We all know him now. He is not Stephen Harper, mystical leader from the nether world. He is the Hair, the only Prime Minister of Canada to keep a hairdresser on staff. In fact, the hairdresser is the only member of the Hair’s staff with tenure. The Hair is the guy with his personal A310 VIP aircraft for when he feels like visiting some new part of the world. He is the PM with the most frequent flyer miles to his credit. And we now know how he is going to save Whitby-Oshawa for the Conservative Party.
The Hair is so transparent! He did not call the Whitby-Oshawa by-election for June 30 when he wants two Toronto and two Alberta by-elections to be decided. Calling by-elections in the middle of a long Canada Day weekend is not a friendly gesture. It is more like raising your middle finger to the voters in Toronto. It is also more of a laugh to discomfit the Liberals and New Democrats who will be duking it out for the Toronto seats. (He is hardly worried about the two safe Conservative seats in Alberta.)
The only satisfaction that the Hair might gain is if Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau does not stop interfering in his party’s candidate selection in by-elections. By insisting on having Toronto Councillor Adam Vaughan run for the Liberal Party, Justin Trudeau is greatly reducing the number of Liberals eager to work in that riding. The Hair would dearly love to see Trudeau’s image weakened by the loss of Trinity-Spadina.
But he could not have the Whitby-Oshawa by-election at the same time. He wants all Conservative hands on deck for that one. He is going to try to win it. All he has to do is wait until after the Ontario provincial election on June 12. He is hoping that Christine Elliott will be left standing in the ruins of the Ontario Conservatives. The Hair wants her to replace her husband Jim Flaherty on the Conservative benches in Ottawa.
It is a no-brainer for the Hair. Whitby-Oshawa has been in the Flaherty-Elliott family since Christine took the provincial riding—previously held by her husband—in the 2006 by-election. She won handily. And she had another easy win provincially in 2011. And the Hair realizes how uncomfortable she is acting as Ontario Conservative Leader Timmy Hudak’s second-in-command.
The only thing that might interfere with the Hair’s planning is if Christine is still interested in taking on Tim Hudak’s job. She will know where she stands in that race by mid June. Watch for the federal Whitby-Oshawa by-election announcement later in the summer.
-30-
Copyright 2014 © Peter Lowry
Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]