By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON September 13, 2011 “If this one doesn’t want to make you throw up, nothing will. That was Warren Kinsella’s opening line in his blog on comments local Progressive Conservative candidate Jane McKenna./ Kinsella is a born Liberal – he can’t help himself and he plays the game for keeps – no prisoners for this guy – knee cap them and leave them at the side of the road. He goes on to say:
Tea Party Tim Hudak’s campaign of intolerance swung through Burlington, with his hand-picked candidate smearing new Canadians with the sort of language that will blow your mind.
Jane McKenna, a failed municipal candidate whose previous priority was getting more booze outlets in her area, told the Burlington Post that she opposed helping new Canadian citizens get the certification they need to work in their chosen profession. If that’s not enough, McKenna then went on to say:
“When did we become for immigrants?” That’s a quote.
Bought the blue pin strip for the election. Suits her?
Here’s a newsflash for McKenna, and her “leader,” who have piloted Ontario campaign 2011 straight into the gutter on only day three of the contest: Canada and Ontario have always been “for” immigrants. We are, in fact, a nation of immigrants.
As former PC leader John Tory has said, Hudak has been “stirring up envy and negativity” in the election campaign. And, like John said, Hudak himself favoured a more generous plan to assist newcomers just a year ago. (Meanwhile, the Ontario Liberal plan, Tory noted on his drive-home radio show, was “one of the best investments” we could make. He’s right.)
Hudak and McKenna’s attacks on hard-working, tax-paying citizens demeans them, and their party.
I’d say they should be ashamed of themselves, but I think they lost their capacity for shame long ago.
I’ll be watching the local contest—Burlington—closely to see whether the Liberals or the NDP can break the decades-long grip the Progressive Conservatives (PC) have had on the local seat.
Russ Campbell, a respected commentator on things conservative and Conservative who gets his mail delivered to a Burlington address wasn’t about to let Kinsella use up all the oxygen and piped in with:
“This is an important choice for PC party members in Burlington, for the odds favour our party beating the Dalton McGuinty Liberals in the Oct. 6 general election. And wouldn’t it be nice to replace retiring incumbent MPP Joyce Savoline with another PC, continuing the riding’s PC-blue tradition for another four years.
With the support of Ted Chudleigh who is running in Halton and Joyce Savoline who is retiring from public office Jane McKenna on the left was able to handle one of her early press event quite well.
Regular readers will know that I was less than impressed with the PC nomination process that unfolded in Burlington. However, in Jane McKenna, we seem to have a local candidate with a chance of keeping the seat for the Tories. Oh, I’ve expressed reservations regarding Ms. McKenna’s lack of related experience and the fact she never had to undergo the scrutiny of a nomination contest—as the only candidate seeking the nomination, she was acclaimed. But when you’ve been given cream, you set about finding a way to make something nice, like ice cream.
One of the indispensible benefits of a nomination contest is the need for candidates to go through a mini-campaign, during which riding association members can assess each candidate’s organization skills, media savvy, personal background and related professional experience, not to mention their ability to communicate effectively. With luck, the candidates’ core values and beliefs may also be revealed, because, during the time they are seeking the nomination, they don’t have to toe the party line and keep “on message.”
But we have what we have, so I took advantage of an offer to meet Ms. McKenna, which she’d made a couple of weeks or so ago. In chatting to her, I sought answers to the sort of questions I would have expected to come up during the nomination process. And I got answers; she ducked none of my questions.
I won’t go into much detail here since the meeting was meant more for background than as an interview per se. I will, though, share some of my impressions.
Overall, Jane McKenna is a very presentable candidate: she’s local, intelligent, articulate and shows spunk. I pressed her at times, but she remained composed and stuck up for herself. And, when I expressed criticisms, I didn’t get the sort of defensiveness one too often gets from politicians. She basically acknowledged my criticisms when she felt they were accurate and otherwise gave me reasonable-sounding explanations.
I was most interested in hearing Ms. McKenna’s position on local issues like hospital funding, mid-peninsular highway, urban growth and mineral extraction on the Niagara Escarpment. Ms. McKenna seems to have a sound grasp of local issues, and she did not repeat party “talking points,” instead she gave real answers. These were not always the answers I wanted to hear, but they did seem genuine. I also tried to gain a sense of how deep were her commitments to those positions.
Basically, her positions seem to align with those I believe are most widely held in the riding. She’s obviously done her homework, is a quick learner and seems to understand the core concerns of her constituents. If she didn’t always have a grasp on these local issues—and I’m not saying she didn’t—she obviously has used her resources and intellect to get up to speed before the election officially kicks-off.
McKenna used to sell advertising – she knows how to listen and she knows how to make her point. With some luck and all her pluck working for her she just might convince enough of the Tory vote to get out on October 6 – there is enough blue blood in the city to win it – just as long as they don’t listen too closely to what se has to say – according to Warren Kinsella
We here in Burlington don’t live on an island and must take into consideration the realities and pressures we face as a part of a broader community, at both the regional and the provincial levels. Ms. McKenna gets that.
In short, folks, Jane McKenna will do fine. At least, that’s the way I see it.
Well that wasn’t quite the way Campbell saw it at first glance but then, for an old Tory like Campbell, seeing the Burlington seat go to a Liberal was perhaps more than he could swallow – so he instead gulped and decided to go with the devil that he at least knew something about.
Sort of like horse racing – you pick your winner and you place your bets. What I want to know is this: Did Campbell send the Party a cheque?
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