Wednesday, June 28, 2000 — North Shore News - 7 Alliance’s new Day scary for federal Grits FRESH from watching the Canadian Alliance leadership convention on the weekend, I am torn between writing the political obituary of Preston Manning, the dawning of a new Day in federal politics, or an angry diatribe on the eastern media’s bias against all things west- ern. There’s no doubr that, barring a political srumble on a par with Greg Norman's final day collapse in the 96 Master’s, Stockwell Day will be the leader of the Alliance come July 8 - None of the purveyors of “conventional wisdom” even conceived there was any pos- sibility that Manning would not be in the lead following the first ballor. Which goes ta show, I suppose, that “con- ventional wisdom” is neither conventional nor wise. In the past couple of “months, as the leadership campaign:has gathered - Momentum, it has become “ patently obvious that Day is the one man who makes the * federal Liberal party of Jean Chretien neryous. The omnipresent Liberal lackey,: Warren Kinsella, wrote a disparaging commen- ary in the National Post 4 week aga under the headline “Day i invokes a tired bogey- man.” ‘In the mental meandering crinic and punishment of Kinsella, he attempted to paint Day as a right-wing wacko for attacking political correctness. In truth, what Day had said was that we have to stop letting political correctness guide the level and subject of debate in Canada. Gee, Warren, what an outrageous suggestion! Chretien, Kinsella and the rest of this tired government, would love nothing more than to have Manning win the leadership campaign. They know full well thar Manning will not sell any- where east of the Red River. They also know that Manning’s “Howdy Doody” persona pales in comparison with the vigorous, fit, youth- ful Day. Equally, if faced with federal election, Chretien, while fit for his age, is still in the waning years of his 60s. Remember the photo that ‘dominated the 1974 election campaign of then- Conservative leader Bob Stanfield, fumbling a football gently tossed to him? That image, coupled with a newly-. married, vigorous Pierre Trudeau and his youthful bride, Margaret Sinclair, vir- tually sealed a majonty gov- ernment for the Libs. Make no mistake, Chretien is afraid of Day. Instead of his traditional arrogance, comfortable there was no one on the horizon with the requisite “Royal Jeliy™ to challenge him, Chretien and his cronies will take out the knives and begin an attempt to carve up the character, political intentions and image of Stockwell Day. He will be painted, much more than he has already been, as a “homophobic.” (Geez, [hate that word. Those who dislike gays are hardly afraid of them. They disdain them, Is “homadis- dainia” a word?) He'll be categorized as anti-feminist, perhaps even as a misogynist, because he, per- sonally, is against abortion, And this will only be the start. Unfortunately, none of this is true. Sure Day is pro- moting family values and morality in government. He is promoting less government and responsibility “with tax- payer dollars. Try as I might, 1 fail to find anything wrong with any of this. Imagine, politicians with virtue! Interesting spin on that from the Libs. “Don’t vote for him, he’s honest. Vote for the crass corruption and cronyism of the Liberals you have grown to despise.” Who, in their right mind, wants another term of the big government, big taxes, big spending Liberals? Who can stomach another debacle like the HRDC billion dollar boondogyle, let alone the Matant hes that have accom- panied the dismantling of the Canada Jobs Fund in the past week? But let’s look ahead to see why they are afraid. In the first place, the Liberal braintrust and the Progressive Conservative Jack-of-braintrust, have tied to marginalize the Alhance by saving they're a regional party. Realistically, in today’s politics, thev’re all regional parties. Allow me to digress tor a moment. I’m getting sick and tired of Joe Clark’s refus- ing to acknowledge the Alliance name by stubbornly calling them the Reform party. It reminds me of a racist American media stead- fastly calling Mohammed Ali “Cassius Clay™ long after he legally changed his name. Get over it Joe. The Libs, while they have a handful of seats elsewhere, are essentialiy an Ontario party. The PCs are dead out- side Atlantic Canada. The Bloc has a lock on Quebec and who cares about the NDP. So how might this ply out in the next election? With the Alliance obtaining 70 of the 88 Western Canadian seats, the Bloc tak- ing 65 of Quebce’s 75 seats, the PCs hovering at about 20 of the Maritimes’ 32 scats, this means the Liberals need the conservative clement of Ontario recognizes the furili- ty of supporting Joe Clark and doesn't spht the vore. A new House of Commons might look like to sweep Ontario. 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