The phones were ringing early in Barrie yesterday. Conservatives were stunned. Liberals were in shock. New Democrats were confused. Not that this blog ever wants to say “We told you so!” but we will this time.
It is not difficult to believe the figure of 40,000 instant Conservatives for Ontario. That is a very realistic figure, give or take a few thousand. If MP Patrick Brown says he has that many sign-ups to the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, you can believe it. Whether that figure wins him the leadership of the party is a very different question. All we can tell you at this time is that it sounds very much like a win-win situation for Premier Kathleen Wynne.
As we pointed out earlier in the year, there is now a period of serious auditing of the sign-ups for each of the Conservative contenders. Did each of these instant Conservatives pay their own $10 for their membership? Do they live in the electoral district they claim? Are they really going to vote in May of this year? After all when you buy your members on the wholesale market, can you trust them?
While you might think of these as picky questions and that a proper Conservative lady or gentleman would not provide an incorrect answer, an occasional error might creep through. You can call it the revenge of the nerds. And you can think of Barrie’s Patrick Brown as the chief nerd.
And if you thought poor Timmy Hudak was a problem as leader of the Ontario Tories, you have never seen Patrick Brown in (in)action. MP Brown not only has the worst attendance record in the Canadian parliament, but he has the record for spending the most money sending trash communications to the voters in his riding.
It hardly matters that women do not like him. As an ardent Right-to-Lifer, Brown would drive women voters away from the Conservatives anyway.
He is a self-described retail politician. That means he puts all his efforts and attention on his electoral district and only shows up in parliament when it is demanded. If he stands up in Question Period, it is to ask friendly questions of his own Ministers.
He had nowhere to go in Ottawa and that is why he threw himself into the provincial leadership race. What he can possibly offer the Ontario Conservatives other than many years more in the wilderness, is the question. You know for sure that Premier Wynne would not mind.
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Copyright 2015 © Peter Lowry
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