Hooked on Bas
December 11, 2024
On Monday night, CPC members from across St. Catharines descended on the Holiday Inn to select which of the four candidates would represent the party in the next federal election.
The evening began with speeches from each of the candidates.
Then came the voting. People lined up to cast their ballots. Based on the reactions from the crowd, I had expected Hayden Lawrence to come out on top. During his speech, Hayden pulled out all the stops with a performance that any preacher of an off-mainstream revival church would have been proud to call his own. All that was missing was a “Hallelujah!” and “Praise the Lord!” But to the surprise of many, including this interested observer and former party member, Bas Sluijmers emerged victorious.
No doubt the other candidates were surprised as well. Probably no more so than Peter Secord.
As the only candidate with any real name recognition, Secord must have thought he was a shoo-in when he first announced his candidacy. He acted like it too. He also took to belittling his opponents. Soon after that announcement, I got a call from someone on his campaign team trying to drum up support for Secord to keep out “young kids we don’t like.”
Back in September at the meet & greet event, he smugly paraded around the room and during his speech, all but said, “Vote for me because I have a name.” He tried a different tack this time, getting his wife to introduce him, noticeably dialing down the smugness in order to appear more down to earth and sticking to echoing Pierre Poilievre’s themes.
But in the end, it was too late.
Now let the real battle begin.
The battle to oust Chris Bittle and Justin Trudeau.
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