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Friday, January 06, 2006
Election fever
Crowds have been shockingly small on my journey with the media pool following the Prime Minister. At first I thinking, maybe it’s just me. I’ve never done this federal election tour thing before and maybe it’s always like this. A bunch of supporters file in to stand on stage behind the PM, and this looks good for the camera. Media cameras up front, reporters wander around. Some public, but not many.
The other night at a rally in Newmarket hosted by Belinda Stronach, I thought, okay here we go, a crowd—200-300—and not a bad one at that for a cabinet minister. But then it got going and I realized Belinda was only one of about 13 candidates up on the stage, all from the GTA, three of them cabinet ministers. So, with all these MPs plus the star power of the PM, they couldn’t even fill a small auditorium. I mean, if every candidate had brought their whole family with them, there would have been about the same amount of people. It looked packed, but the crowd was corralled into a roped off area. But folks, there was plenty of room in the back.
And there have been no protesters either, along the way, until today. While the PM was inside visiting a Peterborough, Ont. extended care centre, a row of about ten tractors started coming down the hill with yellow signs stuck on the side, "Farmers Feed Cities." Police stopped them before they could block the parking lot. I only spotted them because I wasn’t allowed inside due to fear of spreading my illness to the elderly. I ran over and had a quick chat with the farmers while the cops tried to get them to back up. It was, one fellow told me out the side of a crewcab, a hastily called protest to let Paul Martin know farmers are in real trouble, a lot of it due to competition from subsidized Americans. The RCMP made them back up, pull onto the side of the road and maybe the PM saw them, maybe not.
When I got back on the bus, I spoke with Greg Weston of the Ottawa Sun who has covered a few campaigns in his career. He was surprised somebody was actually protesting. The election, he said, doesn’t appear to have grabbed the public’s attention at all. Weston said he has never seen so few people on the campaign trail before.
Two weeks to go. Hello, hello, hello. Is there anybody out there? Just nod if you can hear me.
Posted by Kevin Steel on January 6, 2006 in Canadian Politics | Permalink
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Comments
nod.
Posted by: jmrsudbury | 2006-01-06 2:51:24 PM
keep it down jmr...don't nod so loud !
Posted by: MarkAlta | 2006-01-06 3:00:09 PM
The farmers may been : Rural Revolution.>>
In conjuction with:
* Lanark Landowners' Association (LLA)
* The Renfrew County Private Landowners Association (RCPLA)
* Ontario Property & Environmental Rights Alliance (OPERA)
* Hastings County Property Rights coalition
* Glengarry Landowners association
* Leeds & Grenville landowners association
* Prescott/Russell landowners association
* Dundas & Stormont Landowners association
* York& Durham landowners Association
* Simcoe County Landowners association
* Conservationists of Frontenac & Addington
* Kapuskasing Energy Regional Resource Association
* Ontario Wood Producers Association
* West Carleton Rural Association (WCRA)
* Rural Council of OTTAWA
* Water watch association
* Milton rural Residents association
* Rural Rights alliance
* Alberta Association of Landowners for the Protection of Agricultural Land
* Western Stock Growers
* Ottawa Carleton Soil & Crop improvement association
* Ontario Deamalamation Network
* Ontario Deer & Elk Farmers association
* GreenBelt Coalition
Contact Randy Hillier 613-267-6661 ([email protected]),
Merle Bowes 257-7968, ([email protected]),
"THIS LAND IS OUR LAND - BACK OFF GOVERNMENT"
http://www.ruralrevolution.com/website/
Posted by: maz2 | 2006-01-06 3:45:29 PM
The "40 below" conservatives will be awake election day. If you don't know what a 40 below conservative is do a google search on a "broken glass republican".
Does the Labrador by-election give a clue as to what might happen on election day?
2004 General Election
Lib: 5524
Con: 1400
NDP: 856
Grn: 178
Ind: 919
Rejected Votes: 46
Total: 8923
2005 By-election
Lib: 5438
Con: 3415
NDP: 1045
Grn: 68
Ind: 598
Rejected Votes: 58
Total Cast 10622
Let is snow and be cold, very, very, cold.
Posted by: qwerty | 2006-01-06 6:21:33 PM
You are with the wrong campaign. In London tonight Mr Harper addressed about 2000(CTV figures) fans, Cheering clapping energized fans at the London convention centre. The farmers with their yellow signs were there too about 30-40 just outside the doors. Some were in the building I assume with the permission of the organizers and the police.
Posted by: jimw | 2006-01-06 7:06:31 PM
Martin has been "dead man walking" since the day he thought he was "exonerated" by Gomery. Notice he doesn't dare bring up his "exoneration"? Wow, what a miscalculation that one was by his clueless crew.
No serious-thinking Canadian thinks Martin has ANY credibility left on ANY issue, and all serious-thinking Liberal supporters have zero enthusiasm for the Martin regime. Plus, when your entire election strategy rests on such gems as "wait for the NEXT Gomery" and "Canadians don't want an election", it's no wonder they can't fill a gym for Clinton's sweetheart and her fearful leader. It's over for Martin; Canadians are looking forward to getting rid of him, and Liberal party members can't wait for the leadership race. It's now a question of how many seats they can hold onto in the 416 and 604. Probably most of them...but the rest of the country has thrown Martin into the dustbin of history.
Kevin, your reporting is fantastic. Between you, Kinsella, and Feschuk's blog, we're getting a great inside look at how these cads operate.
Posted by: NCF TO | 2006-01-06 9:56:42 PM
I like the Pink Floyd reference.
Posted by: Michael Dabioch | 2006-01-07 9:25:35 AM
I was at the London rally last night and saw the yellow sign crowd. It's these people http://www.farmersfeedcities.com/. My snide rejoinder: more agro-welfare bums.
Not sure what their relationship is to Rural Revolution
Posted by: matt | 2006-01-07 9:58:01 AM
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