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Sunday, September 20, 2009
Randy Hillier endorses Mark Dyrholm for leader of the Wildrose Alliance
I received an e-mail yesterday letting me know that former Ontario PC leadership candidate Randy Hillier has endorsed Mark Dyrholm for Wildrose Alliance leader. The Wildrose Alliance is an upstart party that hopes to push the not-conservative-enough Stelmarch PCs out of power in Alberta.
Mr. Dyrholm commented on the endorsement on his Facebook status:
I appreciate the endorsement of Randy Hillier, Ontario MPP Lanark, Frontenac, Lennox & Addington. It seems there are even good conservatives in the east who appreciate my policies.
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on September 20, 2009 | Permalink
Comments
I received an e-mail yesterday letting me know that former Ontario PC leadership candidate Randy Hillier has endorsed Mark Dyrholm for Wildrose Alliance leader.
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on September 20, 2009
And the significance of this is?
Posted by: The Stig | 2009-09-20 8:38:33 AM
If Hillier had any pull in this province, perhaps then it would be meaningful for Chand-opps! I mean Dyrholm. Danielle Smith gets her endorsments from people who can actually vote - from inside Alberta.
Posted by: Leigh Patrick Sullivan | 2009-09-20 9:27:13 AM
Enough people who read this blog like Randy Hillier that they might be interested in this bit of news.
As for the actual significance of the endorsement. I am not in a good position to judge that
Posted by: Hugh MacIntyre | 2009-09-20 1:31:23 PM
Chandler Dyrholm really know how to woo the West.
And really, its always been about what Ontario politicians want for the West. ;-)
Posted by: John Collison | 2009-09-20 11:15:25 PM
As a libertarian, Smith has compared her bid for leader of the WAP to Randy's run for leader of the PC Party while being interviewed by on this blog's pod cast. Obviously Smith herself realizes that Randy holds a lot of respect with libertarians across Canada.
Posted by: John S. | 2009-09-21 1:13:50 PM
I have a lot of respect for Randy Hillier.
However, endorsing a candidate in another party in another province, especially a non-libertarian, is particularly bad form.
It could only be based on ignorance, or worse, political considerations.
What people should be looking at is not which Ontario pols are allegedly endorsing the Chandler Dyrholm campaign, but at which politicians Chandler Dyrholm are endorsing.
Chandler Dyrholm are bringing the cartoonish socialist authoritarin Mike Huckabee to town.
Next on their list is nut ball Ann Coulter.
Its only fair to judge Chandler Dyrholm by the company they keep.
Posted by: John Collison | 2009-09-21 2:08:35 PM
Well John, you say that you have a lot of respect for Randy Hillier, than you go on to say that he has made an endorsement based on "ignorance, or worse, political considerations". Huh? How can you have 'a lot of respect' for a politician who operates out of ignorance or opportunism? I don't of 'a lot of respect' for politicians who are ignorant or opportunistic.
Posted by: John S. | 2009-09-22 12:56:41 AM
Remind me: who is the candidate again? Mark Dyrholm or Craig Chandler? It's getting so hard to tell...
Posted by: Leigh Patrick Sullivan | 2009-09-22 7:59:09 AM
@ John S:
What part of having respect for a libertarian activist but objecting to his political pronouncements confuses you so much?
Hillier has done some things I respect. Following me so far?
He -- being a mortal human -- has evidently made a questionable endorsement of Chandler Dyrholm. I think it was a poor choice, likely as a result of ignorance or political consideration. Still with me? Good.
Don't people YOU respect, John, ever make bone headed decisions you don't like?
Thanks for the thoughtful response.
Posted by: John Collison | 2009-09-22 2:08:34 PM
@ LPS:
Precisely. Despite many good qualities, Mark Dyrholm is seen -- not without reason -- as Craig Chandler's sock puppet.
Dyrholm is also a senior officer in Chandler's cult of personality, the same one bringing brownshirt Mike Huckabee to town.
Posted by: John Collison | 2009-09-22 2:10:16 PM
Ya John and the company you keep sorry are people like dope head Marc Emery, pro pot crusaders, legalize drugs and prostitution and who knows what else.
I will take Huckabee anytime
Posted by: Merle Terlesky | 2009-09-23 8:41:24 PM
brown shirt??? Man you are just like Matthew with these crazy slogans.
Ya Hickabee is a Nazi ya right!!!
Posted by: Merle Terlesky | 2009-09-23 8:42:53 PM
At least Chandler is an Albertan.
Danielle Smith just fired most of her team and hired Campaign Research an Ontario campaigning firm.
Posted by: Avery Clark | 2009-09-23 9:04:06 PM
@ Merle,
Brownshirt may indeed be a bit strong, inasmuch as we don't know to what degree, if any, Huckabee believes in the End Times, wherein all Jews will be forcibly coverted to Christianity, or else killed. And to be fair, he is not known to be openly racist.
However: Huckabee is a warmonger, supports the death penalty, is an economic socialist if not flat out anti-capitalist, and supports a national ban on smoking. He also does not believe in evolution.
I could go on, but you (I hope) get the picture.
Anybody who would bring an irrelevant clown like Huckabee up to speak in Canada is not a conservative as classically defined, and deserves to lose a whole lot of money.
I hope you have a good time at the event.
Posted by: John Collison | 2009-09-23 9:07:07 PM
@ Avery Clark:
Chandler is an Ontarian who told people -- including countless PRAIRE folk -- to get lost unless they voted Conservative and conformed to Alberta's allegedly conservative culture, as (mis)understood by Chandler.
Posted by: John Collison | 2009-09-23 9:25:05 PM
The so-called "social conservatism" as espoused by Craig Chandler is NOT an Alberta thing -- it is an alien strain, a hodge podge of Ontarian and US Moral Majority style bumf.
Chandler is NOT representative of the great Prairie province of Alberta.
Posted by: John Collison | 2009-09-23 9:27:06 PM
@Avery:
A little cursory research reveals Danielle Smith still employs the same campaign manager now as she did months ago. The only thing that has changed is the incredible growth in numbers of people on her team the last couple of weeks.
Posted by: John Collison | 2009-09-23 10:33:09 PM
John,
You are a biggot. No where does Mark push any religious agenda. He happens to be a Christian, so what?
No where on his website does he even discuss any issues that may be classified as religious.
I am disgusted in your verbage.
As for her team. Obviously you do not know what I know. Just ask Matt if things have changed.
Crap has hit the fan at the Gunnar Building and it is not a good thing.
Posted by: Avery Clark | 2009-09-24 12:35:42 AM
@Avery:
A) If you are going to start playing the victim -- a favourite tactic of the Chandler "socon" cult -- how bout you first identify any bigoted remarks I have made concerning Dyrholm's "religious agenda". Then we can discuss it like grown ups.
B) Next, stop pumping out disinformation. Danielle says she has not fired anybody. She has the same management now as she did at the beginning of her campaign.
You clearly do NOT know what you think you know. But, given your affiliation with a campaign where the management IS more important than the candidate himself, I can see how you would think any changes on Danielle's team would matter. They don't, Avery. The candidate matters, her ideas matter, and the preferences of the Wildrose Alliance members matter.
Alleging backroom drama is the last refuge of the damned in political campaigns, Ave. ;-)
C) It will take a lot more than disinformation and continued whining from the Chandler Dyrholm camp to derail Danielle now. As she closes the gap in membership sales, the momentum is clearly shifting.
Posted by: John Collison | 2009-09-24 1:26:18 AM
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