A stratagem of confusion

As of 7am this morning this was the logo displayed on Kim Rudd's website. Contacting a member of the team I was told that this was the number of "new supporters" that Kim has signed up. But is it real or is it just a strategy designed to scare off the other sides? Apparently this kind of thing hasn't been done before as it could be dangerous if expectations are unmet and also because it may tip off the others, there are only so many "new supporters" around and everyone is chasing them.

At the beginning of the campaign, so I have been told, the Riding membership was at about 1400. Now how many of the 1400 were paid-up and how many were lapsed but still on the rolls is unknown to us, but I know from other political parties members are kept on the lists for at least four years before being removed. So to say we have 1400 members may only be half true. But back to the "New supporters" (NS) and that definition. We can assume that a paid up member is an "old supporter" therefore new signups are NS, but lapsed members are also counted as NS. Do we count commitments made by people contacted on the phone or people being spoken to at wine and cheese parties as NS? And really how much do we want to tell the other side? Only a truly naive campaign would give away its numbers before the nomination meeting! An experienced campaign team would want to come into a nomination with a hundred or so signed memberships not previously declared. At the last big Liberal nomination nobody divulged numbers and so it wasn't until the day of the meeting anybody knew what anybody else had.

But back to the present. If one assumes (very dangerous) that about a thousand people will turn up to vote the winner would need would need about 600 signed members to feel confident. Kim Rudd is at 241 new ones, some old ones and a long way to go for the 600.

Still on Liberal affairs. A comment came in last night and was buried about three pages down so I copied it and repeat it here because it is timely
"It is about a week into the campaign for Chris Herrington and I hear that the memberships are rolling in across the riding. People know a winner and she has won as a councillor and twice as mayor...the other two have NO political experience at all!
Fancy brochures and get-to-gethers with out of area props should be easily seen as a weak way of saying I have the local Liberal support"

I was sent the Herrington website URL "www.chrisherrington.ca", a couple of days back and posted it, and an email was sent asking for a list of events that CH was planning - yet to hear anything back. So if anybody on the CH team reads this we would like to know what you are up to apart from a flashy website!

What do the Gen Xers and Gen Yers think about politics?

As a result of observing many Town Hall meetings and two recent nomination get togethers I am appalled at the lack of response to politics by anybody other than the old! Political opinions are like stinky feet: everybody has them and some smell worse than others. Consequently all should participate in Civics, but don't. Commenting on the age of the audience of political events is a dangerous thing as one is likely to offend those who think they are ageless and also those who usually don't mingle with older folk easily. But one cannot avoid the topic - it is rare to find a person of younger-middle age at any of these events. They are are elsewhere and those in that demographic will readily tell you that they don't have time, or the inclination to get involved. A lot of sympathy goes to the candidates for the Liberal nomination, who are running around trying to cater to their grandparents' generation - a difficult task. It is tough for callow youth to understand the generational difference and I wish them well, although the phrase, "Don't teach your father how to procreate" comes to mind.
It is telling, that in this age of modern politics, Andrew McFadyen has a Marketing Director on his campaign team. This guy looks about twenty five years old and I am sure that he has degrees coming out of his ying-yang and is eminently qualified to sell soap, but what will he be doing to encourage his generation to get involved in politics?
I am young enough, if I live as long as the National average, to see this question answered - what will the political participant of the future look like when the present political activists, whose average age appears to be seventy three are gone?

I can't hold back any longer, the "fountain" in the park is a pond with a tiny aerator. What happened to the fountain we were supposed to have? And costs will go up because we'll have to have a security guard at the pond to stop kids playing in it since it's not chlorinated and has been declared a health hazard. Small signs will just get ignored. Over the first week or so of operation, birds, dogs and drunks as well as kids with and without diapers have been seen in the water.

Peter Delanty was heard describing to a citizen how he expected something more like a real fountain but it remains to be seen if he'll actually do anything about it. I must admit the rink worked well in winter but we were promised a fountain for the summer as well. The pond design is clever but will be prone to vandalism - already one repair was needed when a park bench was thrown in.

And thanks to Ben for opening his blog for my occasional contribution.

Kim Rudd met some supporters yesterday at the Market building in Cobourg. Small crowd-small room, medium crowd-medium room and large crowd-large room; so goes the mantra. Well the Market Building is not small and not big so the crowd was a respectable number, less than Andrew's crowd but all these folks were from Cobourg and didn't drive in - about fifty all told and more people under the age of sixty - just.

A summery crowd and summery crowds don't expect long political speeches and they didn't get one. When I told Kim that Andrew had spoken for nine minutes she said, "I'll be shorter." After an introduction by Penny "I haven't read your blog as much as I have in these last three weeks" Crawford, Kim got down to business. Laying her personal life bare and outlining her CV and then tying those two topics to a pledge, "I intend to what I have been doing and take it to a higher level." That higher level is the big sandbox of Federal Politics where she sees a lack of recognition for the Riding's ills. Citing her experience, as the President of the local Chamber of Commerce, she explains, "We have to do business differently." as well as calling for an improvement to the volunteer community. Her political agenda will be to create "Healthy Communities".

Impressions that stayed after I had left: the party establishment was not present but the young turks were - Peter Cleary, armed with DSLR was obviously snapping pics for the Facebook and website content. One onlooker told me that Kim had "edge" and he thought that was a good sign. One sign of voters searching for choices as opposed to voter confirmation, was a man leaving the hall as I was going in - he had been to see Andrew and was still looking for a decision. And more importantly for Kim was that the membership signup table was busy. Finally; another capable candidate. But, if I were an uncommitted Liberal I would want to see them all in campaign mode as opposed to the kissy kissy stuff that is necessary for a nomination. The real test is twofold, more signups that the other guys and a barnburner of a speech at the nomination meeting.

Yesterday Andrew McFadyen came to town, and Kim Rudd must have passed him on County Rd 29 as she went out to Warkworth, (one of Andrew's home bases) to drink wine. But I went to see Andrew, Kim can wait until she does Cobourg on Saturday.

In a celebration of the past Andrew introduced himself to many of his supporters at the Best Western at 5pm. Speaking for nine minutes, after an hour of mingling, he paid homage to the party elders, attacked the sitting government and spoke about why he was running to be the candidate.

Introduced by the Rt Hon Christine Stewart, who started her address with, "All Liberals are looking forward to an election" she spoke about Andrew in the most glowing of terms. Andrew then thanked all of his predecessors profusely , praising Paul Macklin, but avoided sanctifying him, praised his campaign team for five months of hard work and then pointed out to the seventy-five or so party faithful that the sitting government of Mr Harper, represented by Rick Norlock, has been unresponsive to the needs of the Riding and must be changed. He then explained his passion for the position by explaining some of his childhood, experienced under the Harris Tories, had made him much stronger and independent - he was raised in a one-parent family home by a mother on disability. Consequently he had to work eight hour shifts at the age of fourteen. As he implied that the Harper cons are the same as the Harrisites, he obviously doesn't want any part of that kind of society and "wants to be an advocate for your needs."

My impressions of the event are simple, with the number of people, in the audience, under the age of sixty able to be counted on one hand Andrew had better hope that they get a quick election, some of them might not make it. A local Liberal mentioned to me that about half the audience was from out of town and I didn't recognise too many local folks either. Andrew scores highly for motivation and sincerity as well as being well connected with the party brass. So first impressions make him stand out as a capable candidate. But as another local Lib said, "We are so lucky to have three good candidates running." My money is still on who has signed up the most - it's a numbers game as many minds were not changed by this event.

Congratulations to the readers, you made yesterday the most active of all pages in our history. Without releasing actual numbers, they would scare the opposition, the discussion about the cheeky chappy and the zealous cop, who happened to be female, released the opinion dogs and drove up the hits.

A busy weekend for car and machinery enthusiasts

This weekend has two events for local 'buffs'. One is when Antique and Classic Car Club of Canada holds its annual Concours d’Elegance at the Port Hope fairgrounds on Saturday. The other is a Farm and Agricultural Show put on by the Hope Agricultural Heritage Club website here. This show will be held at the Burnham farm on Hwy #2 just West of Canadian Tire. The tractor on the left is the main raffle prize - pay yer money and drive it home (or take the cash).
The Port Hope Classic car show is different in two respects from the car show featured a month ago in these pages: this time there will be judging. Cars will be judged from a strict list of criteria and a show winner will be announced. Also for Port Hope to score such a big show means congratulations for the organisors, it was held in Brampton last year. Having just checked the website of the ACCCC there is also an event in Port Hope on the Sunday setting up a double-header for buffs - Wow. Sunday will see the "Prewar Antique Car Tour" starting in Port Hope a description taken from the tour flyer says it all: "This is a driving tour (about 2 hours) and will feature one tour for the older, slower vehicles (~50 miles) and a second one for the newer, more speedier cars (~70 miles), with everyone coming together for a BBQ lunch."


A man with more money than brains still seems determined to play with the big boys and disregards the rules. Jim Balsillie, of RIM fame, is trying to buy an NHL team and move it to Southern Ontario. He tried it three years ago in Pittsburgh, he tried it in Nashville last year and is now trying to buy the Phoenix team. This time, in Phoenix, he has a judge that has allowed him to bid on the assets of the team in a bankruptcy court. The NHL Board of Governers has blackballed him and even called his ethics into question so the question of the day is simple - what happens when Jimbo buys a team and then the NHL won't let him play in the league?

PS anybody know of the website for Christine Herrington? E-mail it in

Who says cops are humourless?

Flipping the bird to a cop is now ticketable. In this story, which has achieved National cachet, written by ambulance chaser par-excellence - Pete Fisher. Constable Bettina Schwarze is reported to have awarded the offending driver, who flipped the bird as he was driving away with one ticket in hand, another one for "Making an illegal hand signal". Talk radio idiot John Oakley, in a feeble attempt to maintain ratings on a dog day for news, severely criticised the ticketing as, "an attempt to overreach authority". Sad but predictable.

The candidates are coming to Town

The Liberal nomination dog and pony shows are ready and willing to meet you. Schedules for 'meet and greets' for both previously announced candidates are up in cyberspace. Check the face book links on the left of this page for details. Andrew McFadyen is having one at the best Western, in Cobourg, on the 6th Aug - Thursday, and Kim Rudd is having hers on the 8th - Saturday, at the Cobourg market building. The only indication of where the candidates stand is to count the number of supporters each one has in their facebook group: McFadyen - 218 and Rudd - 177 announced supporters. Of course this is only play count and it all depends on the real vote, which depends on real memberships. The Membership Sec hasn't said anything about those numbers yet. Rumours still abound about With the entry of the Brighton Mayor (Christine Harrington), this morning, into the race, there are now three. going at it Unless she enters with her pockets stuffed with memberships she is late out of the gate and will waste both her money and effort, not to mention Political Capital as the nomination date is being set for very early September - less than 30 days away. Personally I can't see anything other than ego in it for CH, unless she is a stalking horse for McFadyen and we know that the NQW Libs can't do anything without declaring regional warfare. So the view from here is that someone in the East really wants to put the boots to the Western candidate. Besides whoever wins will have one heckuva job, in this swing riding, to overcome an 11,000 vote deficit against Norlock. The prize, at the moment, doesn't look attainable. So why would a popular mayor do it?

Things must be very slow if we are debating this. Some party activists, at next month's party convention want the New Democratic Party (NDP) to change it's name and drop the "New" from the name. In this story Lawrence Martin of the G&M discusses why it's a good idea. How come all of those people who will never vote for the NDP always have plenty of ideas about how to make it for the better. It's not as though any of these Liberals will ever vote for the NDP so why do they bother?

A fine day for a celebration

Yesterday these people were honoured for many things as part of the Coborne 150th celebration. The most interesting honoree was a past Beauty Queen , Miss 1959 - delightful and quirky. With so many events to choose from yesterday a trip to Colborne was handy and it sure turned out to be dandy!. Unfortunately the arrival at 1245 meant we had missed the parade but manged to catch the opening ceremonies. Hosted by Heritage Cramahe and MCd by Pat Westrope it was an unusual political event - short on pols speeches but long on local history.



I was surprised, and pleased, by the number of locals that got into the act by wearing period costume this couple stood out for their elegance and grace under the sun.


Click on the pics to get a larger view

I hope the rain keeps away today

One of the hard working merchants at the Sidewalk Sale yesterday. Scotty Carrigan flips burgers for the masses. One of about seven BBQs on the street, his was the biggest and most visible, he was doing well at lunch time.

Yep went to the bank yesterday and when downtown realised "It's that time of the year again" - Sidewalk Sale time. Not afraid to ruffle feathers, when I say this, but this year the institution is is showing its age, it's very tired and almost on its last legs. No rides, a DJ putting out fifty year old tunes, this thing needs a sprucing. That will not stop me being there today. If I provide the body the DBIA should produce more action!

Toronto Council's pending strike vote has produced a lot of editorial ink this morning. The TO Star is for Council to vote for it, the TO Sun is of the same mind and a guest editorialist , Kelly McParland, in the National Post used his column inches to beat up on the Mayor. Interesting point - three of the progressive voters will be absent or intend to abstain - Moscoe (abstaining), Vaughn and Rae absent. So who knows what is going to happen: the anarchist in me says the Mayor's opponents will vote it down and the pragmatist says the majority will realise that a No vote will be anarchy and the start of a labour war that cannot be won and thus vote for it.
The saddest part of this is the Mayor has decided to have the vote in camera. This affront to democracy will only increase the (il)legitimacy of closed meetings when discussing contracts. This discussion has nothing new, nothing that needs confidentiality and thus we need to know what the gutless pols are saying in the back room and compare it to the spin they spout on the front room.