You need to have been following the Canadian electoral process, such as remains of it, to understand some of the following post. It has been covered on The Other Club.
In this episode, an heiress whose money came from corporations associated with the Liberal Party, pretended to be a Conservative. She was elected, and served, as a Conservative Minister of Parliament for a short time.
She has demonstrated her party affiliation was a pretense by switching to the Liberal Party in exchange for a Cabinet position, when the opportunism was maxed because of incredible Liberal Party corruption.
Belinda Stronach (comments courtesy Andrew Coyne) bids to become a new verb.
Courtesy of Small Dead Animals:
Posted by Kate at May 17, 2005 10:48 AM
Stronach SplitsBelinda Stronach has crossed the floor to the Liberals, with a new cabinet post her bonus.
Well, we always knew she was a Liberal – they were just hagging over the price.
I wonder if she realizes how many new Western separatists she just created today with her comments about Conservatives not understanding the “complexity” of the country? That the party must “grow in Quebec” before it’s a national party? I wonder if she understands that her defection speech will be interpreted as another slap by a self-serving and politically ambitious Ontario power broker at western aspirations to finally have an equal voice in Canada?
Probably not. The woman is that stupid.
Posted by Kate at May 17, 2005 11:29 AM
Looking Down The RoadThis country is sleepwalking to disintegration.
The only saving grace is that Quebec will separate on Paul Martin’s watch. At this point, I don’t think there’s any way to stop the process – and if it came to fruition under Conservative government the collective amnesia of the Canadian mentality would forever place blame at the feet of Stephen Harper.
Update Harper response: he scored some very strong hits on Stronach. Saw the writing on the wall that her leadership “aspirations” were unlikely to be realized in the Conservative party, would rather see her gone now than in the middle of a campaign. Good tactic.
“sole ambition in the party was the leadership.. ultimately it will be interesting to watch her progress in the Liberal party.”
He found out from Peter MacKay, this morning. “I think Peter is taking this pretty hard.”
“Belinda called me just moments prior to the press conference.”
More Reaction
Mike Brock feels much like I do;Belinda, you’re worried what might happen with the Bloc picking up more seats in a spring election? You better be double-worried by the f*cking backlash from Quebec voters when — with your help — the Liberals are returned to power.
You are helping the very party which has put us both in a sovereignty crisis, and in what appears to be amounting to a constitutional crisis in our parliamentary system.
I don’t think your “soul searching” wasn’t very deep. No, I recken it was shallow and plain. Much like you. Face it, all the time you spent contemplating away these past few days was figuring out how you could spin this without appearing like a backstabbing, untrustworthy, sell-out.
Comments on the above in no particular order include:
-I am now an avowed Western Separatist!!!
-If we’re splitting into screwed and screwer, with no other choice, I want to be in the latter category.
-So when do we get going on separartion? I am ready to rollllllll!
-Either the country will sweep these scum from power, or, which is more likely, it will give soft federalists like me a reason to become hard core separatists. Canada has a choice… Banana Republic or a Federation of equals… anyone care to bet which it is? The Bloc have had it right all along.
-Is it just me, or do politics and skullduggery go stratospheric once one crosses from Manitoba into Ontario. And I thought it got dirty in Saskatchewan. Long live the West!
-Just printed off an application form for membership in the Separation Party of Alberta.
-If the West doesn’t leave now they never will.
-While very tempted, and a part of me is in the separation closet, I’m certainly not going to let Belinda decide my current focus.
-Party at my place when Quebec finally bails. I’ve been hearing about this since I was a kid and am sick of it.
If we’re thinking about chances for new country, Belinda Stronach may have just increased them.
Alberta!
This opportunism by Benedict Stronach (BS) is not that big a deal in the longer term, although it could make the difference on a confidence motion tonight.What it does underline:· BS lives in an urban riding that is socially liberal, i.e. it is pro same-sex marriage. She left the Conservatives who would make it more difficult for her in her constituency. But that’s not a new thing.· The Liberals are like Kerry – they stand for nothing. They will buy votes and people, such as BS with a Cabinet position. The MSM is liberal so we have to run uphill on 2 fronts – the media and the advantages of the incumbents who deal out the mood altering drugs.· The liberals are in leadership and policy crisis. Their hoped for saviour Paul Martin is a ditherer – like Kerry.· Conservatives finally have a product to sell after our first post-merger convention in March hammered out policy. Like Bush our leader Harper is an honest, smart, gutsy leader; but he’s like Bush under the cameras. I think both are fine on the stump where they can be themselves. But we don’t have a Karl Rove. We need more time to get organized with better marketing of our product and for the Liberals to turn on themselves. We’ll find out soon if we’re going into election mode. nomdenet
nomdenet,I wish you well. Turf the rascals out!I will point out, though, that at least one putative Conservative is/was a cross between John Kerry and Jim Jeffords, so I hope that her defection is entirely an anomaly. From the reports of refused bribes among other Tory MPs, it seems so.If she had leadership ambitions, is she leaving because she thinks the Grits will lose and therefore they’ll have the first leadership convention? Newmarket-Aurora? Amazed she ever got elected in the first place. If she was a ‘star’, even if only because she’s slightly more attractive than Hillary, couldn’t she change ridings? I mean, she just nailed some other Liberal in Newmarket-Aurora.Are there any safe Tory ridings left in Ontario? Wellington-North used to be.In fairness, we get similar backroom perfidy from the hacks in the “greatest deliberative body in the world”, as the United States Senate likes to style itself. Right now a literal handful of Senators are attempting to agree on which judge they’ll sacrifice to avoid messing with their precious rules?What’s more important than Senate rules? Well, if you answered “The Constitution”, you lose.
H, she sees weakness in Martin who even though he won tonite is washed up IMO. So she can soon take a run at that leadership , whereas she won’t make it as a Conervative leader, younger contenders ahead of her. She thinks she’s hot – she’s not.What worries me for the first time – have been niave maybe – it’s the role of big business in the Liberal party – ie she now fuels the theory that a few big businesses dominate the Liberals. This is an area to watch over the next few months to see if Canadians become concerned about it.Off to New York for the weekend, need to see something a bit more upbeat then this circus.best … nomdenet