Belinda Stronach: "I'll be back as soon as I'm done with Peter MacKay."
Bill Clinton: "Heh...heh...She said 'Peter'"
Posted on 05/17/2005 10:37:19 AM PDT by GMMAC
Stronach appointed to Liberal cabinet
Political observers stunned
Canadian Press
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
OTTAWA -- In a stunning political move that could save Paul Martin's government, high-profile Tory MP Belinda Stronach has defected to the Liberals.
Martin, sitting beside a smiling Stronach at a surprise news conference Tuesday, welcomed his new caucus member and named her human resources minister. He also said she will be in charge of democratic renewal.
The development boosts the government's chance of surviving a very tight confidence motion in the House of Commons scheduled for Thursday. It is also a big blow to the Conservatives.
Stronach, who represents the Ontario riding of Newmarket-Aurora, blamed Tory Leader Stephen Harper for her defection.
"I find myself at a crossroads forced on me by the decision of the leader of the Conservative party to try to force the defeat of this government this Thursday.
"I tried to the very best of my ability to play a constructive role in the Conservative party to advance issues that really matter to Canadians in cities, to women, to young people, to many Ontarians.
"But I regret to say that I do not believe the party leader is truly sensitive to the needs of each part of the country and just how big and complex Canada really is.''
Harper quickly fired back: "There's no grand principle involved in this decision, just ambition.''
"I told my wife only a few days ago that I thought it had become obvious to Belinda that her leadership ambitions would not be reached in this party regardless of whether or not we won the next election.''
Harper said some members feel "devastated'' and "betrayed,'' but added he is "relieved that we've at least gone through this before an election.''
Harper acknowledged that given the extremely close numbers in the House, the defection makes the defeat of the government Thursday much less likely. But he maintained that the caucus is united in support of trying to force an election, calling the Liberals ``corrupt.''
Martin said he and Stronach talked Monday night and sealed their deal.
"We found that on critical questions of both policy and politics, that we have much in common.
"We both believe in a centrist, balanced and moderate set of policies.
"We both believe in a strong economic and fiscal program. We both believe in the need to equip our people with the skills to compete anywhere with anyone. And we both believe in the Gomery commission.''
Two weeks ago, Stronach warned that defeating the federal budget in the confidence vote might be a bad move that could backfire on the Conservatives.
She said critical portions of the budget, particularly the billions promised for municipal infrastructure, were extremely important to individuals in her riding north of Toronto and other constituencies in the area.
© Canadian Press 2005
I think so too, as Deputy Prime Minister and possibly a junior portfolio alongside that title.
Here would be my ideal cabinet if the CPC was elected (based on current MP's plus likely pickups):
Prime Minister - Stephen Harper
Deputy Prime Minister - Peter MacKay
Government House Leader - Jay Hill
Government Whip - Norman Doyle
ACOA - Greg Thompson
Agriculture - Diane Finley
Attorney General - Rob Nicholson
CED-Q - Josee Verner (most likely CPC pickup in Quebec)
CIDA - Deepak Obhrai
Defence - Gordon O'Connor
Environment - Bob Mills
FEDNOR - Peter Chirico (most likely CPC pickup in Northern Ontario)
Finance - Monte Solberg
Fisheries - Loyola Hearn
Foreign Affairs - Stockwell Day
Government Services - Leon Benoit
Health - Carol Skelton
Heritage - Bev Oda
Homeland Security (repl. Public Safety and Preparedness) - Gerry Breitkrutz
HRDC - (abolished)
Immigration - Rahim Jaffer
Industry - Jim Flaherty (likely CPC pickup)
Intergovernmental Affairs - Peter MacKay
International Relations - Jason Kenney
Justice - Vic Toews
Labour - Steve Fletcher
National Revenue - Brian Pallister
Natural Resources - Gary Lunn
Official Languages - (abolished)
Public Works - (abolished, replaced by Government Services and shifted to other departments)
Social Development - Cheryl Gallant
Transport - James Moore
Treasury Board - Michael Chong
Veterans Affairs - Colin Carrie
WED - (abolished)
Wheat Board - (abolished)
ACOA should be abolished as well.
Several have: Pat O'Brien (socially conservative LINO) nearly crossed the floor but was bribed on a promise for full hearings on gay marriage (broken promise!) and David Kilgour already left the party. There were reports a few others may switch but no names were given.
Your list looks pretty good if you ask me.
In the medium term yes. This is right after the election I am talking about.
Somehow I think the ONLY reason this b*tch ran as a Conservative is because she was in a Conservative riding. She was DISHONEST to her riding and they should reward her accordingly. She'll have to move to a Liberal riding because her own won't vote for her again. THIS is a perfect example of the fact that she only wanted her snout in the public trough. She did NOT enter politics because of any principles.
Hopefully we can take it back with a REAL conservative! I've contacted Frank Klees (provincial MPP in the area) and asked if he should run - awaiting response.
Do you have a contact address for Frank Klees I think a few more of us should do what you did.
fklees@frank-klees.on.ca - that is the man I think that can do it, we need to pressure him to get the nomination.
Website: http://www.frank-klees.on.ca/
Biography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Klees
Belinda Stronach: "I'll be back as soon as I'm done with Peter MacKay."
Bill Clinton: "Heh...heh...She said 'Peter'"
Anyway, if she wasn't such an opportunist and the Liberals were smarter, she would have sat as an Independent and battled against Martha Hall Findlay for the Liberal nomination in the next election, like John Herron and Keith Martin did last year (Herron lost to a real Conservative though)...
She is a true Conservative as well.
Helena Guergis (Simcoe-Grey, was a Red Tory but has turned more conservative lately) can also fit into that mold as well...
Thanks for the address I'll send it out with my daily e-mails to those on my list and ask that a few others do the same. This is not to pressure him but to inform him that he has support.
Rather than hand it back to me she grasped it tightly and said, "I don't feel comfortable signing this, can I buy it from you?"
Like a fool, I told her don't worry about it, keep it. Connie is still beating me over the head over it, it would be worth a fortune now.
Belinda knew at the convention that she was going to be a Liberal whore.
Alberta and us in B.C. I hope. B.C. has a LOT of true Conservatives both fiscally and morally. Where you get the Liberals in this Province is all the damn Ontario seniors coming here to retire. Also parts of Vancouver but the rest of the Province and my area being Kelowna. Then we can count on the entire Okanagan Valley as well as those areas up in northern B.C.
Not my area. The Okanagan, my city being Kelowna, has never in my 35 years here ever sent a Liberal to represent them. I'm sorry that Werner Schmidt is retiring this year. He has been a wonderful representative, so has Stockwell Day. Stock Day just wasn't meant to be the Leader but he's a very good Conservative and always wins hands down. The trouble with B.C. is that it has become fractionated (if that makes sense). Because of our weather, those from Central Canada flock here to retire and they bring their bloody liberal attitudes with them. All of my family are Conservatives and all my husbands family are from Alberta. East Vancouver is where the NDP stronghold is - like Toronto, that's where the immigrants land.
Is it back up yet? Huh? Huh?
Are you back home now? Huh? Huh?
a/k/a/ EdS
We are back home again. FD is down until the DNS resolves once again. This outage should go a long way to fixing a lot of the tech problems we've been having since the Great Crash.
Now if only the CPC would quit backing strumpets like Stronach.
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