This news flash is courtesy the Toronto Star. Campion-Smith, Star Ottawa bureau chief, and Benzie, Star Queen’s Park bureau chief, have discovered that Conservative MP Tony Clement from Parry Sound—Muskoka electoral district is thinking of running for Stephen Harper’s old job. This is the same Tony Clement who made sure nobody was caught short while visiting the Huntsville area during the infamous G-7 summit in 2010.
With his qualifications in building public washrooms, Tony is positioning himself as a man of the people. He is also checking to make sure that Harper’s former minister of everything, Jason Kenney, is not in the running. The reporters reason that Kenney is more inclined to making an effort to unite the right in Alberta and bring that province back from the brink with the New Democrats.
With as much as two years of organizational work to do before the leadership convention, Clement is as likely as any of the other contenders to build the coalition of support that will be needed to win. In a contest between non-entities, Ontario’s Tony Clement might have a chance.
Nobody is particularly impressed with the field to-date. Kellie Leitch, the former labour minister, is also from Ontario but lacks Clement’s background in both provincial and federal politics. Lisa Raitt, the former Harper transport minister, has had more exposure than Leitch but still cannot match Clement’s experience.
People who are trying to bring Peter MacKay back into the political scene would probably do better with a statue of Sir John A. Macdonald. They seem to forget that Peter MacKay betrayed the old Progressive Conservative Party and handed it to Stephen Harper. Any and all kind memories of the old Red Tories were trampled into the ground during the Harper era.
If you are waiting for Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall to make his bid, you will have to wait until he is able to announce his candidacy in acceptable French. He is busy now with his French lessons.
And Tony Clement has much to answer for himself during the Harper years. As a Harper sycophant and as Treasury Board President, he decimated the Ottawa civil service while filling the gaps with contract workers.
While it was questionable if Clement really saved any money for Canadians, his cancelling of the long-form census was an excellent example of pandering to ignorance over logic. It was his expertise at building public toilets that assured him re-election in Parry Sound—Muskoka.
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Copyright 2015 © Peter Lowry
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