Categories: Capital Read, Inside the Queensway

Friesenmania in Winnipeg!

by kadyomalley on Wednesday, September 3, 2008 3:16pm - 0 Comments

Okay, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration, but I have to think that convincing the up-until-yesterday president of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture – who was publicly critical of the Green Shift just a few days ago – to run for the Liberals is going to make it a teensy bit trickier for Jason Kenney – who will apparently be acting as the human incarnation of Oily the Splot during the upcoming campaign – to stick to his original script, at least as far as Stephane Dion’s sinister anti-farmer agenda.

Now all the Liberals need is a hockey-playing, Tim Horton’s franchise-owning fisherman from Prince Edward Island, and it’s on.

UPDATE: Still no official release, but the Winnipeg Sun is on the job. I just realized that Friesen will be up against Steven Fletcher, which could make for a very interesting race.

UPPITYDATER: The official release is up. Also, as per Canadian Press, he’s sold his farm(s) and plans to move to the riding he’s hoping to represent, which is always a pleasing show of optimism in a candidate.

Tags: bob friesen, canadian federation of agriculture, Election Watch, Jason Kenney, liberal caucus, Oily the Splot, staaahhhr candidates, winnipeg will never be a tag again

More by kadyomalley

http://www.macleans.ca Chris Selley

“A teensy bit trickier for Jason Kenney … to stick to his original script…”

Because it would sound silly, wouldn’t make any sense and would come with its own built-in rebuttal, you mean? Your optimism, whatever its provenance, is refreshing.
http://www.macleans.ca Kady O’Malley

Get thee behind me, jaded cynic! Is it so wrong that I want to believe?
Austin So

Jason Kenney – who will apparently be acting as the human incarnation of Oily the Splot during the upcoming campaign

You mean he wasn’t the inspiration for Mr. Splotchy in the first place…? Hmmm…maybe I was thinking of Poillevre…they just kind of all meld together into the amorphous blo…

Oh.

Austin
Don Mitchell

Kady, I had to laugh when Mr Dion said that Bob Friesen represented farmers from across Canada. He may in name only, because you cannot get farmers to agree on the time of day let alone which political party to support.
http://scottdiatribe.gluemeat.com Scott Tribe

That’s still big news and a bit of a coup for Dion and the Liberals to get him to not only endorse the modified Green Shift, but to actually run for them.
http://deleted Sandi

….and a top cop candidate – a very successful Chief of Police….
anon

“you cannot get farmers to agree on the time of day let alone ”

Literally!
Scott M.

I often wonder what star candidates do for the party… to me, it makes little difference if any. In fact, I recall ridiculing the fuss made over Ken Dryden’s entrance into the fray.

I understand that people might cross party lines to vote for folks they think would make cabinet so they can get bonbons, but would that really apply to all the star candidates?
steve w

As he approached the podium while being introduced, did I hear Friesen say, “this is way better then working for farmers”?
oops..
http://www.macleans.ca Kady O’Malley

Steve W – Yeah, I’m wondering how that will go over too.

As for stahhhrr candidates, I think it tends to be about more than just the one riding in which they’re running — the idea here, presumably, would be to have Friesen rebut the oft-repeated-by-Kenney claim that the Green Shift will hurt farmers, just like the former police chief will attempt to counter the claim that Liberals are soft on crime.
Pingback: » Dion listened to farmers concerns about Green Shift; snags big endorsement and a cadidate as result. Scott’s DiaTribes: My personal opinions on social and political issues from a progressive standpoint.
Don Mitchell

Bob Friesen farms in Wawanesa Manitoba which is approx 150 miles south west of Winnipeg. I am sure that the folks of Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia (a Winnipeg urban riding) will be more than thrilled with an MP from an overwhelming rural area of the province.
anon

You mean he’s not running as a Liberal in the rural riding he lives in? Why not?

Oh yeah… it’s because the Liberals finished third there in 2006 behind the NDP and the Conservatives, who finished with more than half the votes cast for the second straight election. How much you wanna bet Friesen only agreed to run if he got a city seat to contest?
TobyornotToby

Some of you may remember that star candidate, former Winnipeg Mayor Glen Murray, got his ass kicked in that same riding before, mostly because his opportunism was showing. Not only that but the lengthy period of indecision about where Murray would run undermined Liberal candidate selection and preparedness in at least two other Winnipeg ridings.
madeyoulook

Hmm, buy the farmers off with a few doubloons (“Rural Preferred Polluter Rebate” Green Shift addendum), and look what happens…
http://carnewsandviews.com jwl

‘stahhhrr candidates’

Kady Don’t know if you did that on purpose or not but thanks for the reminder that Duffy and Newman are back. It totally slipped my mind till I read that.

I went to set up the pvr and I just saw Kenney, I think, say Liberals are for higher taxes and lower standard of living. And than I saw Bonner/CBC buying into Liberal talking points with banner that said Libs Shift Green Tax. Great to have everyone return to my telly!
Tintin

Don Mitchell?! THE Don Mitchell!?

http://www.ndp.ca/page/295

Or perhaps one of the several Don Mitchells who have the name Don Mitchell. Still, one can hope for another Goldsteinian moment…
Dot

Jason Kenney – who will apparently be acting as the human incarnation of Oily the Splot during the upcoming campaign

In keeping with my vow to make an equally obtuse reference to Corn Cob Bob everytime a Maclean’s blogger makes reference to Oily the Splot, here goes:

The reason Kenney is doing the Oily the Splot thing is because he couldn’t squeeze his niblets into the Corn Cob Bob suit for hectoring Dion on the huskings.

Was it worth it?
Kursk

My, it’s truly amazing how many folks have a Damascene conversion when the Liberals come to town.

Why, the mere thought of a senate seat or Govonor’s Generalship make even the most stalwart of opponents go weak in the knees when it comes to changing their minds on issues..

Just three days ago this man declared the Greenshift ™ to be a bad deal for farmers (it is..)and now he will be singing its praises.

Well, he sure won’t be warbling in front of his former constituents will he? Me thinks they would run him out of Dodge on a harvester
if he came courting their vote.

“This is way better than working for farmers” indeed.
Don Mitchell

Tintin, I may be THE Don Mitchell to my family but no I am not running for the NDP in Palliser. (Sure hope he is not in my immediate family or there’ll be a few spinning graves in the local graveyard!).

Kursk, Bob has seen every other Lib candidate in Brandon-Souris (except for the one who ran in the Kim Campbell debacle) get chewed up by the New Holland Twin Rotor (figure that one out Kady) so he figures he has a better chance within the Berlin Wall instead.
Tim

Anyone who was in or around UofM in the 90′s know that Fletcher’s fingerprints are all over the 200 page committee obstruction manual story that Don Martin broke last year. In anticipation of this race!
John D

Do y’all Conservatives think that Dion is going to win now or something? Because you seem to think that running for the Libs is opportunism and that people are seeking Senate seats and GG appointments, etc. and last time I checked it was the guv’mt that handed those out.
Brian

Yeah – shoddy research Kady. This was hardly a coup.

Bob Friesen, who ran for nomination in the 2004 election for the Liberal Party — also ran in the 2008 election for the Liberal party.

Seems like Mr. Friesen’s previously held Liberal ideals and partisan roots were at least somewhat of a factor in his running for the Liberal party, and not as you pretend: evidence that Green Shift is supported by farmers.