Of the three major political parties in Canada today, the Conservatives have, far and away, the best leadership. Our current government may get some things wrong, but measured against the radicals and incompetents in Tom Mulcair's NDP and the bumbling stupidity of Liberal leader Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is a superlative statesman and leader by comparison, and a good one by any standard in today's world.
Tomorrow, on Monday, June 30, a by-election is happening in Toronto's Trinity-Spadina riding. I know the riding very well, having been born in, grew up in and lived in it for 30 years and it's where my son currently goes to school. In the early 1980's I was Vice President of the riding's Liberal Youth Association when Jim Coutts, who had been Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, unsuccessfully vied for Spadina's Parliamentary seat. The riding has an over-concentration of privileged, aged socialists on the public teat who think more taxes and government control are the solution to all life's problems along with a recent influx of shallow condo Yuppies.
The reality is that the Conservatives have absolutely no chance of winning Monday's Trinity-Spadina by-election. The last time a Conservative represented the area was 1970-72 when Perry Ryan, representing the old Spadina riding, switched parties from the Liberals.The riding, with its old and new boundaries, has changed hands between the Liberals and NDP since then and there's no indication that is likely to change any time soon.
The effective two person race is between former Toronto City Councillor Adam Vaughan, running for the Liberals and Joe Cressy, who was an aide to the NDP incumbent MP Olivia Chow, whose resignation to try to capture Toronto's mayoralty necessitated the by-election.
Given that choice, Adam Vaughan is clearly the superior candidate.
While there is much in the way of policy that I disagree about with Adam, and I think he is likely to be as partisan a parliamentarian for the Liberals as they come, there are also very compelling reasons to elect him.In the first place, Adam is smart. There was a time when we used to take that for granted among those who held seats in the House of Commons, yet such is no longer the case, and the examples of that decline are too many to enumerate here. But perhaps the best example of the decline in intellectual standards among elected politicians is the leader of the Liberal party for which Vaughan is running.
It does seem paradoxical to condemn Justin Trudeau while in effect asking people to vote for him by extension in casting a vote to strengthen his party's position in parliament.There is, however, a logical explanation. Justin Trudeau may have below-average intelligence, but if intelligence is quantifiable, then that description applies to half the voting public.
I know a woman who plans to vote for Justin Trudeau for no reason other than she likes his hair and thinks he's cute. No, I'm not joking, and unfortunately, yes, she was serious.
Stupid people vote, and there's every possibility that enough stupid people will vote for Justin Trudeau to elect him as the next Prime Minister. If you don't believe that, remember that Kathleen Wynne's hopelessly inept, corrupt government just got a majority in Ontario.
So in the event that Trudeau were to lead the country, it's far better he be surrounded by bright people like Adam Vaughan and sitting MP Marc Garneau than some of the idiots who are currently in the Liberals' Parliamentary caucus.
There are many other qualities possessed by Adam to recommend him for the office he's seeking tomorrow. He has demonstrated during his years as a City Councilor that he doggedly researches and familiarizes himself with relevant policies and procedures affecting his duties. Adam is also very responsive to constituency needs. Compare that with say, Ontario's Minister of Education who signs off on a curriculum she hasn't even bothered to read and dismisses public concerns about its radical and detrimental effects.
Another thing recommending Adam to higher public office is that he is not corrupt. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of Toronto City Councilors about whom I'd say that with any measure of confidence and Adam Vaughan is one of them.
Vaughan's NDP opponent Joe Cressy doesn't have much in his favor to speak of. His party has two vacuous Deputy Leaders in the persons of Libby Davies and Megan Leslie and the NDP would run a ruinous economy if ever given the chance. Cressy himself, working for Olivia Chow, was serving a 57 year old person who has spent practically all of her adult life as a politician, yet has no notable achievement to speak of other than having married Jack Layton. So basically speaking, Cressy's resume is that he helped Olivia Chow suck up public finds for doing nothing, which isn't much of a recommendation for a Parliamentary seat.
For those who think Adam Vaughan is nothing but a stuffy old leftie, I've met him many times and he's personable and has a pretty decent sense of humor. And there's a story a good friend of mine relayed that may make Adam seem like more fun still.
This friend of mine was a drinking buddy of Adam's way back, before he was a City Councilor and even before he was a reporter for Toronto's CITY-TV. From what my friend told me, on occasion, when Adam was doing some power-drinking and knew he was on the path to getting sick, he would start to swallow the contents of vials of food coloring dye so that when he puked, it would be in rainbow colors.
Our nation's first, and many believe greatest Prime Minister was known for vomiting in public from drink, but never as impressively as with Adam Vaughan's rainbow barf.
And so tomorrow, when Trinity Spadina chooses its next MP, it strikes me that a smart guy who used to puke rainbows is a much better choice than the other guy, whose party would crush our national economy.
