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Friday, August 05, 2005
A loose relationship with the truth
Adam Radwanski has a column (subscriber only) in the National Post today outlining the Conservative transit policy. This passage jumped out at me and I just couldn't let it go.
...To date, the Tories seem to have been operating under the premise that the "905 belt" is a separate entity from the city it surrounds, hoping policies that play well with their base in rural ridings - opposition to same-sex marriage, for instance - will resonate there as well. In so doing, they've overestimated the gap between urbanites and suburbanites. True, smaller government and lower taxes may sell a little better in Brampton or Markham - but voters there, many of whom work in the city and used to live there, still tend to share the same basic values, concerns and outlooks as Torontians.
In making this argument Mr. Radwanski has underestimated the gap between his opinions and the facts. If is where so obvious that certain policies resonate poorly in the "905 belt" - opposition to same-sex marriage, for instance - then why were so many 905 Liberals opposed. Here is a list of such Liberals MP from How'd They Vote. You will notice that they are precisely the ridings in which Mr. Radwanski is speaking of. It took me 5 minutes to check. But why let the facts get in the way of a good argument.
John Cannis, Scarborough Centre
Gary Carr, Halton
Jim Karygiannis, Scarborough-Agincourt
Wajid Khan, Mississauga-Streetsville
Derek Lee, Scarborough-Rouge River
Judi Longfield, Whitby-Oshawa
Gurbax Malhi, Bramalea-Gore-Maltom
John McKay, Scarborough-Guildwood
Dan McTeague, Pickering-Scarborough East
Paul Szabo, Mississauga South
Alan Tonks, York South-Weston
Tom Wappel, Scarborough Southwest
Bryon Wilfert, Richmond Hill
Cross-posted to PoliticalStaples
Posted by Greg Staples on August 5, 2005 | Permalink
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Comments
Adam Radwanski makes a good point. Anti SSM does not play well in either Toronto or the 905 belt. This is a losing position for the CPC if they keep flogging this horse.
Posted by: Byron | 2005-08-05 7:57:09 AM
Radwanski's droppings have become yet another marker in the rapid post-Black decline of the national post. I find so few NP writers worthy of attention, certainly not Radwanski; IMHO those few worthy of attention (ie betraying trenchant, fact-supported analysis in their writing) are limited to Frum, Jonas and Coyne (the latter who seems to have disappeared).
Posted by: SEchappe | 2005-08-05 10:23:52 AM
..And Robert Fulford and Scott Feschuk. But that's about the extent of it.
Posted by: dr_dog | 2005-08-05 12:17:32 PM
And Bruce Garvey.
Posted by: Tony | 2005-08-05 1:29:08 PM
And Gunter & Cosh too (sorry, brain not warmed up yet).
There was a note last week that Coyne will be back this Saturday or next, if I recall correctly.
Posted by: Tony | 2005-08-05 1:31:09 PM
And let's not forget the pro free-market, anti-junk-science stalwarts in the FP Comments pages - Terence Corcoran, Peter Foster, William Watson and Paul Kedrosky.
Posted by: JR | 2005-08-05 3:55:42 PM
A significant number of the ridings you list are not in the 905 region -- they're in the 416, which is to say the city of Toronto. For future reference, Scarborough is not part of the 905 and neither is York South-Weston.
All this proves is that Radwanski's generalizing of 905 attitudes is exactly as accurate as Popgunners' generalizing of Toronto attitudes.
Posted by: Jim in Toronto | 2005-08-05 4:01:11 PM
Yes. I made a mistake by labelling Scarborough and York South as 905. Yes they are 416. Which strengthens my argument that it is nonsense that voting against SSM ruins Conservatives urban and suburban chances. This is only true if these ridings flip to NDP. Not likely. The other alternative is that there is a double standard on this issue when it comes to Liberals and Conservatives. Nah, that couldn't be the issue.
Posted by: Greg Staples | 2005-08-05 6:12:04 PM
Anti SSM might play well for local MPs, but that doesn't mean that it plays well when the party leader harps on it. I also think that some of them (Wilfert and Lee) misjudged their ridings' populations.
Posted by: Jason Cherniak | 2005-08-07 9:50:01 AM
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