Conservatives best to be rid of treasonous Stronach (Canadian CINO no loss)

Conservatives best to be rid of treasonous Stronach:
Both the Conservatives, then the Liberals have made more of the blond floor crosser than she deserved

The Edmonton Journal
Wed 18 May 2005
Page: A19 , Section: Opinion
Byline: Lorne Gunter

"Mr. Sorenson?"
"Yea."

"Ms. St-Hilaire?"
"Yea."

"Mr. Stinson?"
"Yea."

"Mr. Strahl?"
"Yea."

"Ms. Stronach?"
"Yea."

"Ms. Thibault?"
"Yea."

"Mr. Thomp ...?"

Whoa. Back up a minute. What's this!? Ms. Stronach votes yea?

That's right, just a week ago Belinda Stronach voted with her then-fellow Conservatives (and with the Bloc, too, remember that) to bring down the same Liberal government she joined Tuesday as human resources minister.

And why?

To rescue Canada from the Bloc and the Conservatives.

Politics can be a disingenuous game, I know. But this is staggeringly swift even by political standards.

A week ago she expressed no confidence in the government that this Tuesday she joined as a senior member. A week ago the Bloc were a threat to no one. It was coincidental she was voting the same way as its MPs. Now the Bloc poses such a grave risk to national unity she must leave the party she ran to lead 14 months ago and wrap herself in the flag, as all good Liberals do.

On May 10, she agreed the government was illegitimate, that it should be brought down, an election called. On May 17, she claimed the very same government is the only one capable of saving Canada. She insisted she had to go Grit for the good of the country.

That's quite a remarkable transformation in seven days, especially considering nothing material changed in Canadian politics in the interim. Well, except that the Liberal government failed three more times to demonstrate it had the confidence of the House. But that's no impediment to someone as ambitious as Stronach.

Constitution, schmonstitution. Where's my car, my driver, my staff, my pass to use the government's private jets?

Stronach didn't side with the government, either, when it tried to keep the House of Commons open last week, but couldn't. She didn't even express any doubts about the wisdom of the opposition keeping the House of Commons dark from Wednesday through Friday.

Sudden doesn't quite capture the rapidity of Stronach's one-80. Astonishing would be more like it.

She seems to pick political parties the way she might choose expensive sling-backs -- Prada today, Ferragamo tomorrow. What's the diff?

Make no mistake, this is a big loss for the Conservatives in the short run -- not because Stronach was a prize catch, she wasn't -- but because it will be perceived that way by most media and many voters. And in politics, perception is reality.

The Parliamentary Press Gallery has made more of Ms. Stronach than she deserves. This is because she was useful to them. On the increasingly rare occasions when the Conservatives have taken a hardline, conservative stance on anything, Ottawa reporters could almost always count on Stronach to take a contrary position on the record. Then they could blossom her remarks into a story about dissension from within the CPC over the party's "right-wing" leadership or platform.

But the Conservatives have also made more of her than she deserved, to suit their own ends, too. They hoped to use her to appeal to women, urbanites and youth. So they, too, built her up beyond her abilities and pandered to her demands for more "moderate" (read more liberal) policies.

She isn't much of a catch, but because everyone in the bizarro world of politics made her out to be one, she is one. Perception equals reality.

I think it is in the Conservatives' best interests long-term to be rid of Stronach.

She won't be around in their caucus to embarrass them in front of reporters with her policy disagreements and her tut-tutting about this or that policy she disliked.

But in the short run, the advantages of her defection all fall to the Liberals. She almost certainly ensures they will survive the budget vote on Thursday.

She will bring them a spike in the polls, too. I think that spike will be temporary, but it will be enough in Ontario that if the Liberals manufacture their own defeat in the next three to six months, Stronach's defection may bring them another minority.

She may embolden red Tories to switch to the Grits and once again split the vote on the right in Ontario (although I don't, at this point, imagine her coattails are that long).

Stronach's defection might even help Anne McLellan, Alberta's lone Liberal MP, win re-election in Edmonton Centre by reversing the overall Grit slide that seemed almost certain to bury the deputy PM.

But if Stronach's partisan treason helps the Conservatives get over their Liberal-lite strategy -- and campaign on conservative policies again -- in the long run, her loss won't be that much of a blow.

Lorne Gunter Columnist/Editorial Writer, National Post
Columnist, Edmonton Journal
Tele: (780) 916-0719 E-mail: lgunter@shaw.ca

Two points:

1) Stronach is obviously an overly ambitious lightweight, i.e. a real threat to any leader or party. How long before Martin the the ol' Liberal network throw her under the bus? i.e. shuffle her out of cabinet, challenge her nomination for re-election, whatever.

2) To the issue about Canadian apathy or just plain stupidity, the only explanation I have is that the indoctrinization is almost complete. Many Canadians have been convinced that the purpose of government is to solve all their problems. True conservatives want less government and more self-sufficiency which is "scary" to many.

Since the economy has been reasonably stable, in large measure to US and conservative governments in Alberta and formerly Ontario, the public seems prepared to reward the federal Liberals.

Many people are on the government dole, either directly as employees or indirectly through subsidized industries. Again, those scary conservatives might take something away. Sadly, the idea of a better life through reduced taxes and more efficient, less corrupt governance is lost, especially in much of Ontario.

I admit to being somewhat at a loss as to the "their all the same" crap but I suspect its really just a cop-out to hide their ignorance and fear.

Unfortunately, the only remedy I see is an economic meltdown to take away the Liberals means of bribing the populace with our own money.

Belinda Bedazzled:
Love bug misses "plant" in Conservative Party

by Judi McLeod, Canadafreepress.com

January 29, 2005

Ga-ga over blonde‘ Conservative’ MP Belinda Stronach from the get go, the Canadian media were long on Belinda’s looks and short on her substance when she ran unsuccessfully for leadership of the Canadian Conservative Party.

Belinda-bedazzled in a style reminiscent of the way they once were over the charisma of late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau back in the days of Trudeaumania, the media missed out on a Stronach story that would likely matter most to rank and file Canadian Conservatives: A Liberal opportunist with money was taking on the Conservative Party from the top.

Never mind that Stronach, with no political experience, coveted the prime ministership of Canada. How this Liberal found a home in the fledgling Conservative Party remains an unwritten story to this day.

On Friday, the media were in raptures that Conservative MPs Peter MacKay and Belinda Stronach are a couple, or as reporter Barbara Yaffe put it: "nipped by the love bug."

Before the lovestruck MacKay’s confirmation in a telephone call that he was "smitten" by the twice divorced mother of two, Ottawa was in gossip mode about the Conservative Party of Canada’s worst kept secret.

The circumspect Western Standard was the first to hint about how the love bug had hit the political couple, on a tip from Canada Free Press.

But some in the mainline media are embroidering a love story right up there with King Edward VIII, who confessed to the world via radio broadcast, that he was giving up the British throne for "the woman I love".

While their media is looking for love in all the wrong places, Canadians are looking for relief from the long-reigning, scandal-plagued Liberal government.

Before the Stronach-MacKay romance even blossomed, Conservative MPs were complaining that Stronach is a plant. And for sentimental reporter types, they don’t mean the kind that needs to be watered.

On the eve of the vote on the Liberal’s same-sex marriage bill, are newspaper pictures of swain Peter MacKay looking downright heterosexual lovestruck.

In pictures and in words, MacKay doesn’t seem to be thinking with his political head.

Unfortunately, this is not The Sound of Music; it’s Paul Martin’s Canada.

Perhaps MacKay should take himself back in time to the last Progressive Conservative convention. If he’s not too busy sending flowers, he should take a sobering read of a Googled article from a feisty online publication known as The Republic, "Vancouver’s opinionated newspaper: "She’s (Stronach) no stranger to national politics. She bankrolled the Alliance Party and used her money to manipulate the Progressive Conservative Party out of existence, at once supporting both Peter MacKay, whose hidden agenda at the last PC convention was to kill Canada’s founding party, and David Orchard, whose explicit agenda at the same convention was to kill any merger with the Alliance."

If that’s not wakeup call enough for the lovestruck MacKay, consider that Canada Free Press strongly believes that former Liberal MP Dennis Mills launched Stronach as his parting shot for Liberal powerbrokers.

Mills, wiped out by New Democrat Leader Jack Layton in last June’s federal election, was corporate vice president of Magna International, the giant auto parts corporation owned by Belinda’s daddy, Frank Stronach.

After election defeat, he returned to the Magna fold, never to be heard from again.

Back in the days when he was grooming Stronach for public office, Ottawa Life wrote that "Dennis Mills is very close to Belinda."

While still a backbencher MP in 2003, Mills threw pictures of a statue of Pierre Elliott Trudeau on his then ingenuitycanada.com website as the prelude to a Night of Recognition celebrations with Belinda Stronach as "Master of Ceremonies".

"Can there really be any serious doubt that Blondie Belinda is a Liberal, dispatched by the Liberals as the sugar-and-spice hammer against the advancement of a vulnerable new Conservative Party in Canada?" CFP wrote on Feb. 9, 2004.

Liberals capable of big tent invasion is hardly a new concept in dirty Canadian politics. Griping Tory friends have been telling CFP for months that Stronach is meeting with no resistance in an agenda that seems to be aimed at undermining the new party. According to them, her agenda’s in play for the Conservative Party’s upcoming Montreal convention. They’re saying some delegates are finding the fees too expensive, that Montreal is inconvenient as a travel destination, yada, yada, yada.

For Canadian Conservatives, the Canadian Love Affair of the Century couldn’t be happening at a possibly worse time.

The Liberals, elected to minority status last June, are forging ahead with same-sex marriage. Talk of snap elections is in the air, and Conservative Leader Stephen Harper has only recently come out of the sulk he’s been in since Election Day.

Meanwhile, MacKay’s beloved is still "undecided" on the imminent same-sex vote.

Ironically when Time Magazine named Stronach as one of Canada’s most influential women last April, they couldn’t have been more on the money.

"Suffice it to say I’m very happy and quite smitten," says MacKay.

Well, Pete, the whole world loves a lover, except when the well being of a nation is at stake.

Sure, beloved Belinda is dazzling. So was World War I’s Mata Hari.

From Monte Solbergs blog:

May 17, 2005 What do you get for the girl who has everything?

Personally I don't think it's fair that a guy should come into work only to be split in half by an axe. How I yearn for those old days of last week when it was considered a scandal to be uncivil in the House. Where does this fit in on the incivility scale?

Shakespeare so wants to be alive so that he can write about this. Its the story of a woman who cares so much about Canada that she is willing to sacrifice all kinds of personal relationships and her principles just so she can get to Cabinet for the benefit of all Canadians. And why not? I mean the Liberals really value her for her ideas. No, seriously.

Ya that's it. They care about her insights on skills training. Sure it will help to have her vote on the budget, but really it's her ideas they want. I bet those senior bureaucrats are salivating at the idea of doing a little "blue skying" with B. on the foreign credentials thing. That's been her strength all along. It's just that we Conservatives didn't see it. We didn't draw that out of her the way we should have, and now we are paying the price.

-----------------------------------------

Good luck girl with those Liberals. If you can't trust them, who can you trust? May 18, 2005
Belinda Stronach of no fixed address
Come on everyone, lay off. Belinda is who she is. I'm sure this time she's really found her niche. Wouldn't surprise me if she stuck with it for several months. Maybe even a year. Next, who knows, maybe she'll be a marine biologist, or a circus performer. That's what free spirits do.

No there is none of that getting stuck in a rut for that girl. When things aren't going her way, she gets going. She's gone before you can say, "The Liberals are corrupt", which is what she used to say all the time. But it's a woman's perogative to change her mind, and I support her right to do that. But it's also her perogative to use her mind, which I would also support.

All the best B. as your live life with, apparently, no regrets.

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