Random Thoughts – CPC Leadership, Our Mayor, Niki Ashton and More
March 24, 2017
1. I was among the group who came out to hear CPC leadership hopeful Pierre Lemieux speak at the downtown library last night. Though it’s not likely he’ll win, I was again very impressed and his views align very closely with mine. As he pointed out, even if he doesn’t win, think of the message it sends to the new leader if a social conservative like him has a strong showing on the first ballot. Something to seriously think about.
2. From talking to others last night, I wasn’t the only CPC supporter well connected to party communications and social media who failed to hear about Maxime Bernier’s recent appearance in Niagara.
3. I may be adding more names to my ballot to ward off the threat from faux Conservative Kevin O’Leary.
4. When I mentioned to the woman seated next to me last night that I was originally from Winnipeg, she asked, “Can you send us your premier?” After I returned a puzzled look, she said, “Oh yeah, Brad Wall is from Saskatchewan.” Manitoba, Saskatchewan, what’s the difference? They’re both “out West.”
4a. I added that she wouldn’t want Brian Pallister, who’s proving to be NDP-Lite.
5. It was highly inappropriate of Mayor Sendzik to use the Top Hat Ceremony earlier in the week to play partisan politics and bash Donald Trump. Save that for your re-election campaign, Mr. Mayor.
5a. When I see Sendzik together with MP Chris Bittle in public, I keep half-expecting Bittle to say “heel” and have Sendzik kneel at his feet. Woof. And before you call me cruel for making that comment, watch them in action for yourself before passing judgment.
6. In voting for Sendzik, the electorate rejected an ultra-leftist in favor of someone who preached opportunities and jobs during his campaign. Yet they ended up getting the ultra-leftist who seemingly can’t get the Liberal rhetoric out of his mouth fast enough. His latest pillar is “inclusive community building.” If I wanted Jeff Burch, I would have voted for him.
7. I will give Sendzik credit for spearheading the inter-municipal transit issue. Now if I could only use my Presto card here in Niagara. The way I can on GO and in Hamilton, Burlington, Toronto, Whitby and Ottawa.
8. For some writing material, I watched the recent NDP leadership debate and Niki Ashton did not disappoint. In fact, I may even base a character on her. I laughed especially hard when she spoke about making the rich pay, conveniently omitting the fact that her provincial counterparts in Manitoba, where her father was a senior cabinet minister, dug into the pockets of the little guy whose cause she purports to champion to buy an NHL franchise for the richest man in the country. Gotta love those highly principled socialists.
9. Checking the headlines back in the Old Country, I couldn’t help but notice how Mark Chipman’s top assistant is getting fricasseed in the media on the heels of yet another failed season for the Mark Chipman Personal Hockey Club. A good leader does not crawl under a rock and allow his subordinate to take the heat for his own failures.
9a. There’s no way he would ever admit it publicly, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Kevin Cheveldayoff wishes he could turn back the clock six years and instead wait, in the words of Joe McGrath, “for a good front-office job.”
10. In six seasons, the late John Ferguson, himself a failed general manager, took a team from expansion and in four playoff appearances, his teams won four games and one series. In six seasons, Mark Chipman took an up-and-coming team with some good players on manageable contracts approaching the primes of their careers and has delivered one playoff appearance and not a single playoff victory. Yet people in Winnipeg still fervently defend that man. To coin a phrase, you get the owner you deserve.
11. To reward his team making the playoffs for the 10th consecutive season, IceDogs owner Bill Burke reportedly took the group out to dinner at The Keg. Given how they backed in, however, a Happy Meal at McDonald’s might have been more appropriate.
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