Henceforth it is resolved that we will post our commentaries after our second cup of coffee. Despite how much we try to ignore the Conservative M.P. for our neighbouring electoral district of Simcoe-Grey, we really should spell her name right. And you would think one of our loyal readers would point out the gaff to us. Would you believe that the last five or six times we mentioned her over the past month, we have spelled her name three different ways—none correct.
It is not as though Kellie Leitch M.P. is ever going to be particularly important. There are not enough bigots in the Conservative Party of Canada to consider her as a possible leader for the party. It is just that you wonder how accurate could a morning line assessment be when you cannot spell the name of one of the 14 Conservative leadership contestants. And no, we have not checked the rest. We can only hope we are not that careless!
But the race is now in the back stretch and the Conservatives (if nobody else) are starting to get excited. It is hard to imagine how the track announcer would handle some of the goings-on in this horse race. Would a horse wander off to Florida at this time—when there was an invitation to press the flesh at a Toronto party session? This is hardly the proper behaviour for a horse, a leadership contestant or a television star such as Kevin O’Leary.
The major problem with assessing this race politically, when you are not a member of that party, is that you have to rely on second and third-hand information. You are dealing with it more in the form of snapshots than in the form of video clips.
The word from the back stretch in this race is that the track is muddy and the contestants (less O’Leary) seem bunched more for the shared warmth than any similarity in stride or positioning. Maybe we will be able to see the horses more clearly when they go into the final turn later this month.
What we are starting to see more clearly at this time is the growing dissatisfaction of the ‘progressives’ in the Conservative Party. There are many Conservatives who are fiscal conservatives but progressive socially. They are increasingly concerned about the dominance of the party by the old Reform/Alliance movement. There is a growing feeling among them that a new Progressive Party might be needed. There will be more coming on this.
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Copyright 2017 © Peter Lowry
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