Belinda Stronach was the Liberal Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development and Minister responsible for Democratic Renewal in the government under Paul Martin.
Stronach famously crossed the floor to the Liberals from the Conservative benches in 2005 saving the Martin government from defeat in the House of Commons.
Prior to this, Belinda Stronach was a contestant for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada in 2004, a contest ultimately won by Stephen Harper.
Stronach is an heir the Stronach family fortune which was estimated to be in the range of $3.12 billion as of 2013. She is the daughter of Frank Stronach, founder of Magna International, an autoparts company.
She is currently the CEO of the Stronach Group which is a entertainment and horse-racing company. The company is also known as 1/ST.
Well, I found the Google advertisement attacking Belinda Stronach on her wealth. The above advertisement “Even the playing field” links to Stephen Harper’s oneconservativevoice.ca and the bottom advertisement is the standard Belinda Stronach google ad. It should be noted that both of these ads were displayed when “Belinda Stronach” was googled.
Today I noticed a couple interesting things as I was meandering around the Internet. As I was googling on Google, I noticed some rather savvy/sneaky techniques used by Belinda Stronach, Stephen Harper and Tony Clement. It seems that if one searches for Tony Clement on Google, a Belinda Stronach ad is displayed as a Google advertisement off to the side. Similarly, if one searches Stephen Harper the very same thing happens; plainly and emphatically “Belinda Stronach campaign. Join. Recruit. Vote.” I found this little strategy to be a little amusing and to her campaign team’s credit, very clever. Out of the three, Belinda Stronach has the most polished website, with its very own blog and sophisticated recruitment program. Stephen Harper has a website which is decent in comparison while Tony Clement’s website is so very very basic. More interestingly is the backlash by the campaign team of Stephen Harper in response to the Google campaign of Belinda Stronach. When one googles Stephen Harper there’s the Belinda Stronach ad but under it is a much more interesting ad. It’s an ad that seems to point to the fake internet address “Shesabillionairedamnit.ca” with the tagline which says something like “She’s a billionaire damnit. Click. her. ads. waste. her. money”. When you click on the advertisement it redirects you to the campaign website of Stephen Harper.
Interesting indeed.
I wish that I had gotten a screen shot because when I reloaded the Google search in disbelief, the Shesabillionairedamnit ad had disappeared. Maybe my clickthrough on the google ad had capped-off the ad’s daily spending limit? Anyways, is this a sign that Stephen Harper’s team is feeling a little heat from Belinda Stronach? I wish that I had gotten a screen shot because when I reloaded the Google search in disbelief, the Shesabillionairedamnit ad had disappeared. Maybe my clickthrough on the google ad had capped-off the ad’s daily spending limit? So, a google war between Stephen Harper and Belinda Stronach. We’ll just see how much of an effect these internet campaigns will have on the leadership race.
Oh, and Tony: Really! Please do something about your website!
The pundits at Bluedraft made an interesting and yet legitimate criticism of the media today concerning the bid of Belinda Stronach for the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.
Just compare Belinda Stronach’s treatment at the hands of the national press to another famous kid with a rich daddy.
When Justin Trudeau makes a speech, he’s not described as a tasty little piece of beefcake, but as “the heir to the Trudeau legacy.” Media outlets line up to write breathless profiles of him, slavering at the prospect that he will run for public office. “It’s a question of when, not if,” they intone. Trudeau’s qualifications, thin though they might be, are overlooked in the rush to resurrect Trudeaumania.
Stronach, who’s actually accomplished something in her life, runs for office and she’s instantly dismissed as “the It girl.” Because she’s blonde and attractive, she qualifies for descriptors such as “hot,” “bodacious” and the press reports on what she’s wearing as if she were Queen Elizabeth.
I don’t know what causes this cynicism it the media and this attitude unfortunately filters down to some Canadians. Is there an agenda or does this invective petty attitude actually sell newspapers?