Federal Tory Leadership
The recent loss of the Conservatives to the Liberals who even won the popular vote has put Andrew Scheer’s job on the line. It is widely believed that the vote was for the Conservatives to lose. They were shut out in the GTA/905 area of Ontario. So were the Liberals in the west who voted blue for the Conservatives. It is felt Ford’s support could have made a difference for the Conservatives in Ontario where they did badly. Between 95 and 120 seats were up for grabs.
Doug Ford
For reasons best known to Doug Ford, Premier of Ontario, he claimed he was too busy to campaign with Andrew Scheer. Doug Ford a Conservative or Tory at the Provincial level, is well loved in Ontario. Andrew Scheer confirmed that he met with Doug Ford who said he had enough on his plate to help him. Is that the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? We have no evidence to suggest otherwise. We think it is not far fetched to believe that Ford may have wished to distance himself from Scheer as he plans to take a shot at the leadership of the Conservatives party at the Federal level. We are also of the view that the real power brokers like Stephen Harper, former two (2) term PM of Canada may wish to see the back of Scheer. Time will tell if our speculation is wild and crazy. It should be noted that we have not spoken to Harper et al. Our perspective is highly speculative.
Doug Ford is inserting himself after the Federal elections as Uniter-in-Chief. How clever and calculated? He is calling Premiers with a message of Unity. Can Ford be trusted?
Baggage
Trudeau came into the 40 days campaign race with a lot of negatives. There were the ethics violations, then the SNC Lavalin debacle, if that was not enough then came the black or brown face scandals. Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Phillpotts were dismissed from the Liberal caucus. Trudeau had so much baggage to carry, that a 10 ton crane would have been helpful. His almost tearful apologies regarding the disclosures of what has been described as racist … Trudeau blackened his face as a prank when he was 29. Many years ago when he was a school teacher. He was not yet in politics in 2010. He got a hammering and was described as two faced. Scheer said in one debate inter alia that “Trudeau could not be trusted.”
With all those changes the Conservatives got an excellent head start on which they did not capitalize. They dropped the ball. To Trudeau’s credit he did well under the circumstances. Many had written him off.
Perspective
It should be noted that Trudeau did beat Stephen Harper to become PM in 2015. The success of Doug Ford to beat him is not a done deal. Do not underestimate the star power of Justin Trudeau. He has name brand recognition and the legacy of being part of a dynasty as his father Pierre Elliott Trudeau was a very successful Canadian PM. Immigration took centre stage under Pierre’s watch. Justin also has big plans to bring one million new immigrants to Canada. Justin fell short by only 13 seats to get an outright majority. An amazing come back for Justin Trudeau.
Hopeton O’Connor-Dennie is a veteran journalist and National Correspondent for GTA Weekly.
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