In the wake of Christy Clark's nomination to lead the BC Liberal Party, some respondents in my comment section have been comparing it to what if Belinda Stronach had won the Tory leadership back in 2004. The difference is that Christy has previous political experience where Belinda had none at all. Had Stronach won the New Conservative Party leadership race, that could very well have delivered a Paul Martin majority and set the Tory movement backwards. Belinda was woefully inexperienced and unprepared to fight an election as leader of a party. Martin would called his snap election and schooled her in leadership debates, where Harper was polished, effective, and very intelligent.
How do you think our lives would be different today had Stronach won. Harper stopped the Martin "juggernaut" from winning a majority. The Gomery inquiry would likely have been different under a majority government. Did being in minority make it more difficult for the Liberals to sweep it under the rug?
She would never have won - conservatives knew and did not mind what she was doing, but would never have allowed her to be leader.
ReplyDeleteThat’s right L. I confess to voting ( along with a couple of buddies who attended the local riding association meeting) for Belinda in my Toronto riding because we were worried about the perception of rednecks and anti-gays destroying Conservative chances of ever electing an MP in socially-liberal Toronto…that problem is still somewhat valid. Plus she added a bit of flare to an otherwise dull lot. But then it was a shock that she was even a contender and we wondered if we’d really screwed up. Lesson learned: dull is good.
ReplyDeletenomdeblog
One of the things we are seeing with the likes of Christy Clark, Danielle Smith, Barb Higgins and Ric McIver is the results of unhealthy, counter-productive competition between red and blue conservatives.
ReplyDeleteThe proper approach, as demonstrated by Harper's success and Mulroney/Campbell's failure, is to not take the blue side for granted. You gotta throw us some significant bones every once in a while. And back off on dumb, extremely aggravating projects like the gun registry (a major Kim Campbell mistake).
Clark should do some things like supporting Harper on tougher crime legislation, shut down In-Site, backing a national securities regulator, and having Senate elections. But I don't think we'll see any of these from her, which will just frustrate the dwindling right side of her coalition.
Calgary Junkie
I remember Belinda at a debate of the three candidates. She kept repeating the same talking points over and over again because she didn't have much more to back up her points.
ReplyDeletePlus I asked her one time who were her favourite political philosophers and she answered "Well, there are so many, it is hard to choose" - in other words she had never read anybody's works.
Ty Domi hosting parties at 24 Sussex would have been a hoot! ;-))
ReplyDeleteI would have left the Conservative party if Stronach had become leader. I remember not knowing Harper and wondering how how would make out. Canadians are prouder because of this government. Carry on...
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