12.03.2012 10:33 AM

Pupatello: OLP leadership debates aren’t preparation for the real world

The coming battle between Ontario Liberals and the Ontario PCs and NDP will not be governed by the Marquess of Queensbury rules. It’s going to be down and dirty. It’s going to be ugly. And those who prefer to spout jargon, bureaucratese and the like are going to be chewed up and spit out.

To win, we need a fighter, not someone who recites bland talking points.

To wit, Pupatello in the Star:

“Our next election will not be like this, where all of us are sitting and getting along,” said Sandra Pupatello, the former MPP for Windsor West, as the event dubbed a “love-in” by one party stalwart wrapped up in this small town near London…Pupatello, 50, who sat out the last election to work on Bay Street, said the 2,500 delegates to the convention must size up candidates based on how they would play against Hudak and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath in a provincial election widely expected for next spring.

She touted her experience as McGuinty’s scrappy deputy leader before the Liberals came to power in 2003, suggesting it would help her run a smoother minority government than most of her rivals, who never served in opposition.

“I want you to have a leader with opposition experience to know how they think – and respect opposition because I was there,” she told 150 party members gathered in an old school gym.

It wasn’t a debate; it was a discussion. It was a friendly chit-chat. Every Ontario Liberal needs to heed what Sandra is saying. Delegates must consider who can win in circumstances that will be decidedly less genteel.

Ontario Liberals are in for the fight of their lives. They need a leader who knows how to get elbows up in the corners, and fight like Hell.

During Saturday’s debate, that’s what I saw: a scrapper with a winning record, onstage with some nice folks from Toronto.

Only one of them can win what lies ahead.

7 Comments

  1. Doug says:

    Hey Warren, semi-relevant question for you:

    Watching Saturday’s debates, and knowing how much tax revenue leaves our cities (particularly my city, Toronto) to be spent elsewhere, I was troubled by all the promises being made to rural Ontario. I wished someone would leap up and ask ‘and which region of the Province will be funding all these things?!’ The fact a bunch of protesters had just shouted at me, to the tune of ‘fuck you Toronto! We don’t want your fucking wind turbines!’ might have preconditioned me to rage, but I nevertheless find this race to pander to rural regions troubling.

    As a city-dweller yourself, I’m curious for your take. Is it a necessary hardship that Toronto’s tax dollars are spent far away, or while I’m crushed into a subway or stuck in traffic can I genuinely feel that we’re getting a raw deal?

  2. tfalcone86 says:

    She sounded like a Premier and that was obvious.

  3. Michael says:

    Ok, let’s see if we can get this into the right thread. 🙂

    It seems to me that in the last election voters did not take to Hudak because he came across as too angry and negative.

    Will the voters choose angry Sandra over angry Tim? Or will they instead choose nice Andrea? If you are trying to protect against that happening you choose one of the other candidate.

  4. Ottawa Civil Servant says:

    I agree with WK: This should be an American-style primary where every blemish and wart is revealed so the people of Ontario get the best Premier and the Liberal Party answers every doubt.

    And I disagree with WK: Because his idea of “It’s going to be down and dirty. It’s going to be ugly.” is exactly what should be avoided: WK absolutely relishes the dirt-throwing of modern campaigns, and it doesn’t need to be that way.

  5. Josef says:

    Pupatello’s closing statement is on YouTube: http://youtu.be/8_Vzz7OaR-M

    Only candidate from last Saturday to have a clip there. Apparently Pupatello Mania Syndrome is still alive and well.

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