Since the weekend, Hudak’s fart-catchers had been frantically scrambling to keep Ernie Eves’ incendiary speech under wraps. Or, failing that, they were desperately trying to persuade Hudak’s former boss to decline to repeat his condemnation of what the PC Party has become.
They failed.
So much for Timmy’s plan to get a week’s head start on the election, and some good coverage.
Or, a picture is worth thousands of lost NDP votes.
Angelo isn’t just a friend, he’s one of my closest friends. He calls me his little brother, in fact. And I didn’t have a clue this was coming, not a clue, which is how it should be. I saw it on Twitter, like everyone else.
The Star has been exceedingly gracious about his departure, and Official Ottawa seems to be agog. What does it mean? Is it good for Angelo? Is it good for his new boss? There’s lots of buzz in political/media circles.
On Tuesday in the Sun, I will write about my friend, and perhaps tell Official Ottawa some things it didn’t know about Angelo. Or should.
Ernie Eves blasts Tories who want to bring ‘Tea Party’ politics to Ontario (Tories-Eves-Sterling)
TORONTO – With just days to go until the provincial election campaign begins, former Progressive Conservative premier Ernie Eves is taking aim at members of his own party.
Eves reportedly told an Ottawa gathering that longtime MPP Norm Sterling, who lost the Tory nomination in the riding he’s held for 34 years, wasn’t treated fairly or honestly by the party.
Eves tells Toronto radio station AM640 his comments last week weren’t directed at Leader Tim Hudak or the party, but a few individuals who want the “Tea Party version of Ontario politics” in that riding.
Despite having the backing of former premier Mike Harris and federal minister John Baird, Sterling lost a bitter nomination battle to Jack MacLaren in March.
MacLaren is a former director of the property rights group, the Ontario Landowners Association.
Fellow Tory Randy Hillier, a past president of the landowners, campaigned on behalf of MacLaren and worked against his caucus colleague.
(AM640, The Canadian Press)
This is extraordinary:
“I don’t care who hears this,” said Eves. “The treatment that Norm got from his own party was not very polite, was not fair, it was not loyal, it was not compassionate, it was not even and it was not honest,” he said during an appreciation dinner for Sterling at the Canadian Golf and Country Club on Aug. 25.
It was a good day. It was! We were letting the NDP and the PCs have it, from start to finish, with all sorts of stuff.
At the end of it, we felt good. We may not get any ink, but we knew we had landed a few blows. We did our job.
And then, tired and at home, a very sad ending to the good day: political fighter Jamie Deacey had died.
We had been political adversaries, years ago, belonging to different tribes within the Liberal Party. Then, we were brought together by our wise mutual friend Don Guy, to work for Dalton McGuinty’s Ontario Liberals.
I came away impressed by Jamie’s mind, and his civility, and his candour. He told me he had judged me wrongly. I told him I had done the same.
The last time I saw him was a few weeks ago, at a political meeting where I was flailing about, unsure why I had been invited. Jamie was the guy who later thanked me for coming, and offered encouragement.
I am very sad about his passing. It had been a great day, and I know he would have enjoyed hearing about how we did. I am sorry we did not get to tell him.
My sincere condolences to his family and many friends.
Happening right now!
Something very, very bad is about to happen to Timmy Hudak’s PCs. Oh my.
This upsets me a great deal, as you can well imagine.