If I was Stephen Harper, I’d be planning an election for the spring. Here’s some reasons why:
• Julian Fantino was a beatable candidate. He has a high profile, a reputation as a tough cop and a recognizable name, which was pretty much all he ran on in the Vaughan by-election on Monday. But he’s also thin-skinned, easily provoked, inexperienced at politics and vulnerable on his record. As Christie Blatchford notes, the OPP’s performance at Caledonia, with Fantino in charge, was nothing to be proud of. The Liberals should have been able to beat him, and almost did. They held the riding for 22 years and if they were better organized they would have produced a candidate able to squeeze out the extra 1,000 votes needed to win. But they came awfully close, and did manage to steal Winnipeg from the NDP. If I was Harper, I’d move before the Liberals get any better.
• If the pundits are correct, Fantino is bound for cabinet, probably in a justice-related job. Maybe he’s a fast learner, but at the moment he has the makings of another Gordon O’Connor — the tough-talking former general who started out as Defence Minister and worked himself down to National Revenue. If Harper wants to hold Vaughan, he better move before Fantino has a chance to blow up.
• Toronto is in a Conservative frame of mind. Rob Ford takes over as mayor on Wednesday and has stuffed his executive committee with like-minded conservatives from the suburbs. Assuming he moves fast to revoke the much-hated vehicle registration tax, and uses his first months to gore the easiest targets of the departing left-wing council, he should be able to prolong his honeymoon with voters into next summer. Is there anything the federal Tories would like more than to make some inroads in the Toronto suburbs? They would do well to take advantage of the friendly mood while it lasts.
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Looking at the returns I would almost bet that the coalition of losers tried to pull off a 'Joe Clark victory' in Vaughan. Joe Clark was last elected to office when the dippylibs all agreed to vote for Joe Clark. They probably tried the same in Winnipeg except the Liberal voters would no longer follow MIA'a orders. Besides the liberal ran on the conservative platform and won, MIA and Jack are both spittin' nickels this morning.
O/T: Watching QP and somebody yanked the fire alarm in the House. QP over.
They were discussing a really hot topic at the time but like everyone else I wasn’t paying attention as Iggy’s eyebrows fluttered up and down.
Never mind. This is like watching “As the stomach churns”.
You can go away for a month, tune in again and find you haven’t missed a thing.
If you’ve missed my hints to watch Harper’s performance click the “pic”. He needs a little help from his friends and he has a lot of them.
Small wonder “Iggy” is in deep trouble and why I am killing myself laughing.
Harper “boggles my mind”.