By Paul albers
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
I was amused by how many people expected me to join in the weeping and wailing over the defection of Belinda Stronach. I was so pleased with the news that I sent her a thank you note. I enjoy having time prove me right.
Those who openly questioned her abilities, qualification and commitment were written off as jealous or sexist dinosaurs. Most of the media was so intent on selling the myth that she was a sharp, capable and popular conservative that they overlooked nearly all evidence to the contrary.
as a leadership candidate Belinda was unimpressive. The only successes on her resume were her wealth and her position of CEO at Magna. But they were not achieved by hard work; they were handed to her. It was painfully obvious that she did not even have a rudimentary grasp of the issues. She stayed away from unscripted events and media sponsored debates.
Her speeches relied heavily on focus group tested platitudes ('We need to bake a bigger economic pie') woodenly delivered and peppered with valley girl interjections of 'like' and 'ya know'. She began her final speech at the leadership convention saying "I am throwing away my script and will speak from the heart." and then proceeded to read from the script in her hands.
Through it all the media largely gave her a pass. She was new, she was glamorous, the camera loved her, and more importantly she was not a conservative from the west. In fact she was not a conservative at all.
Her policies were exactly what you would expect from the Liberals. Her criticism of Paul Martin and the Liberal party was tepid at best, even when new scandals came to light. Her campaign team resorted to the same kind of mud slinging as the Liberals and the allegation that she attempted buy the vote in Quebec now seems like a cousin of the sponsorship scandal.
In spite of the media buzz, she failed to capture the hearts and minds of most of the party. The election process stacked the deck against Stephen Harper, yet he still won a commanding first ballot victory. The party never released the raw number of ballots cast for each candidate, but if they did it is likely the only candidate she beat was Jim Prentice, who dropped out of the race early on.
Belinda was virtually invisible as a Member of Parliament. Occasionally she would pop up to throw the media a sound bite, usually one that undermined a position taken by Stephen Harper. There are reports that Belinda's departure was prompted by Harper telling her that her leadership ambitions were in vain. If true, her departure seems to indicate that Belinda also believed that she would not be a viable leadership candidate even if Harper blew the next election.
Harper had the votes to bring to the government down, and he had positioned the party to win a minority government in the following campaign. Belinda was the standard bearer for Red Tories and her treachery hurt them most of all. Her former fans are now auctioning off her campaign materials on eBay in disgust. They no longer have stardust in their eyes and they see that their loyalty to her was misplaced. Ironically, Belinda's last act as a Conservative galvanized the party behind Harper.
It is a sad comment on the state of the mainstream media in Canada that they were surprised. This same media predicted that the Canadian alliance and Progressive Conservatives would not merge, that Harper would lose the leadership race, that Martin would win another majority, and that the Conservative Party would self-destruct at their convention in Montreal. Now they eagerly wait for a revolt against Harper that is not even close to happening.
My prediction that Belinda would seek the leadership of the Liberal party dates back to the conclusion of the Conservative policy convention. That was the moment when all reasonable hopes of a Harper meltdown ended. Belinda has the money to challenge Martin in a leadership campaign; the glamour to hog the media spotlight, the lust for power to overrule love and loyalty, the moral vacuum to crawl into the gutter to get what she wants, and she bears no responsibility for any current Liberal scandals.
Martin is no fool when it comes to leadership politics. Belinda is useful at the moment, but when he no longer needs her one vote he has several ways to remove her as a threat. I hope he fails. Watching the two of them in a street brawl for the party leadership is something I'd buy tickets to see. In the meantime I'll have to make do with watching her struggle though Question Period. Somebody pass me the popcorn please.
Paul albers is a freelance columnist living in Ottawa
paul.albers@rogers.comPursuant to Title 17 U.S.C. 107, other copyrighted work is provided for educational purposes, research, critical comment, or debate without profit or payment. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for your own purposes beyond the 'fair use' exception, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. Views are those of authors and not necessarily those of Canada Free Press. Content is Copyright 1997-2018 the individual authors. Site Copyright 1997-2018 Canada Free Press.Com Privacy Statement