Tag Archives: Stephen Harper

Anonymous commenting for the loss

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By DAN HODDINOTT

Little in the world of publishing bugs me more than persons moved to make a public statement somehow wishing to do so anonymously. In my newspaper editing days, reporters bringing requests for anonymity with their stories had to make a solid case before their efforts made it into print. While there are legitimate cases that call for protecting the identity of a source or author (legal ramifications, the threat of dramatic personal loss or even personal safety considerations), those are rare. And the story had better be good!

And here I am, then, commenting on a political story on the Vancouver-based Common Ground website anonymously.

I swear, it came about as a result of a technical shortcoming (an unseen switch or two in the posting mechanism) and not a desire to distance myself from statements I would make in the political sphere. To prove it, here is the exact text of what I had to say in response to a story by former national PC leadership contender David Orchard: Continue reading →

Handle with care the crown Mulcair has won

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By DAN HODDINOTT

Driving the rural roads of southwestern Ontario recently, where election signs a-plenty decorated the roadways, I found myself reminded of an imagined scenario I’d been pondering ever since Tom Mulcair began to emerge as a very credible candidate for prime minister: how would I, were I an NDP candidate, present my case at the door of Mr. and Mrs. Ordinary Canadian?

Out here in the middle of farmland Ontario, you can’t get any more Ordinary Canadian. Away from the aggression and the pandering of interest groups and the ebb and flow of movements that allow urbanites the latitude to think by collective, here you find the engine room of the country: the nuts and bolts and the exactness of practical knowledge under the expert care of conscientious people who provide the necessities to those cozy parlors where elite minds exchange platitudes while outthinking themselves and us.

Years spent in flighty arts circles and as a political pundit in a metropolitan setting, I know how to dance to that tune. (Urban left-wingers, while annoyingly Pharisaic, do know how to step in style.) But out here, where the spin doesn’t cut it and even the best spinmeister can’t cut a decent rug, the campaigner would be wise to consider Mulcair’s ascent to the top of the polls. He was a player early and he is solidly there now, more than halfway to the finish line in this race to trump incumbent Conservative Stephen Harper in the Oct. 19 federal election. And it is that he is resonating with rural and urban voters alike without a groundswell of left-wing sentiment to fill his sails that is the important observation. Continue reading →