos' 4,631.

The defeated Alliance candidate remained a party faithful and in 2007, in yet another Harper broken promise, he was given a patronage appointment with Lawrence Cannon, to VIA Rail, and later a set for life Senate seat.

More Postings on Leo Housakos:

1. Dimitri Soudas and Leo Housakos Were Subject of Ethics Probe

2. Are the Reform-Conservatives Involved with the Quebec Underworld in a Kick Back Scheme?

3. Conservative Senator Leo Housakos Blames His Own Caucus for Scandal