The only conclusion that seems to make sense is that Barrie’s own MP Patrick Brown is running a bluff. He is working far too hard at winning over long-time Ontario Progressive Conservative members to be ahead in the provincial leadership race as much as he claims. He might have acquired his new sign-ups on the wholesale market back in January and February but will they remember him in May?
Brother Brown must be enjoying his 15 minutes of fame. And where he got the money for that many sign-ups is the question of the year? He is claiming sign-ups costing over $400,000 in membership fees alone. (These do not seem like people who would want to pay for the right to vote for Brown.)
Brown’s biggest problem is that he is a nebbish. He has a record as an absolute nonentity in eight years in Canada’s Parliament. He spends more than any other MP in his party mailing disgustingly cheap mailers to his constituents that support local charities and Conservative propaganda. He has absolutely nothing to say for himself.
So where did the money suddenly come from for a speech writer? He is finally saying something and he does not use words like that in normal conversation. He is saying that provincial politics matter. It is though he has just discovered that the province is responsible for things that affect our day to day life. He talks about health care and education as though they are something of a wonder. Maybe his speech writer is boning up on provincial responsibilities but Brown is still playing the numbers game.
Why he continues to harp on the membership numbers makes no sense if he really has the votes of his claimed 41,000 sign-ups. Maybe he does not trust them. What can he do if half those people never vote? Can he sue the people who sold him those members? Is he really going to start telephoning 41,000 people to see if they exist? And, if they are real, are they going to be around in May to vote as they are told?
Liberal Party members might laugh at the prospect of Brother Brown as the next Timmy Hudak. The only problem is that it can just as easily happen in their party. People in the Liberal Party have been known to buy memberships on the wholesale market. They might even be dealing with the same wholesalers as Brother Brown.
It was like when voting a couple years ago for the Ontario Liberal Party delegates to that party’s last provincial leadership contest. There were a large number of ladies in line to vote at the time we got there. Judging by their dress and as some were speaking Hindi, they were assumed to be from the subcontinent. It was just surprising later to learn from the 2011 census that there were only 35 women with Hindi as their first language in the entire Barrie census area. There were even fewer who spoke any of India’s regional languages. And chatting with the ladies as we waited to vote, it was disappointing to learn that none of those who spoke English knew the name of Barrie’s recently elected Liberal mayor.
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Copyright 2015 © Peter Lowry
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