Former PMO Quebec advisor throws his hat in the ring for Calgary Centre by-election

Hot on the heels of Calgary Alderman John Mar's departure from the field, former PMO staffer Joe Soares has joined the race to carry the Conservative banner in the still-to-be-called Calgary Centre by-election. (And many thanks to the pseudonymous tipster who gave me a heads up on the news.) 

His online bio notes that Soares, "the son of Portuguese immigrants," grew up in Gatineau, Quebec, just across the river from where he would "serve as an advisor to our Prime Minister, The Right Honourable Stephen Harper," as well as then-Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Soares worked the Quebec desk at PMO for just over a year before leaving Langevin to head up IBProm Corp, which "provides strategic business and communications advisory services to a network of public and private clients" whose website includes a disclaimer noting that it "is not a lobbying firm."

Although Soares describes Calgary as "the place where [he and his wife] want to raise our young family," the company appears to be based out of downtown Ottawa, with no Calgary address.

His bio also emphasizes that "Joe ... has nothing personally against the other candidates," noting that "they seem to be nice people ... Joe just doesn't believe that they can get the job done!"

One cannot, however, say the same for his views on NDP Leader Tom Mulcair:

Joe believes that the biggest threat to Calgary's future and Canada's economy is Thomas Mulcair's NDP with its risky theories and dangerous economic experiments.

Joe believes that Mulcair's socialist high tax and spend anti-Alberta policies will destroy Canada and the people of Calgary-Centre need to send a clear message to the NDP! - Joe does not believe that this can be done with the current nomination candidates with their bland moderate policies.

So great is Soares' apparent antipathy towards the leader of the opposition, in fact, that his list of commitments to putative constituents puts "expos[ing] Quebec's Thomas Mulcair's hypocrisy and duplicity and the NDP's attacks on ... the oilsands" as his top priority, beating out "gold-plated" MPs' pensions, CBC funding and even support for "Minister Jason Kenney's immigration reforms."

Sadly, local reporters hoping for an exclusive one-on-one interview with the candidate will have to wait. Under the "news" section of his website, a notice warns that "due to his heavy schedule in meeting with his constituents," Soares "will not be giving any media availabilities at this time."

On the plus side, at least he's on twitter. Stay tuned!
 
For more on the Calgary Centre by-election, check out this candidate roundup.