Has something happened to change the Conservatives strategy regarding Ontario? John Ivison wonders why it took so long for them to figure out that is with a large growth spurt could happen. This is the money quote.
...To quibble with this, though, ignores the prime directive of politics: if your opponent has one foot in the grave (and Liberal leader Stephane Dion surely has), drive a stake through his heart, put a clove of garlic round his neck and bury him beneath heavy stones.
As I've mentioned previously, I'm a hop skip and a jump from the majority of the battleground ridings in Ontario so it will make for a very enjoyable election.
Comments (18)
Well, I live in Garth Turner’s riding. So there! lol
Posted by Dennis (Second Thoughts) | March 7, 2007 9:27 AM
Posted on March 7, 2007 09:27
When the election is called, it willed be the ugliest in the history of the country. Count on it.
Posted by Greg | March 7, 2007 9:34 AM
Posted on March 7, 2007 09:34
The ugliest in history? I know Harper is no looker, but come on…let’s not discount the Diefenbaker elections…not an attractive man.
Posted by Small Town Shyster | March 7, 2007 9:45 AM
Posted on March 7, 2007 09:45
True Harper beats the Chief in the looks department. But the Chief had a kind of inner beauty….
Posted by Greg | March 7, 2007 9:51 AM
Posted on March 7, 2007 09:51
“When the election is called, it willed be the ugliest in the history of the country. Count on it.”
We’ve been hearing that with every new election for the last few years. As always, I’ll believe it when I see it.
Posted by Andrew | March 7, 2007 9:53 AM
Posted on March 7, 2007 09:53
“the ugliest in the history of the country”
Ah, the sweet strains of the histrionic chorus.
It will only be the ugliest in the history of the NDP.
“so it will make for a very enjoyable election”
I ask you, Mr. Staples, is there any other kind?[muffled evil chuckling, strident violin notes and tympani in unison]
Posted by Alan | March 7, 2007 9:56 AM
Posted on March 7, 2007 09:56
The best way to prevent war is to be ready, willing and able to have one. Ditto elections.
March is a very big month. The March Budget with its treatment of fiscal imbalance will impact the Quebec election. Hopefully it means the beginning of the end of Ottawa elitists and centralists ripping off the taxpayer. Most politics is local .. .as in the expansion of the TTC .. hopefully the Feds don’t need to get involved in Toronto’s affairs a few years from now when the fiscal imbalance gets fully addressed.
Therefore to speculate on an election until we see the domino effect of the March Budget and Quebec election and the resultant “re-devolution”, is a waste of time.
Ugly is in the eye of the beholder. I’ve never found an election that we’ve won to be ugly … :>)
Posted by nomdenet | March 7, 2007 10:07 AM
Posted on March 7, 2007 10:07
Everyone is getting excited over Ivison’s fluff piece? Of course Harper wants Ontario seats (and Quebec, and PEI, and …). “Discover Ontario”? Ivison should try to discover his second brain cell.
Now, I do like the stake-driving metaphor. So nice when you have a proxy for the LPC, Dion. And that was just a matter of timing, waiting for the LPC to choose Dion and then for him to self-destruct all on his own. The night of the final ballot, I figure there was a lot of happy faces in WhoVille, a.k.a. CPC HQ.
And “the ugliest in history”? Like Andrew and other say, “who cares”? Nothing more enjoyable than watching LPC and NDP pain.
Posted by Erik Sorenson | March 7, 2007 10:08 AM
Posted on March 7, 2007 10:08
the ugliest in the history of the country”
Ah, the sweet strains of the histrionic chorus.
I see you are getting an early start Alan. ;)
Posted by Greg | March 7, 2007 10:33 AM
Posted on March 7, 2007 10:33
“But the Chief had a kind of inner beauty….”
So it was his inner beauty trying to get out that made his jowels shake so.
Posted by Small Town Shyster | March 7, 2007 10:41 AM
Posted on March 7, 2007 10:41
I wouldn’t want to miss anything.
Posted by Alan | March 7, 2007 10:43 AM
Posted on March 7, 2007 10:43
I don’t think Stephen Harper suddenly “discovered” Ontario. I think he’s remembered two very important things:
1) Voters in Ontario won’t remember anything done for them for more than a week.
2) Dalton McGuinty will forget it even faster.
An election’s coming. Soon. So, Harper starts projects in Ontario now. Doing them last year would not have helped come election time. Let’s face it; this is the province Bob Rae can still run in.
Posted by Luke | March 7, 2007 10:54 AM
Posted on March 7, 2007 10:54
“the ugliest in the history of the country”?
Come now, that just lacks historical perspective:
A Liberal victory, Sir John A. thundered at a rally picnic in Toronto’s Victoria Park, means free trade … means continentalists running the show … means, ultimately, annexation by the United States … means, obviously, an end to Canada less than a dozen years after its difficult and courageous birth.
But put me back in office, the first prime minister shouted, and his Conservative hounds would hunt down “the Grit rat. They shall catch the Grit rat, and we shall send his skin to Paris to make gloves of!”
No-one has yet beaten the father of our country in political rhetoricking.
Posted by Ben (The Tiger in Exile)
|
March 7, 2007 11:19 AM
Posted on March 7, 2007 11:19
I haven’t been able to figure out how Gerrard Kennedy and Martha Hall Findlay used such bad judgment in backing Dion . .who for starters can’t speak English.
Now I see Tom Axworthy, a Liberal Kingpin , in the Star says this “I have only met Dion once or twice in passing, but both his extensive writings and his actions since becoming a politician in 1996 allow one to make a considered judgment.”
Axworthy only met Dion in passing … wow!
That explains it, nobody knows Dion. So what kind of judgment do these king and queenpins have if they put Dion in there anyway?
I take it back .This could get ugly .. but within the Liberal party ugly.
Posted by nomdenet | March 7, 2007 11:34 AM
Posted on March 7, 2007 11:34
So it was his inner beauty trying to get out that made his jowels shake so.
Exactly. He was full of it. Inner beauty that is.
I take it back .This could get ugly .. but within the Liberal party ugly.
Maybe not during the election, but if they lose….
Posted by Greg | March 7, 2007 11:45 AM
Posted on March 7, 2007 11:45
If?
Posted by nomdenet | March 7, 2007 11:50 AM
Posted on March 7, 2007 11:50
No-one has yet beaten the father of our country in political rhetoricking.
It is just different now , Ben. It’s true we won’t be having anyone claiming that if a Catholic wins the crowns on the highway signs will be changed to crucifixes (as happened in Ontario during one infamous election sixty or so years ago), but in its own way, we will all feel the need of a shower after it is over.
Posted by Greg | March 7, 2007 11:51 AM
Posted on March 7, 2007 11:51
If?
Well, ask Lyn McLeod about what can go wrong in a sure thing election.
Posted by Greg | March 7, 2007 11:53 AM
Posted on March 7, 2007 11:53