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Monday, April 26, 2004

Joe's no traitor

I can think of a lot of words to describe Joe Clark, most of them unprintable on this blog, but "traitor" isn't one of them. The man was against merging the Tories and Alliance from the start, and he's never really been quiet about it. Contrary to "betraying" the cause of Canadian conservatism, Joe's endorsement of Martin is almost the logical conclusion of everything he's said over the past year.

Someone who supported the merger and then bolted for the Liberals, on the other hand, is a traitor. I'm looking at you, Mr. Brison.

Posted by Damian Penny on April 26, 2004 in Canadian Conservative Politics | Permalink

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Comments

Joe has been a traitor to conservatism ever since he got into politics. The man belongs in the Liberal party.

Posted by: Sean | 2004-04-26 10:40:37 AM


I think traitor is inappropriate, too. But he is a walking one-man testimony as to why the Conservative party has wandered in the dis-united universe for so much of its history.

Joe, it's over. Deal with it.

Posted by: Kate | 2004-04-26 10:56:59 AM


As one of those next-gen young Conservatives, I can attest that we don't really give a damn about an bitter old man. Considering that Joe Who?'s major achievement is having the shortest elected term since Confederation, I fail to see how this may pursuade any voters in any way.

(Campbell, Turner, Meighen and Tupper were hand-me-downs, or, in the case of Meighen's second term, King-Byng pretty much is an exception to everything)

(I don't mean to take away the legitimacy of Meighen's second term: PMs aren't mentioned in the Constitution anyways, so there's no literal "legitimacy" (leg- = law) in the whole lot of them)

(Okay enough side talk)

Posted by: Kelvin | 2004-04-26 12:25:38 PM


In many ways Clark's leaving clears Harper's decks for the main engagement. His best shot at beating Martin is to be seen as somewhat dangerous to the "business as usual" routine which has characterized Canadian government since the mid-1970's and brought us such bounties as Adscam and the Gun Registry.

Pandering to the so-called progressive wing of the old Tory party might win a seat or two in the Maritimes - although they are wising up - but at what cost? Keeping Joe in the tent just made the tent crowded.

Posted by: Jay Currie | 2004-04-26 3:04:20 PM


Joe Clark's Red Tory Cabal was to the left of the NDP and hijacked the Conservative party to its own ends. Clark was never a conservative.

Posted by: Abu Jimbola | 2004-04-27 9:08:38 AM



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