PING!
Posted on 09/27/2006 3:37:03 PM PDT by GMMAC
Stronach joins Domi in the sin bin
Homewrecker accusations will tarnish MP's calm, cool image
Don Martin
National Post
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
OTTAWA - They were always together -- and it always seemed so unnatural.
On the campaign hustings in the middle of hockey season. Drinking in a trendy Toronto bar in March.
Sharing a fruit plate at the Magna Golf Club in June. Whooping it up at the Calgary Stampede in July.
And that was just 2006.
The unlikely friendship between MP Belinda Stronach and retired Toronto hockey enforcer Tie Domi dates back years.
You'd watch them pal around with casual familiarity and wonder if there could be something more to the relationship, perhaps a fairy tale romance along the lines of Beauty and the Beast, before dismissing the implausibility of it all. Bodyguard, perhaps. Bedmate?
Not a chance.
Er, allegedly so.
Thanks to the howl of hell's fury from Domi's future former wife, Leanne -- in the form of divorce filings that are unproven in court -- too much information has been gushing forth on the alleged current affair between Stronach and the now-homeless and retired penalty box king of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Belinda Stronach, always so calm, cool and controlled in her male relationships, stands accused of being the homewrecker in a family where three children are among the divorce court casualties.
Now, marriages die by the hundreds every day, yet it was hard to find a water cooler yesterday that wasn't gurgling with talk of Canada's newest odd couple, including our own news bureau.
A lot of women I've consulted in the past admire Stronach's aggressive sway over men. They live somewhat vicariously through her celebrity-studded dating history, where she exercises a firm command over the opposite sex and always seems to let the guy down gently when she decides it's over. The notable exception was, of course, her messy defection-eve breakup with Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay.
Stronach's sexuality has always been a big part of her mystique and she has a particular fondness for athletes, having dated a former Montreal Alouettes poster hunk and a Chicago Black Hawks defenceman.
When she got serious and married one -- former Olympic speedskating champion Johann Koss -- it was to a superathlete who evolved into a global humanitarian for poverty-stricken children in undeveloped countries.
But Tie Domi? A player who spent 58.5 hours in the penalty box, the third-most penalized player in National Hockey League history? A guy who admits he hates politics and doesn't know much about business? A star who says Stronach has never watched him play professional hockey? Someone who, when asked about his friendship with Stronach, told me "she knows me pretty good and I know her pretty good". That's hardly Clintonesque conversation. So what's the mutual attraction? Uh, don't answer that.
Despite Domi's then-status as married father, I asked him about the rumours of a romance last June in researching a biography on Stronach. "No, no, no," he insisted. "This is just a friendship, totally a friendship. It's just that during her campaign there was a lot of press and photos of us together. We're visible people, so it gets a lot of attention."
But while the alleged affair might macho up Domi's testosterone count in male eyes, it will hurt Stronach in the court of public opinion.
While Canadians are far more tolerant of political hanky-panky than Americans and, for the most part, think it's private business best left alone, being named in such graphic terms in a scorned spouse's divorce papers is an image that will stick.
Stronach, not surprisingly, is refusing to discuss the Domi affair, although I'm told she's mortified. That fits a commendable pattern of protecting her privacy. Even now, almost 18 months later, she can barely bring herself to discuss her mostly live-in relationship with Peter MacKay and can only wince at the memory of his public attack on her in the breakup's aftermath.
But Domi was openly enamoured and extremely protective of Stronach when we talked last June about his friend and her potential to one day lead Canada.
"She has her own beliefs and they're a lot different than [Stephen] Harper's were," he said. "Once you hear her side of the story, people will open their eyes and say, 'Wow, she's the person I really want to lead this country.' "
Well, not any more. Working the dating circuit hard is a good thing for a single mom like Stronach. But being named as the wrecking ball in the marriage of a sports celebrity -- whose claim to fame was hitting first, thinking in the penalty box later -- is a political liability.
Domi stands accused of leaving his family for another woman. But the other woman may have sacrificed almost as much for him.
dmartin@nationalpost.com
© National Post 2006
PING!
BULL shi-ite!
She's a flighty liberal strumpet, and he's a philandering goon.
No respect for either of them from this part of the country.
The countdown is on for how long before she dumps him because of all this sudden bad pr - and because she dumps them all. Some women are just like that.
Ping.
Funny, I thought Chelsea was an only child.
It's obvious that Stronach has spent enough time with Slick Willie to adopt the attitude of total self-absorbtion. She will probably follow this by threatening to destroy any who dare to question her.
Having been born with a platinum spoon in her mouth, might have helped to make her as isolated as she is.
She's isolated from real life, always has been.
I would be surprised if no people have already been 'victims of Arcanside' (sp) by Belinda.
If not yet, with her money, it's only a matter of time.
:-O
Belinda could probably "service" the entire Maple Leaf team and whomever they're playing that night.
If she has a particular fondness for athletes, then what does she see in that pasty misfit?
"Check this out" ping.
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