On the leadership campaign trail

All three candidates vying for the leadership of the new Conservative Party of Canada are now in the heart of their respective campaigns. As Tony Clement, Belinda Stronach and Stephen Harper criss-cross the country, signing up new members and impressing current ones, here is a comparison of their campaigns.

On the Liberal sponsorship scandal
As we’re all aware, the latest scandal has hit the Liberal Party and it has hit it hard. Dr. Hill, Leader of the Opposition, has been trying to crack this one wide open. The next leader of the Conservative Party of Canada will have to be effective in pointing out Liberal lies so how do Stephen Harper, Tony Clement and Belinda Stronach approach this issue?

“Does Paul Martin seriously expect us to believe that he is a stranger in the Liberal Party? He was not only Minister of Finance during the Sponsorship scandal, but he served as the senior minister for Quebec in the last election. He sat on the cabinet’s Quebec Committee with Alfonso Gagliano – a man whom Martin has just fired. I demand to know the reason he was fired.” — Stephen Harper

“The only way to clear the air is for the Liberal Party to return the money it received from communications companies involved in this scandal … In addition, The Chief Electoral Officer should investigate all other Liberal Party financing to ensure that no taxpayer dollars ended up in Liberal Party coffers” — Belinda Stronach

Quebec
Some say the battle will be won and lost in this province of many ridings and few members. Indeed, if either candidate is to win Quebec and thus win the race, membership sales will be key.

Belinda Stronach is on her way to winning the province as she has received endorsements from 42 Riding Association Presidents and from 5 former MPs. There are 75 ridings in Quebec and Belinda Stronach has done well to capture the votes there.

Stephen Harper, it seems, is not doing as well in Quebec. He sent out an email requesting that his supporters, “Help [him] sell memberships in the province of Quebec” and “call your friends or relatives in Quebec and get their information to fill out the (membership) form and sign them up for the new party”. This seems to stand in stark contrast with Belinda Stronach’s organizational efforts in Quebec as she has most of the Tory organizers working/volunteering for her there.

So, Stronach and Harper are making varying degrees of progress in Quebec, yet Tony Clement hasn’t made too much noise there. If it is any indication of Tony’s success in Quebec, he is the only leadership candidate without a goofy photo with the Quebec city Carnival’s Bonhomme de Neige. While Stronach and Harper are sweeping through Quebec, Tony has decided to go to Saskatchewan.

harperbonhomme.jpg
stonachbonhomme.jpg

Policy
Where Tony Clement has turned some heads, however, has been on a “radical” (according to the Toronto Star no less) tax reform policy. This leadership candidate for the Conservative Party of Canada has proposed that the first $250,000 of earnings by every Canadian should be tax free.

“This is about giving young people an opportunity to start their lives here in Canada … A lot are immersed in student debt, they’re looking for an opportunity to make a start in life and here’s a chance if you stay in Canada, the first $250,000 you make is tax free.” — Tony Clement

On tax policy, Belinda Stronach has not been shy. She has pledged to make mortgage interest partially tax deductible and to allow parents to deduct their children’s post-secondary tuition from their income taxes. She has also promised to repeal the tax on capital investment.

Stephen Harper, meanwhile, continues to espouse lower corporate taxes instead of corporate handouts. However, Mr. Harper also proposes to eliminate subsidies given to the Maritimes by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency. This position is sure to be controversial in the East.

Conclusion
All three leadership campaigns seem to have their advantages and disadvantages. However, a definite advantage must be recognized in the campaigns of Belinda Stronach and Stephen Harper over that of Tony Clement. The race is still wide open, however, as the upcoming all-candidates debate on the 22nd could provide some surprises and will likely provide momentum to the candidates that do well.

Rex, ask your editors

rex.jpgIn a recent column concerning the Conservative Party of Canada leadership race, Rex Murphy mused perplexedly over the paucity of confabulatory prose by this nation’s columnists and news writers on the topic of the race.

Rex, the leadership race is not dead. Your editors have merely found another story and they’re running with it. I’m talking, of course, about the American Democratic Party Leadership Race. Why is our nation’s news media so focused on a topic that they usually abhor? Indeed, our national news peddlers tend to give American news less attention than its worth. Yet, why does our opposition’s leadership race get so much less coverage than the American’s opposition leadership race receives? The American Democrats and the Canadian Conservatives are trying to do the same thing, in effect: change the government. However, Peter Mansbridge has spoken more about John Kerry than Belinda Stronach, and we’ve heard more about Lieberman’s Joementum (or lack thereof) than we have heard about Tony Clement.

Our leadership race is news. Rex, you should ask your editors why they’re choosing to ignore the story. Without media coverage, our leadership contenders can only be heard as far as they can shout. Mr. Murphy has declared that Belinda Stronach, Tony Clement and Stephen Harper have all climbed inside a “Trojan horse”, ready to attack the Liberal party’s stranglehold on power. It’s not that the three intend to stay within the horse, rather, it’s that nobody has told the city of Troy that the horse is waiting outside its gates.

Val Meredith joins up

meredith.jpgAdd another MP to the growing list of public endorsements of Belinda Stronach. Today Val Meredith, a founding member of the Reform Party of Canada, threw her support behind Belinda. She explained,

“I have known and worked with Stephen Harper for over 15 years, and he is a key reason why we are here today. I am friends with Tony Clement and appreciate his track record as an Ontario cabinet minister. However, Belinda not only offers proven leadership skills from her term as President and CEO of one of the largest corporations in Canada, she has demonstrated that she can capture the imagination of Canadians.”

Belinda Stronach reassured Meredith that MPs will be able to vote based upon the wishes of their constituents and not necessarily that of the leader. Belinda supports free votes for MPs: a fundamental principle of the former Canadian Alliance party.