Wednesday, January 02, 2008

The battle of the urban-rural solitudes

Christina Blizzard speculates that all three major provincial parties could have new leaders by the time Ontario holds the next election - A changing of the guard?

It is her take on the Tory situation that interests me the most. The discussion about whether or not John Tory should step aside as party leader has generated a great deal of debate in a previous post. The general consensus appeared to be that he should go.

But who would be the next leader? Blizzard seems to think that there are slim pickings among the contenders. This attitude totally discounts the possibility of new (or recycled) blood, such as Jim Flaherty or Peter Van Loan.

She also seems to feel that the leader should be an urban hero so that the party doesn't collapse into "a rural rump".

She suggests that the greatest reason why the party will likely support Tory is the fear of a Randy Hillier upset, since the maverick politician has such strong rural support.


Blizzard also points to NDP leader Howard Hampton's northern roots as a reason that he will likely be pushed out by the time the next election arrives.


Is this the fate of our Ontario 'democracy'? Are we going to have to toady to Toronto and large urban centres forever?

Randy Hillier may not be the best choice to lead the party, but discounting a candidate simply due to the location of their constituency seems like a form of discrimination to me.

And don't forget. Hillier won his seat.

Tory didn't.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hillier won his seat even after all the bashing and slander from one WK. WK isn't always right.

Joanne (True Blue) said...

Good point, Ruth.

Kinsella also got into hot water over his 'cookie' comment. He isn't perfect.

Joanne (True Blue) said...

Speaking of Kinsella, Bloggers are soon to be declared the Pet Rock of the digital age by the mainstream media.
You buying that one, Steve Janke and Stephen Taylor?

Anonymous said...

Blizzard obviously doesn't hang on the Tory blogs, otherwise she would have added more candidates to the list.

I disagree with the choices she suggests, although I don't know Christine Elliott.

Nix Tim Hudak - nice, young guy WITH baggage.

Hillier - maybe someone similar but not Hillier - baggage there also, AND Kinsella's got his number also.

Anonymous said...

re: Kinsella's "bloggers are soon to be declared Pet Rocks"

It could very well go this way, I think. Too many blogs aren't intellectual, and don't encourage effective discussion....they rant and whine as masters of their own creations.

I don't think we're there yet though.
Kinsella wouldn't be spending so much time on his blog if he REALLY thought they'd go the way of the dodo bird.

Johnathon said...

Mark my words.

The PC party in Ontario will NEVER win another election.

Why?

With over 250 thousand people imported into Canada every year, and half of them settling in Toronto, the PC's have no chance.

The people the Liberals import are muslims and asians, and they will never vote Conservative.

Why is Toronto 99% Liberal?

Is there no correlation between that fact and the fact that Toronto is over 50% foreign born?

The PC Party should close its doors because they will never win another government.

Anonymous said...

who is advising Mr. Tory? Do they actually believe that they can win Ontario via the urban vote alone?

Sounds a bit naive doesn't it?

Anonymous said...

Its really very simple.
Liberals will vote Liberal no matter who the leader is.
With the conservatives, there will always be some who have a nit to pick with whatever leader comes along, so they will not vote.
Thats what happened last election, and it will happen over and over unless another Bob Rae happens along.

Joanne (True Blue) said...

That's all rather glum.

Joanne (True Blue) said...

Perhaps then all we can do is wait until the Liberals screw up so badly that even their dyed-in-the-wool supporters can't bring themselves to vote for the provincial Grits; somewhat like what happened to the Federal Liberals with Adscam.

It would have to be pretty bad though.

However 'absolute power corrupts, absolutely'. So it's just a matter of time...

Nicol DuMoulin said...

The amount of immigrants in Toronto could work to the conservatives advantage if they learn to define themselves by their values, which are overwhelmingly socially conservative and relgious; as opposed to by race, which is where the Liberal fear mongering machine always kicks in and which they (Liberals) exploit to the hilt.

As for Tory, of course he should leave. The conservatives will - never - win in urban Toronto in the near future. The culture is not there. It has nothing to do with substance and everything to do with modern stereotypes, but that matters.

If I say that a liberal teacher is teaching children lies about Canadian history and that we are a nation of evil exploiters and oppressors; no one will believe me even though there is a good chance that is true.

If I say a conservative political candidate is going to suck your child's soul out and send it to Jupiter on a plate of green jelly, they will consider it - might - be true. Most urban types do not understand politics and saw Tory as hard right wing candidate. They get their politics from Jon Stewart and know little of Canadian politics. Nothing to do with reality, but these stereotypes stick.

As I always say, nothing changes until the culture changes (and it can change). Until then, the song remains the same.

Hope you had a happy New Year!

Joanne (True Blue) said...

Thanks, Nicol. I sure did. Hope you had a good one too.

The amount of immigrants in Toronto could work to the conservatives advantage if they learn to define themselves by their values, which are overwhelmingly socially conservative and relgious

This is what I find surprising. For example, why didn't FB-funding become a huge plus issue for immigrants in Toronto?

And yes, their social values are closer to Conservative than Liberal.

I think somehow they're still buying the lie that only the left is for immigration. The reality is that without immigration we would die off as a country, because we are not replacing ourselves at a sufficient rate.

Anonymous said...

Nicol hit the nail on the head.

We need to re-define the conservative brand, because quite frankly I'm having a hard time determining what that is any more.

I think that FB funding bombed because of fear and spin. Also, most immigrants to our country can't afford private religious schools that exist currently, so, Tory was right to make it an issue of fairness, but Kinsella(not Mcguinty) made sure to scare up a storm.

Unknown said...

Kate at SDA posted an article by Myers from the Star the other day. I am from Calgary. I occasionally read the Globe, and Herald, the Western Producer and the National Post so am familiar with the bias evident in the MSM. However, the Myers article was so off the wall I thought it was parody. If this is what most Torontonians rely on for news, cut them loose. There is little or no hoe for them..

Unknown said...

That would be 'hope', not 'hoe' Proofread is your friend.

Joanne (True Blue) said...

Thanks, Wayne.

I wonder if you had intended to post your comment to the one about the Record rather than this one?