Category Archives: Liberal

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath announces details about her party's first-ever provincial pharmacare plan, election promise at Queen's Park on April 24, 2017. ( Kris Rushowy / Toronto Star ) | Order this photo

At Queens Park, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath unveiled details of an ambitious pharmacare program to provide major prescription drugs for Ontarians Monday.

Simultaneously in Hamilton, Premier Kathleen Wynne announced details of her Liberal governments basic income pilot program to provide a stronger safety net not least for those between jobs who might fall between the cracks in our social programs.

A pre-election battle has broken out between the NDP and Liberals for the hearts and votes of progressives with the Progressive Conservatives out of mind.

The rival NDP and Liberal plans are still in the early stages, but each has great long-term potential. In an era of precarious work, where people can no longer count on jobs for life with workplace benefits or workplace income government has an even greater role to play as a force for good.

Unless you believe government is a bad influence best reined in. Which is why PC Leader Patrick Brown ahead in the polls, coasting as premier-in-waiting had nothing good to say Monday morning about either proposal. Lacking any proposals of his own, he had nothing at all to say about the challenges of life in tomorrows workplace.

On Thursday, the Liberals will roll out and restate more of their pre-campaign agenda in the spring budget. Which explains Horwaths attempt to steal a march on the budget.

At a weekend convention, she gave party supporters a sneak peek of the campaign trail ahead with a 40-page New Democrat Vision for Ontario. Its not an election platform, merely a precursor, but it points in a progressive direction.

In the 2014 provincial election and the 2015 federal vote, New Democrats deluded themselves into thinking they were a government-in-waiting, stressing prudent stewardship over progressive action. Fearful of being labelled the party of the free lunch, they were outflanked by Liberal leaders who ate their lunch.

Case in point: Pension reform, which Horwath had once proposed for Ontario, but churlishly abandoned in the last campaign merely because Wynne had made it her own. The provincial Liberals teamed up with the union movement to advance an Ontario Retirement Pension Plan, which pushed the federal government into a reformed Canada Pension Plan.

Now, Horwath has finally grasped that if you cant beat them, beat them to it. Thats how the NDP leader brought party delegates to their feet with her pharmacare promise:

This is what the next election is all about, she exhorted, before the sound system cued up Bruce Springsteens We Take Care Of Our Own.

When medicare came into being 50 years ago, prescription drugs were unconscionably left out of the equation, an afterthought to be redressed in future. Now, Canada remains the only industrialized nation to offer medicare without medicine outlier status that puts the lie to our prideful pretensions about our health care system.

All these years later, the gap has grown greater: modern pharmaceuticals play an even more essential role in treating illness; and workers wont be able to rely on private workplace drug plans as companies scale back full-time jobs and benefits.

With a 40-per-cent share of the population and the economy, Ontario has the purchasing power and critical mass to lead the way. Federalism can take forever, but it allows for progress by progressive provinces launching experiments that can be expanded nationwide. Just as Queens Park plotted its own path on pensions, other provinces moved on carbon pricing, and Saskatchewan led the way on medicare in the 1960s.

Horwaths plan is embryonic. The NDP has budgeted $475 million to launch the program with an initial list of 125 of the most-common and effective medicines. There would be inevitable criticism that more drugs should be covered (as the NDP always demands in opposition). Horwath concedes that any comprehensive expansion would only come after Ottawa and the other provinces joined in.

Liberal Health Minister Eric Hoskins, who has campaigned for a national pharmacare plan without success, knows enough about the proven benefits and savings medical and economical to have graciously and sagaciously welcomed the rival NDP idea Monday. Brown, by contrast, claimed his Tories had heard from their friends in the insurance industry that the costs would be far higher than claimed.

Yet expert research, from all sides of the ideological spectrum, has shown pharmacare saves far more money than it costs, reducing the overall health-care bill while preserving life. Not only because an ounce of medication is worth a pound of cure, but because a streamlined, single-payer system is far more cost-effective than the costly duplication of private insurance plans that skim profits by short changing patients. Thats the attraction of medicare, and the equal appeal of pharmacare.

Would an NDP government follow through on its pledge, or might Horwath acquiesce to pressure from private companies as Bob Raes NDP government did with its broken promise of public auto insurance in the 1990s? Will Hoskins persuade his fellow Liberals to act at the provincial level to spur a national pharmacare program?

The diagnosis has been known for decades. Perhaps now we have a prescription for political will.

Martin Regg Cohns political column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. mcohn@thestar.ca , Twitter: @reggcohn

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NDP-Liberal battle for hearts and votes of progressives: Cohn - Toronto Star

LIBERAL, Kan. (KSNW) Some residents in Liberal are learning they no longer should eat fish caught in a popular fishing spot. That word is coming down from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.

A few weeks ago, KDHE emailed city officials saying fish in the Arkalon Park lake arent safe to be eaten and need to be released once caught.

Well, if they catch any fish, they have to throw them back, because its wastewater, said Jody Thompson with Arkalon Park maintenance department. They dont think they get all the contaminants out.

Thompson says warning signs are up to make area residents aware of the problem.

We have to put signs up to let everyone know its catch and release only, try to enforce it. Its going to be tough, but thats all I can do, Thompson said.

The lake has been fed with treated wastewater for decades. KDHE says the lake has always been designated as a no-swimming lake. But, this year, they realized the fishing component had not been addressed.

The permiters, when they were renewing the permit this year, noticed that people were fishing out of it and realized that they needed to mark that its also catch and release, said KDHE spokesperson Kara Titus.

She says its a precaution more than anything else because things like the presence of hormones in wastewater dont always get tested.

We dont have proof that the water is dangerous, Titus said. However, due to the fact that it is treated wastewater, we advise people that they should not consume the fish.

Thompson said the lake is a popular picnicking spot.

Well a lot of them come down here to picnic, then go fishing, or go fishing and then come down and picnic, and its been kind of slow, Thompson said.

Liberal resident Judy Yates has been fishing in the lake for three years, but says she plans to follow the new warning.

I think like myself, you know, you kind of take heed to that and say maybe thats not a good idea, Yates said. Thats a nice fish, I might take a picture of it but let it go.

Starting Wednesday, park visitors will start seeing signs warning them to throw back any fish caught in the lake.

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KDHE: Fish in popular Liberal lake not safe to eat | KSN-TV - KSN-TV

U.S. Rep. Todd Rokita(Photo: File photo)

U.S. Rep. Todd Rokitas unwavering conviction on climate change isnt particularly new.

The Brownsburg Republican will tell you as much. In fact, he once again told a legislative forum as much Weve had this discussion a number of times, publicly, Rokita said a little over a week ago, when constituents grilled him on the topic April 15 in Crawfordsville.

Rokitas defiance is just getting a fresh airing at a time when scientists take to the street to defend their work not to mention that the 4th District congressman is positioning himself among fellow Republicans for a shot at Joe Donnelly, Indianas first term senator, in 2018.

Over the weekend, as mop-up work continued behind various March for Science events including one that drew 400 people to Lafayettes Riehle Plaza a handful of Indiana bloggers picked up on the Cliffs Notes version of Rokitas comments the week before at Wabash College, letting them loose across social media over the weekend.

What those paraphrased references might have lacked in word-for-word transcription, they picked up the essence of what Rokita has touted through his years in Congress when it comes to the science chasing climate change and the financial price dealing with it could create.

Heres a baseline reference point: Bjorn Lomborg, president of an economic think tank called the Copenhagen Consensus Center and controversial author of The Skeptical Environmentalist: Measuring the Real State of the World, raised hackles when Purdue President Mitch Daniels invited him to campus in March. But even Lomborg doesnt deny that climate change is a thing. A vast majority of scientists, Lomborg agreed, had shown proof of that. His point is that climate change isnt the most pressing issue or best use of global effort and cash to fix.

Rokitas point, by comparison: Hes open to science. Just not that liberal science. And anything that suggests climate change is liberal science.

WAITING:What Todd Rokita would have heard at a town hall

'SKEPTICAL ENVIRONMENTALIST':A Q&A with Bjorn Lomborg

OP-ED:Focus at Purdue always on #ScienceForYou

Hungry for a town hall Rokitas folks havent scheduled, constituents pressed him to elaborate that morning in Crawfordsville. Heres how the conversation went, just so everyones on the same page.

Stacy Bogan, a Lafayette artist, framed the question in terms of how the General Assembly this year trusted the early science on cervical cancer to move a bill calling for a state plan aimed at reducing the number of new cases. State Rep. Sharon Negele, an Attica Republican who authored House Bill 1278, was at the April 15 forum in Crawfordsville.

Bogan, who has chased Rokita on this in the past, asked: What threshold of proof do you require in order to listen to scientists worldwide rather than listening to a handful of lawyers who are funded by fossil fuels.

Heres Rokitas response:

Ill summarize, using actually one of your sentences from your opening remarks, and that is, We trust the scientists to do the research. In science, there is no trust. Thats why its called science. We use scientific methodology to review any question. And theres all kind of questions in regard to the liberal scientists who come up with their research. With regard to cervical cancer, there is conclusive evidence and proof there is no trust there. You said it yourself, we trust our scientists to do their research. I do not.

I do not take any kind of preliminary conclusion as a reason to change our entire economy and put thousands and thousands of people out of work, based on someones hunches. There is all kinds of discrepancy in the science that you quote. Im not going to vote for policies that could disrupt our entire economy and do things just because of someones liberal hunches.

Following up, Marc Hudson, a retired English professor at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, asked Rokita a Wabash College graduate to think about what hed actually said and whether he truly believed 99 percent of scientists are liberals.

In a few decades, Hudson suggested to Rokita, you are going to look back in your own lifetime and realize how absurd and how nearsighted your position is.

Rokita stayed the course.

Ninety-nine percent of the climate scientists havent been interviewed. Of the ones that have been polled, theyve come up with their opinion.

I have looked into this issue. I have studied it. Id be happy to be moved by evidence, but Im not going to be moved by liberal opinion.

Thats where things stand with the 4th District congressman as he lines up a Senate campaign.

And thats why they were marching for science on Saturday.

Reach columnist Dave Bangert at 765-420-5258 or at dbangert@gannett.com.

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Bangert: Rep. Todd Rokita vs. a 'liberal scientist's hunch' - JConline - Journal and Courier

Liberal Arts Colleges, in Fight for Survival, Focus on Job Skills Wall Street Journal (subscription) With their students facing rising debt and pressure to land a job after graduation, colleges and universities are focusing less on the meaning of life and more on how to earn a living. This evolution toward pragmatism has been under way since the 1990s ...

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Liberal Arts Colleges, in Fight for Survival, Focus on Job Skills - Wall Street Journal (subscription)

Conservative firebrand Ann Coulter found an unlikely ally in Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) over the weekend when the self-described democratic-socialist defended Coulters right to speak on a college campus.

The University of California, Berkeley last week canceled an event where Coulter was scheduled to speak, citing security concerns. University officials fearthat Coulters presence on campus will incite another round ofviolent protests similar to what happened in February something the school and city have become accustomed to in recent months.

Given currently active security threats, it is not possible to assure that the event could be held successfully or that the safety of Ms. Coulter, the event sponsors, audience, and bystanders could be adequately protected at any of the campus venues, university officials said.

But Sanders doesnt believe that what happened to Coulter is right. The former presidential candidate said Coulter should be allowed to speak on campus without fear of violence or intimidation.

I dont like this. I dont like it, he told the Huffington Post last week when asked about the situation.

Obviously, Ann Coulters outrageous to my mind, off the wall. But you know, people have a right to give their two cents-worth, give a speech, without fear of violence and intimidation, he explained.

In recent years, students, mostly liberal and progressive in their politics and worldview, have organized in force to protest conservative speakers claiming that their hate speech shouldnt be allowed on campus. Of course, the hate speech they refer to is hardly hateful and more often than not just an idea or opinion that the students disagree with.

Still, students have beendetermined to take whatever steps necessary to shut down speakers they disagree with and whom they deem bring hate to their campus. Its all in the name of silencing fascists, the students claim.

But Sanders disagrees. He told the Huffington Post that its just a sign the students are intellectual lightweights.

To me, its a sign of intellectual weakness, he said. If you cant ask Ann Coulter in a polite way questions which expose the weakness of her arguments, if all you can do is boo, or shut her down, or prevent her from coming, what does that tell the world?

What are you afraid of her ideas? Ask her the hard questions. Confront her intellectually, Sanders said. Booing people down, or intimidating people, or shutting down events, I dont think that that works in any way.

Sanders isnt the only noted liberal to come to Coulters defense in recent days. HBO Real Time host Bill Maher slammed the university on his show Friday and labeled the students f***ing babies.

Berkeley used to be the cradle of free speech, and now its just the cradle for f***ing babies, Maher said. I feel like this is the liberal version of book burning and its got to stop.

University officials have since rescheduled Coulters speech for May 2, a day when students will be deep in books studying for final exams.

Coulter, however, is insistent on giving her speech on Thursday, the originally scheduled day.

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Ann Coulter finds unlikely ally in powerful liberal politician after Berkeley cancels speech - TheBlaze.com

The Simpsons hilariously mocked sensitive college students, colloquially known as social justice warriors, in an episode earlier this month.

The episode shows longtime character Mr. Burns returning to his alma mater, Yale University, to donate money and endow a department of nuclear plant management.

However, two university staff walking with Mr. Burns inform him the school cant associate itself with anything nuclear.

Of course, we cant do nuclear, one of the staff members says. Youd be creating a space for violence to happen. Hmm. How about funding a chair in the non-narrative cinema of self-identified pansexuals?

Our students are highly-entitled wusses, adds the other.

But with an issue as hetero-patriarchal as nuclear power, well have to hire multi-cultural empathizers, build a new safe space, they continue, before being interrupted by a small group of students who demand the university establishes anti-nuclear curriculum.

Whats happened to this place? Mr. Burns says emphatically before pointing to one of the students. This is the home of ruthless media disruptor Samuel F. B. Morse. Who is his successor? That fellow?

Fellow? That word is cis-gender normative, okay? Youre worse than Hitler! the student says back.

The skit then forwards to the shows main character, Homer Simpson, walking on Yales campus dressed as a woman. He then spots an all gender bathroom and goes in. Once he comes out, hes no longer dressed like a woman and puts on a cardboard box with eyeholes cut out pretending that his gender is now robot.

Thats unbelievably offensive. Microagression! one student says.

Cultural appropriation! says another, before all of the students begin uttering similar phrases in a robotic fashion.

Watch the skit below:

College campuses have become infamous places in recent years as students become more and more liberal and demand safe spaces or places on campuses where they dont have to listen to or be offended by hate speech, which really means speech they dont like or agree with.

Gender change, which has also taken college campuses by storm, was also widely mocked in the episode. In 2017, progressives allege there are dozens of different genders a person can choose or even no gender at all. Harvard, an Ivy League school similar to Yale, even said in a new campus guide that gender can change daily.

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Watch: The Simpsons expertly mock & troll sensitive liberal college students in hilarious skit - TheBlaze.com

Today marches for science were held in hundreds of cities. The one here in the Twin Cities reportedly drew 10,000 liberals. In reality, of course, these were marches against President Trump or, stated differently, in favor of the Democratic Party. There isnt anything surprising about that. When political factions are out of power because most people dont agree with them, they like to march.

To a remarkable degree, liberal media pretended, at least, to take seriously the marches for science. (As though the marchers political opponents were against science, whatever that might mean.) I spent most of the morning in the gym, and for an hour or so CNN featured visuals of the marches with a legend across the screen that said, Climate deniers persist despite evidence.

Probably no one at CNN knows anything about the global warming debate. Possibly people at CNN are so clueless that they seriously believe that climate deniers, or climate change deniers, exist. They obviously have no idea what the evidence about the Earths climate actually shows, i.e., that the alarmists models are wrong.

We have been writing on those topics for years. For the moment I just want to note, wistfully, that we cant even imagine what it would be like if the mass media were conservative. Can you imagine CNN, or anyone else (Fox is no exception), covering Tea Party demonstrations with a line across the bottom of the screen saying, Obamas defenders persist despite evidence? Or any media outlet covering a pro-gun demonstration with the tag line, Gun control advocates persist despite evidence? Or how about a Tax Day demonstration in favor of tax cuts, with a legend across CNNs screen that says, High tax advocates persist despite evidence.

Every one of those examples would be far more justified, if one actually has a nodding acquaintance with the facts, than CNNs stupid reference to climate deniers. But we cant even imagine a world in which commentary from a conservative perspective could routinely be inserted into supposedly objective news coverage.

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The Marches For Democrats, As Reported By Liberal Media - Power Line (blog)

Liberal leader Christy Clark and B.C. NDP leader John Horganwalked the streets of Surrey Saturday at theannual Vaisakhi festivalhoping to spread their campaign messages in a key battleground.

Vaisakhi marks the creation of the Khalsaand pays tribute to the start of the Punjabi harvest. For Hindus, it is a celebration of the start of the new year.

Hundreds of thousands of people come out every year to see the parades, enjoy fresh food and watch live music. Andpoliticians come in droves.

With the provincial election a little more than two weeks away, both Clark and Horganwasted little time spreading their campaign messages in a city that some say could decide the upcoming election.

There are nine provincial electoral ridings in Surrey, and a few of them are considered some of the tightest in the race.

The festival itself is held in the ridingof Surrey-Green Timbers, which has been held by Sue Hammell of the NDP for 22 years.

Hammell is retiring andthe NDP wants to keep that Surrey seat.

The riding of Surrey-Fleetwood was decided by just 200 votes inthe 2013 election and is another riding to watch.

"I'm excited about our candidates and Surreyis definitely going to be the place that the election will be decided," said Horgan at the office of NDP candidateRachna Singh.

At a speech during the festivities, Clark made sure to prop upher Liberalcandidates in Surrey.

"Puneet [Sandhar]came here 14 years ago, she started her legal practice, she raised her family she's a proud Canadian and now she wants to join the legislature," said Clark, who talked about the need to bring more South Asian women into the political system.

On Friday, the B.C. Liberals took aim at Horgan for spending much of the official campaign period on the South Coast.

Aside from a visit to Victoria on Thursday, Horgan has spent nine straight days in ridings in the Lower Mainland.

In a release sent out on Friday, the B.C. Liberals said "John Horgan has yet to cross the 50th parallel in this campaign" and the NDP leader has "ignored the vast majority of British Columbia and concentrated on Metro Vancouver."

Horganresponded by saying he regularly visits communities outside the Lower Mainland and said Clark ignored them before the start of the election campaign.

"If Christy Clark had been spending time in those communities before now, she wouldn't have to go," said Horgan.

"I've been crisscrossing the province for the past three years, talking to British Columbians about the issues that matter to them."

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BC Liberal, NDP leaders canvass votes at Surrey Vaisakhi festivities - CBC.ca

Updated April 22, 2017 13:45:09

Veteran South Australian Liberal MP Duncan McFetridge has been dumped in a preselection fight for his state seat of Morphett, with the party choosing Holdfast Bay Mayor Stephen Patterson.

Dr McFetridge, who has held the western Adelaide seat since 2002, was dumped from shadow cabinet at the start of the year.

SA Liberal leader Steven Marshall had publicly backed Dr McFetridge and even declared the veteran MP would win.

Another contender for the Morphett preselection was former federal Liberal Matt Williams, who lost his seat at the last federal poll.

Mr Marshall said Dr McFetridge lost out in a close contest on Friday evening.

"The people of the branch have spoken ... it was a very narrow win by Stephen Patterson but I think it was a very difficult decision for the people in that room last night," he said.

"Dr McFetridge has been a great member for the Liberal Party and more broadly for the people of South Australia. He served that electorate with distinction."

Dr McFetridge admitted the result was a surprise and said he would be considering his options for the future.

"Frankly, I was shocked at the result last night with the electoral college in Morphett. I have a lot of support in Morphett, I spoke to all the college delegates, and they had given me indications of very, very strong support," he said.

"I don't understand it. I'll be speaking to my supporters and I'll be considering all my options."

After the Morphett Liberal candidate was announced, former Liberal Martin Hamilton-Smith tweeted that Dr Fetridge had learnt what it meant to have leader Mr Marshall right behind him.

Labor said Mr Marshall's leadership authority had been undermined, despite having promised that his preferred candidate Dr McFetridge could be speaker in the next Parliament.

Labor MP Chris Picton tweeted Australian Steven Bradbury's improbable gold medal win at the 2002 Winter Olympics, when competitors ahead of him fell before the finish line, and likened it to the outcome.

Mr Patterson said he believed his connection with his local community made the difference.

"Certainly people were looking for a genuinely connected local who could really resonate with the community and represent them," he said.

Senior Liberal MP Stephen Wade said he was disappointed to see his long-time colleague Dr McFetridge ousted, but Mr Patterson would have his support.

"I was supporting Duncan in the preselection but I do respect the decision of the electoral college," he said.

"Our party is very democratic and we've had a very robust set of preselections which I believe is delivering a great team for 2018."

South Australians will go to the polls next March, under the state's fixed-date electoral system.

The Liberal Party has also chosen its candidate for the regional seat of Narungga, the renamed electorate of Goyder based on Yorke Peninsula.

Fraser Ellis will contest the seat when current Liberal member Steven Griffiths retires next year.

Mr Griffiths lost his shadow ministry role this year when Mr Marshall said he wanted to renew his Opposition line-up in the year leading up to the 2018 state poll.

Topics: states-and-territories, government-and-politics, liberals, political-parties, adelaide-5000, sa, wallaroo-5556

First posted April 22, 2017 09:16:33

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Liberal veteran Duncan McFetridge loses SA preselection to Stephen Patterson - ABC Online

A former Ryde councillor has resigned from the Liberal Partyfollowing his conviction for tax fraud over the backdated tax returns of ex Macquarie banker Michael Carapiet.

Artin Etmekdjian, a tax agent, was handed a seven-month suspended jail sentence for fraud last week, to be served as an intensive correction order, after pleading guilty to dishonestly influencing a public official at the tax office over Mr Carapiet's declarations.

MrEtmekdjianpre-empted theLiberal Party's attempt to expel him on Friday night, formally resigning from the party hours before a meeting of the state executive was to consider a motion to strip him of his membership.

A Liberal party spokesman confirmed Mr Etmekdjian's resignation.

"The individual concerned is no longer a member of the Liberal Party. We expect a high standard of conduct from all party members, in line with community expectations."

Mr Etmekdjian'sresignation follows his expulsion from Ryde Council on Thursday, one week after he was sentenced over the matter in Sydney's Downing Centre local court.

He plead guilty to the charge in Januarybut is now appealing against the sentence.

As Fairfax Media revealed on Thursday, Mr Etmekdjian's conviction centred on the tax affairs of Mr Carapiet, Macquarie's former head of investment banking, who retired in 2011 after a celebrated 22-year career at the bank.

As Mr Carapiet's tax agent, Mr Etmekdjian handled the banker's tax returns relating to a series of share options worth around $2 million, whichhe was granted as part of the bank's employee share plan in the 2002, 2006 and 2007 financial years.

Employee share schemes provide for discounts and benefits to workers so long as the employee makes an election on an s139E form from the tax office to include the discount in assessable income for the year they were granted.

According to the agreed statement of facts tendered at his sentencing, Mr Etmekdjian emailed Mr Carapiet's personal assistant at Macquarie in 2009 requesting Mr Carapiet sign and backdate forms variously as from 2002, 2006 and 2007.

"The purpose of these forms being backdated and passed off as genuine to the ATO was in order to substantially reduce Carapiet's aggregated tax income liability," the documents stated.

The court also heard evidence that a forensic examination by the Australian Federal Police last year led it to believe Mr Carapiet signed the forms one after the other, as the indentation of Mr Carapiet's signature and handwritten date from the earlier forms were discovered on the later forms.

However, in 2009Mr Etmekdjian informed the tax office Mr Carapiet "is quite adamant that the s139Eelections were made in accordance with the relevant legislation".

Mr Carapiet has not been charged over the matter. Neither Mr Carapiet nor Mr Etmekdjian have responded to Fairfax Media's repeated requests for comment.

Mr Etmekdjian's disqualification from council strips the Ryde Liberal faction of yet another vote, after Cr Craig Chung resigned last year to take up a position as councillor at the City of Sydney. The Liberals now hold four seats on council, the same number held by independents, while Labor has two seats.

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Former Ryde councillor Artin Etmekdjian resigns from Liberal Party over tax fraud conviction - The Sydney Morning Herald