Liberal Leader Justin has two by-elections coming up in Toronto on June 30 and if he does not win both easily, he is going to be in deep weeds. Mind you there is little more that Prime Minister Stephen Harper can do to make it difficult for the Liberals.
Calling a by-election for the Monday of a four-day Canada-Day long weekend in Toronto is probably the most evil thing that Stephen Harper could come up with. He likely had to offer the two Conservative candidates Senate seats to get them to even run. If they are the least bit smart, neither will make an appearance in their respective ridings.
But the entire Conservative effort in Toronto is to try to screw Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau. And Justin’s problem is that he has more than Conservatives and New Democrats out to get him. He has some key Liberals who also want to teach him a lesson.
And it all centres in the downtown riding of Trinity-Spadina. It is hard to imagine the docile voters of Scarborough-Agincourt voting anything but Liberal but it was Justin who caused the trouble in Chinatown. It is like the Tom Hanks character in the movie Forrest Gump saying “Stupid is as stupid does.”
Many key Liberals throughout Ontario are appalled at what Justin has done in the run-up for this by-election. And it was more than just breaking his promise of open nominations in the party. He broke his word to the key volunteer organizers throughout the party in Ontario. Those people are a critical resource and Justin simply gave them the finger.
And then he disallowed the candidacy of long-time Liberal apparatchik Christine Innes in Trinity-Spadina. This was not only foolish but it was also spiteful. It was not Christine that some people wanted to stifle. It was her husband Tony Ianno. Many of us know Tony for what he is but, we never put the blame on Christine. To blame her for her husband’s real or imagined transgressions is both sexist and stupid.
But then our own Forrest Gump stuck us with his chosen candidate: Adam Vaughan. The young Vaughan cut his political teeth in that playpen of a City Council chamber in Toronto with his buddy New Democrat Mike Layton. Gee, welcome to the Liberal Party Adam. Why?
It will take a major effort to get out the Liberal vote in Trinity-Spadina on June 30. The New Democratic candidate is an expert at the ground game. He knows what he has to do. Does Justin?
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Copyright 2014 © Peter Lowry
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