From the 29 May 2005 Ottawa Citizen:
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Stronach leaves many in her dust
Hundreds of supporters, campaign volunteers, advisers
and others were left in the MP's wake as she swept
across the floor, writes Norma Greenaway.
Norma Greenaway
The Ottawa Citizen
Sunday, May 29, 2005
CREDIT: Tom Hanson, The Canadian Press
Belinda Stronach shocked the political scene on
Parliament Hill on May 17 when she announced she was
leaving the Conservative party for the Liberals and
also nailed down a cabinet post as minister of human
resources.
Fresh from an evening pep talk to Conservative
candidates, Bob Dechert settled in for a scotch and
soda at the Delta Hotel bar in downtown Ottawa. Within
minutes, he was face to face with the elegant Belinda
Stronach, who, he recalls, was gliding through the bar
in full schmooze mode.
Mr. Dechert, who had recently won the Conservative
nomination in the Toronto-area riding of
Mississauga-Erindale, was keen to talk to Ms.
Stronach. After all, she had written him an e-mail,
congratulating him on his nomination. "Let me know if
I can be helpful to you," she wrote on May 5. "I am
pretty good at knocking on doors by now."
It was Friday, May 13, less than a week before the
crucial budget vote in the Commons that most people
expected would trigger an election. As he relives the
encounter with Ms. Stronach, one can almost hear the
steam coming out of Mr. Dechert's ears.
"Look, she lied directly to my face," Mr. Dechert
says. "I asked her what she though of the timing of
the election. She looked at me and said, 'I think
we've got a good opportunity now, and we just can't
support these corrupt Liberals anymore.' "
It turns out, of course, that she was already in early
discussions that ultimately led to her defection to
the Liberals. Over dinner with Prime Minister Paul
Martin at 24 Sussex Drive the following Monday, she
agreed to cross the floor and nailed down a cabinet
post as minister of human resources.
"From my perspective, that shows dishonesty, a lack of
ethics and dishonourable conduct," says Mr. Dechert,
who was an active player in the efforts to unite the
right into a single party.
"Clearly, she doesn't intend to pay her dues and work
from the shop floor up. She didn't do it at Magna, and
she's not willing to do it in politics either."
If Mr. Dechert is feeling burned by the actions of the
wealthy, former CEO of Magna International Inc., the
auto-parts giant founded by her father, he has lots of
company inside and outside Ms. Stronach's Ontario
riding of Newmarket-Aurora.
Peter Seemann, who was running her re-election
campaign in the riding until her defection on May 17,
says he's flabbergasted by her lack of regard for the
people who worked so hard to get the political
newcomer elected a year ago as a Conservative MP.
"A lot of decisions she made trickle down, and the
wave took out a lot of people on the ground that put a
lot of blood, sweat and tears into it (her election),"
he said.
A Liberal also got caught in the wave. She is Martha
Hall Findlay, the 46-year-old lawyer and long-time
political activist who had already been acclaimed to
once again carry the Liberal banner in
Newmarket-Aurora against the Conservative Ms.
Stronach.
Suddenly, Ms. Hall Findlay was stepping aside in
favour of Ms. Stronach, the woman who had eked out a
narrow victory over Ms. Hall Findlay in the last
federal election and who Ms. Hall Findlay hoped to
unseat this time around.
After losing to Ms. Stronach by only 689 votes last
June, Ms. Hall Findlay hired a campaign manager and
was ready to hit the ground running. Accused of being
a parachute candidate in the last election because her
home was in Collingwood, she moved into the riding and
put down roots in hopes of bolstering her chances.
Ms. Hall Findlay learned of Ms. Stronach's move just
12 hours before it was announced in Ottawa. Mike
Elzenga, president of the Liberal party, broke the
news to her after a Liberal party function in Toronto.
"It's not hard to be gracious," Ms. Hall Findlay said
of her decision to bow out. She said winning the
budget vote was more important than her candidacy. But
she doesn't pretend bowing out was easy.
For now, Ms. Hall Findlay says, she's in the Liberal's
good books, and the party is keen to help her find
another riding to run in. She insists, however,
nothing was promised in return for getting out of Ms.
Stronach's way.
Most of the people affected by the Stronach wave are
Conservatives. There are such prominent Stronach
backers as former Ontario premiers Bill Davis and Mike
Harris and former prime minister Brian Mulroney who
have been left with egg on their faces.
There is also wily Conservative strategist John
Laschinger of Toronto. Mr. Laschinger, who directed
Ms. Stronach's unsuccessful bid for the Conservative
leadership, says he doesn't want to say anything that
would hurt or help her.
He says he hasn't worked for her since the leadership
contest, and suggests a new gig with the newly-minted
Liberal is unlikely, given his long Tory ties. "I'm
probably not going to get asked," he says.
Conservative leader Stephen Harper's anger and snide
comments are well-documented. "I've never noticed
complexity to be Belinda's strong points," he mused,
responding to her comment that Mr. Harper was
insensitive to how big and complex Canada is.
And Peter MacKay's heartbreak over losing his latest
romantic love was played out publicly in several
television interviews.
The Nova Scotia MP's raw emotions were on display in
the aftermath of the budget vote on May 19. "I'm going
to go home and maybe walk my dog," he told reporters.
"Dogs are loyal," Mr. MacKay said.
Less well-known are the hundreds of supporters,
campaign volunteers, advisers and others Ms. Stronach
has left in her wake as she swept across the floor.
Most are political partisans of the Conservative ilk.
A few remain on her new team -- among them are adviser
Mark Entwistle, a former diplomat and one-time aide to
Mulroney she pays out of her own deep pockets; Mike
Liebrock, a parliamentary assistant who was seen by
colleagues as more loyal to Ms. Stronach than the
party; and John Gould, the riding vice-president of
communications who ran her website.
Mr. Entwistle has said he helped with Ms. Stronach's
transition but does not expect to become a permanent
member of her office or ministerial staff.
Most who worked for Conservative MP Ms. Stronach are
scrambling for new paid political jobs. Tara Bingham,
a 32-year-old staffer who cut her teeth on Parliament
Hill with Preston Manning and the Reform party, and
Cory MacDonald, Ms. Stronach's senior policy adviser,
are among Conservative loyalists on the hunt for new
work.
Meanwhile, grassroots Conservative activists say they
are gearing up -- with a new fire in their bellies --
to make sure Ms. Stronach's career as Liberal MP for
Newmarket-Aurora ends when the votes are tallied in
the next election. A new fundraising drive is under
way, and Mr. Seemann says money has started to flow in
from Conservatives across the country who are upset
with Ms. Stronach.
"Sweet vengeance," is how Mr. Seemann summed up the
mood. The riding will nominate a new candidate next
month, and Mr. Seemann says he'll campaigning flatout
for the winner.
A tiny clutch of protesters greeted Ms. Stronach
Thursday at her first public appearance in her central
Ontario riding since taking up the Liberal colours.
Three people wearing rubber Jean Chretien and Bill
Clinton masks shouted, "Shame" and "Boo-linda!" as the
Liberal MP opened a student business centre by
extolling the Liberal government's efforts to support
small business and young people.
Mr. Seemann says the riding will also be sending the
Liberal party a bill for at least $10,000 to cover
money already spent on Ms. Stronach's now-aborted
Conservative campaign.
That said, Conservatives admit it won't be easy to
beat Ms. Stronach, who has attracted her own fan base.
"There will be people who support her, and people who
say she betrayed us," said Stephen Somerville,
president of the riding association. "I'm not sure
which side is going to be bigger."
While Mr. Dechert still fumes over Ms. Stronach's
performance during the candidate training program in
Ottawa on the weekend of May 13, Mr. Seemann's blood
boils about an incident three nights later.
On Monday, May 16, he was waiting for a call from Ms.
Stronach to approve the layout he had sent to Ottawa
earlier in the day for her campaign signs. He now
knows that was the night the defection deal was
sealed.
"She obviously was consumed by other meetings," he
cracks with a half-hearted laugh. "She didn't postpone
her dinner with the prime minster to get back to me."
The first he heard of her defection was when he got a
call from Conservative party headquarters the next
day.
As the record now shows, Ms. Stronach had a busy
night, dining first with Mr. MacKay, who was in the
dark about her plans, before joining the prime
minister to seal the deal over a second meal and then
going back to the Chateau Laurier to deliver the news
to the unsuspecting Mr. MacKay.
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