Bruce Garvey is not happy with Leader of the Opposition Harper.
...While the Liberals’ lead over the Conservatives stood at 37%-29%, with the NDP at 20%, Paul Martin’s personal lead over Harper widened to 37%-19%, with Jack Layton at 16%.
It all brings to mind the disastrous final days of last summer’s election campaign, when the wheels fell off the Conservative bandwagon, and instead of barnstorming Toronto’s 905 ridings around the clock Harper retreated to friendly Calgary with the unmistakable body language of a sulky loser.
...Ironically, Harper hit the nail on the head during his visit to Sainte Marie, 50 km south of Quebec City, where the Conservatives pulled their strongest Quebec support last time around. “The Liberal party is not a party of rural Canada. It’s a party of large cities,” he remarked. “Mr. Martin says that he’s the prime minister of large cities. He has a hard time making decisions all the time
— but especially with rural issues.”
Exactly. That’s why he’s got a stranglehold on the GTA. And that explains why he’s the PM.
So — as many in the Conservative Ontario
caucus are wondering — why isn’t Harper pounding the 905/416 pavements of Mississauga and Whitby, Long Branch and Pickering? Why isn’t he in North York and Etobicoke stiffening his faint-hearted stand on same-sex marriage before the loyal Liberal ethnic groups that are adamantly opposed? (Yesterday, it should be noted, there emerged at least some indication that the party is headed in the right direction, as Harper announced a national ad campaign in the ethnic press, supporting traditional marriage.)
As I discussed yesterday (here and here), that it a lot easier said than done. The COTU is going to be a tough nut to crack for Mr. Harper, but some high profile speaches sure would help.
