Tim Hudak, by the numbers

Here are the facts:

1.  Ontario cabinet minister Glen Murray re-tweeted something he shouldn’t have.

2.  Ontario Conservative boss Tim Hudak demanded Murray apologize.

3.  Murray apologized.

4.  Hudak is demanding another apology, because he’s mad that Murray asked that Hudak condemn the homophobia that is sometimes associated with his Conservatives.

5.  Hudak says some of his best friends are gay, and that his party isn’t the least bit anti-gay, and that he won’t do what Murray asks, and that he still wants yet another apology.

6.  Hudak’s Labour critic – a member of his shadow cabinet, in effect – is Randy Hillier.

7.  Here are some of the things Hillier has said he’s against, quote unquote: “Using taxpayer’s dollars, our governments support and promote Quebec, Native, Arts, Homosexual, Urban and Multi-cultures.”

8.  Tristan Emmanel is Hillier’s campaign manager and a very senior Ontario Conservative adviser, and he has said that gays are, quote unquote, “sexual deviants.”

9.  Hudak hasn’t fired or in any way disciplined Messrs. Hillier and Emmanuel for their statements – he has, in fact, promoted them.

10.  Tim Hudak is full of crap.


The Lesson from Barrie

From regular reader “The Other Jim:

I’m not convinced that Ford will be a failure, but the Ottawa template was also evident in Barrie’s 2006/2010 elections.

Dave Aspden defeated the incumbent mayor (Rob Hamilton) in 2006. As a councilor, Aspden had a Rob Ford type of image; the lone wolf banging away at the “Elite”. He captured just over 50% of the popular vote but was a disaster in office. He couldn’t work with council (and blamed council for that right to the bitter end), was repeatedly involved in self-inflicted scandals (generally caused by his tendency to do things beyond his authority as mayor) and basically just spun the city’s wheels for four years. Seriously, he was the beta Rob Ford.

He lost last night (no surprise, as Barrie has turfed the incumbent mayor in four straight elections), but the margin of his defeat was astounding. In 2006, 14616 people voted for him. In 2010, just 1249 did. That’s a 91% drop in popular vote. Staggering when you think of it!

I think that Ford’s team will shelter him from being an Aspden type of failure, but he will have a tough road ahead.

Smart commentary (I get a lot of that, from wk.com commenters).  What’s your view?  Can Ford get a second mandate?


The last majority

Was Jean Chretien the last majority prime minister?

On Oct. 25, 1993, historians will recall, Chretien did what no one else had ever done before – he reduced the once-great Conservative Party of Canada to two seats. All that remained, 17 years ago, was Jean Charest in Quebec, and Elsie Wayne in New Brunswick. Every other Tory, including then-leader Kim Campbell, was wiped out.

The Conservatives’ fall was stunning. That was particularly the case for Campbell – who, just a few weeks earlier, had been the most popular prime minister in the history of polling.

The lessons of Oct. 25, 1993 are two-fold. One, the current “anti-incumbent” mood ain’t anything new. Every so often, the people get fed up with what they’ve got, and they opt for change in a big way.


Election Toronto: My take in the Sun

His Worship.

Here’s what a Rob Ford victory is going to mean for different political players.

Ford ran a disciplined and organized campaign and he stuck to a simple message. George Smitherman didn’t.

But what of others? Who benefits from a Ford win? Who doesn’t?


Woooot!

I’m in the Green Room at CITY-TV – they won’t let me leave – but I am happy, happy, happy that my friends Mary-Margaret McMahon, Jim Watson, Maurizio Bevilaqua, Eddie Francis, Josh Matlow and Denzil Minnan-Wong all won! Yahoo!

On the CITY bullpen thing, Andrew Coyne asked me if Rob Ford’s landslide portends bad times are ahead for Libs. Not a chance, said I. Federal and provincial Liberals won (or are leading) in Ottawa, Vaughan, Sarnia and so on. We’ll do just fine, thanks very much.

Besides, if the new conservative mayor in Toronto means bad tidings for Liberals, does the new liberal mayor in Calgary mean that Stephen Harper is going to lose his seat?

Not quite.


W@AL: Team Bussin, lawbreakers?

Well, yes, they are.  Yet another reason to vote for Mary-Margaret McMahon!

The Municipal Election Act’s section 48(1), (2) and (3) say that you can’t, “directly or indirectly,” try and influence a voter at a polling place – that is, putting up one of your signs in the “immediate vicinity of a voting place.”

Sandra Bussin, and/or her team, dld that anyway. Add “lawbreaker” to their rap sheet!

(Sorry the “breaking news” soundtrack is so loud – this one was shot, edited and uploaded to the Interweeb all from iPhone 4.)


Addendum

No less than Sam Wakim and Pat MacAdam have written to me to tell me that Dief, not Romeo LeBlanc, was the source of the bear-and-rabbit-tracks parable in my column, below. I accept that is so, but it was Romeo who told me that one, and not Diefenbaker.

In any event: let the record show that I stand corrected!