This is about as close as Babel-on-the-Bay can come to an apology. For the life of this blog, we have tended to disparage a faction of the local Liberals in Barrie. Calling them Whigs was not a compliment. (Whigs are Liberals about 100 years out of date.) This change of heart needs an explanation.
It started by being cold-shouldered by the Liberal candidate in the 2007 provincial election. Being introduced to her by a former federal cabinet minister should have been an immediate entrée but she seemed in no mood for it. She won the election but her organization seemed to be a closed shop. The only opening for us was the supposedly weaker federal riding organization.
While helping with the federal party organization for a couple years while it rebuilt and became solvent, it was a surprise to see the division with the local provincial organization. Part of the problem was the intransigence of the people who were on both boards as they tended to drag their feet on anything progressive.
They were also very angry at Babel-on-the-Bay’s claiming the right to be critical of some of the actions of the Liberal government at Queen’s Park. Instead of healthy dialogue on the issues, they tended to be viciously negative. It was so bad that the only solution was for the writer to leave the federal board lest it come down to people taking sides. The board needed us more than we needed the board.
It was only when there was an attempt by the former provincial MPP to take over the federal organization that the federal supporters rallied and her take-over failed.
The only other point of contention was the gerrymandering of Barrie by the last redistribution commission. The Conservatives in Barrie got behind the idea of adding solid Conservative rural areas to both the north and south halves of the city. Neither the federal nor provincial Liberal factions complained to the commission.
And that was where things were left until earlier this year.
A seemingly lacklustre nomination in the north Barrie area turned into an interesting battle for the Liberal nomination. It was a hard fought contest between a former community college president and a well-known local lawyer. Over a thousand people turned out on the coldest night in February to choose the former community college president by a reported 26-vote edge.
But there still seemed to be barriers to our involvement. What was annoying was that the Liberals subsequently ran a terrible campaign in the north half of Barrie and a good candidate desperately needed help. There was no decent literature. There was no targeted advertising. Communication with Liberal supporters was sparse and ill-managed. The sign campaign was badly organized and slow to respond to requests. We had a hard-working candidate but he was new to politics and had no idea what a good campaign should look like. Even the recount at the end was badly organized for the Liberals. Out of more than 50,000 votes cast in Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, our Liberal candidate lost by 86 votes.
We all feel terrible about it but we now know it was not the fault of our local provincial Liberals. We will have to be nicer to them.
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Copyright 2015 © Peter Lowry
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