Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Hey Lady!
It doesn’t take much for Belinda Stronach to catch the Canadian public eye. Cameras flock to Conservative MP, who formerly ran for party leadership, any time she wears something just off of the knee. But now, when Canadian politics couldn’t get any more exciting – no seriously, they just physically can’t, Stronach strode across the House of Commons to score a position in the cabinet. Other Conservative and NDP politicians have done this stunt in the past, but never quite like this.
Two significant events come out of this spectacle promenade. First, her move across to the Liberals may just be what it takes to save the minority government from collapsing under a non-confidence vote scheduled for Thursday. With Stronach flying the red flag, it all comes down to full attendance of the conservative party on Thursday, and the decision of three independent MPs. This would ruin the chance of spring election which likely see another minority government installed, but with a good chance of the NDP making its way to the official opposition place considering that many disgruntled Liberals would support the NDP before the Conservatives. So indeed Stronach may just save the Liberals.
And this gets into the second point of this being an amazing attention grab. Under the gaze of every reporter and television camera in the country Stronach may build a reputation as being the Liberal party savior. At one of the most fragile moments in Canadian politics in years, everyone is keeping a close eye on the house. Stronach just bought herself at least three days of free wall to wall press coverage. Good move. Also, she is assumed to be the most charismatic politician in the house, other than Jack Layton of course, who when he gets fired up exhibits the characteristics of an aggressive terrier dog.
She’s a single mom that has heaps of money, a social conscious, is easy on the eyes, and is just plain popular in the eyes of the media. Sadly, the media’s love for her is greatly weighted in her appearance. Even referring to her by her first name from time to time gives her that “girl next door” persona. Come now, the only other politician to pull off the first name bit is Fidel Castro, and trust me he makes for a rough date.
At the end of all this, Stronach finds herself in the liberal cabinet and just a stone’s throw away from the Prime Minister’s office. When you consider that there are no other clear successors to Paul Martin, Stronach may very well muster enough fervor from this stunt to be in the running for leadership in the next election – whenever it does finally come.
Two significant events come out of this spectacle promenade. First, her move across to the Liberals may just be what it takes to save the minority government from collapsing under a non-confidence vote scheduled for Thursday. With Stronach flying the red flag, it all comes down to full attendance of the conservative party on Thursday, and the decision of three independent MPs. This would ruin the chance of spring election which likely see another minority government installed, but with a good chance of the NDP making its way to the official opposition place considering that many disgruntled Liberals would support the NDP before the Conservatives. So indeed Stronach may just save the Liberals.
And this gets into the second point of this being an amazing attention grab. Under the gaze of every reporter and television camera in the country Stronach may build a reputation as being the Liberal party savior. At one of the most fragile moments in Canadian politics in years, everyone is keeping a close eye on the house. Stronach just bought herself at least three days of free wall to wall press coverage. Good move. Also, she is assumed to be the most charismatic politician in the house, other than Jack Layton of course, who when he gets fired up exhibits the characteristics of an aggressive terrier dog.
She’s a single mom that has heaps of money, a social conscious, is easy on the eyes, and is just plain popular in the eyes of the media. Sadly, the media’s love for her is greatly weighted in her appearance. Even referring to her by her first name from time to time gives her that “girl next door” persona. Come now, the only other politician to pull off the first name bit is Fidel Castro, and trust me he makes for a rough date.
At the end of all this, Stronach finds herself in the liberal cabinet and just a stone’s throw away from the Prime Minister’s office. When you consider that there are no other clear successors to Paul Martin, Stronach may very well muster enough fervor from this stunt to be in the running for leadership in the next election – whenever it does finally come.
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