When Dalton Camp died in 2002, Canada lost an intellectual giant and a giant killer. Dalton was always our favourite Conservative. He was fun as a person with whom to fight. He was the man who took on and defeated Conservative Leader John George Diefenbaker in 1966. He was also the most pissed off Conservative candidate we have ever seen on election day, 1968.
Today, we need a Dalton Camp with a fly swatter. The Ontario Tories need help dumping Tiny Tim Hudak. It is a delight to see some of Ontario’s Conservatives getting up on their hind legs and saying, “Timmy has to go.” What alternative do these poor people have than dump the dummy?
Tiny Tim has embarrassed the Ontario Conservatives for too long. He was poised to defeat Dalton McGuinty in the last provincial election but the voters got a taste of his Michael Harris-Lite politics and backed off. They might have been angry with the mess Dalton was making of things but they were not crazy over either of the alternatives.
Dalton’s minority government was as untenable for him as it was for the voters. And here we are in a bigger mess with Kathleen Wynne as McGuinty-Lite. You have to agree that the by-elections of August 1 solved nothing. If anything, New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath would be in a better position if she just knew how to take advantage of the current situation.
But Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne and Conservative Leader Timmy Hudak are up the creek. The Premier has very little time left to figure out what the voters in Ontario really need and she is never going to find out on the road she is on. As long as she keeps listening to that brain-trust that is leading her astray, she is going nowhere.
But the key to opening the dam appears to be the renewal of Ontario Conservatives. Do not forget that these people used to have intelligent leaders such as Bill Davis. Bill only thinks he is right-wing. He is one of the most decent people (for a Conservative) that we have ever known.
It just needs a modern-day Dalton Camp to solve the problem. Dalton would do the job with wit, charm and irrefutable intellectual argument. He would kick ass!
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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry
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