Beyond The Commons

 Beyond The Commons

Aaron Wherry covers all the goings-on in and around Parliament Hill. Follow Aaron on Twitter: @aaronwherry

Categories: Beyond The Commons, Capital Read

The hockey by-election

by Aaron Wherry on Friday, November 26, 2010 4:37pm - 34 Comments

The Liberals have decided to counter Don Cherry‘s endorsement of Julian Fantino in Vaughan with a Ken Dryden endorsement of Tony Genco.

Cherry‘s Boston Bruins met Dryden‘s Montreal Canadiens in 1977 and 1978 Stanley Cup finals and the 1979 semi-finals—Dryden backstopping the Habs to victory each time.

Tags: , , , , ,
Bookmark and Share
  • anon

    Those playoff series are only an apt comparison if they involved Ken Dryden delivering several blustery collections of verbless sentence fragments disguised as speeches, which bored the Bruins to sleep and allowed the Habs to cruise to victory.

    • John D

      While Cherry yelled about stuff that had little to do with hockey?

  • danby

    Don Cherry is living proof that every dog had it's day

  • Jenn_

    I know we're a hockey country. I get that.

    But seriously, are we really going to choose who represents us in our House of Commons by whatever those who represent us in hockey arenas have to say? Because then we'd need to look at how those who represent us in hockey arenas are chosen, right?

    Does it help the country–or the game–if this should end up happening?
    NHL General Manager: "Yes, son, you have a wicked slap shot and your blades move over the ice with more controlled power than anyone else. You also have an eye for how the game is being played out, and could challenge any of them for the best of all time. But you stutter! You just aren't hockey material."

    • pseudonymous

      Goes to show where our priorities apparently lie.

    • SamDavies

      It's both sad and horrible. People are so out of touch with the issues, and they will totally vote him in due to Grapes' endorsement. I'd love to see someone pester Grapes about his endorsing a no-show chicken. Back in the day, I used to really like Cherry, but have found him really annoying over the last few years. Sad that this is how things play out in our modern democracy…

      • John D

        People always paint Cherry as a man-of-the people, but most of the hockey fans I know hate the guy and think his time is way up.

        • http://secondthots.blogspot.com Dennis_F

          TV ratings say differently, as apparently do the polls in Vaughan. The only "hockey fans" I know that "hate" or resent Cherry are left-wing ideological types. Just saying.

    • LivbloginJunkie

      "re we really going to choose who represents us in our House of Commons by whatever those who represent us in hockey arenas have to say?"

      C'mon, Canadians love hockey but they aren't gonna vote because of an old players endorsement, that'd be crazy. They will vote because they heard the name Fantino more times then the heard the name Genco.

      • Jenn_

        I appreciate you trying to make me feel better. I just wish the 'usual' way people vote, as you've highlighted, actually made me feel better!

      • Mike514

        I've heard the name Fantino a lot more times than Genco, and I don't even live in Ontario. I'm in Montreal, and every news article on this by-election (local & national papers/sites) mentions Fantino in the headline, while the other guy's name is tucked away somewhere deep in the body of the article.

        I guess that's the disadvantage of an "Anybody but XYZ" campaign. The result is you only ever hear that name in the news, while you don't even know the names of the other candidates.

        Same with the TO mayoral campaign. Ford's name was prominent in every headline, while his main opponent was mentioned deep in the story (Smithers? Smith? Something like that…).

  • chet

    You mean the same Ken Dryden who's been out of the hockey limelite and securely entrenched as a Liberal party insider, for the last decade, Ken Dryden?

    That's quite the "counter". A real shocker there.

    And No, concerned citizens, people in the former Liberal bastien are not going to vote Liberal because of what a hockey celebrity says.

    Rest easy.

    They'll vote conservative because the notion of the "progressive" nanny state is dying all around the world, and it's finally coming to the Toronto area.

  • chet

    Generally speaking when you're having to pull your forces back to inside the castle wall, you're losing the war.

    That the Liberals are now having to defend the Kings bedroom within the Castle walls spells disaster for them in the next general election.

    Outremont, Quadra, now this?

    While the conservatives have large swaths of the nation they won't have to spend a dime on to defend, for the Liberals it seems no ridings are safe.

  • OntarioTown

    Well, here's how I look at it. Fantino and Genco have put themselves up for a "job" to be hired and paid for by taxpayers.

    You don't just look at a resume – you also interview prospective employees – Fantino isn't doing the interviews (debates) by the employer -the taxpayer.

    Should he be hired if he's afraid to interview (debate)? Would you get a job if you refuse to interview? Na

    • http://secondthots.blogspot.com Dennis_F

      He's knocked on doors and spoken to the constituents he wishes to represent. Don't they decide who represents them, and not you?

      • gottabesaid

        Would you vote for a guy who doesn't have the courage to show up at an all-candidates meeting? If your Conservative candidate took a pass in your riding, and didn't go to public debates, would you still be making phone calls and pounding signs in the ground for him?

        Brutal.

        • danby

          Just like Caledonia – the man turtles – hardly seems like a rockem sockem Cherry kinda guy

        • http://secondthots.blogspot.com Dennis_F

          I would vote for the best candidate. Period. In Vaughan, it doesn't appear to be the Liberal. Right?

          • gottabesaid

            It could be the NDPer or the Green Party candidate. Personally, I've always liked Fantino. When the Conservatives got him to run, I thought, good for them. He's automatic cabinet material. Then I hear about him not showing up to all-candidates meetings. I can tell you if one of the candidates running in my riding took a pass at not going to those meetings, they've lost my vote. If the guy can't stand up and articulate his ideas against the other folks running in his riding what does that say? Nothing good, in my books.

            If Vaughan votes for him, great. If they don't, great. All I know is if any of the candidates in my riding pulled that stunt, they lost my vote. No debate about it.

          • http://secondthots.blogspot.com Dennis_F

            Personally, I'd base my vote on a lot more than one meeting that usually consists of stacked crowds hollering and screaming at one another. Julian Fantino has an extensive public record. He has campaigned vigorously and met constituents in numerous other venues. Yet you want to completely ignore that based on one debate. Interesting.

            I'd also definitely take a second look at a
            candidate who makes claims about his role in two major international events that are, at the very least, "an exaggeration." But maybe that's just me. He attended a debate, so he gets your vote, I guess.

      • gottabesaid

        Wait a sec… by that logic… what the hell is Don Cherry doing endorsing Fantino? The voters of the riding decide who represents them, not him.

        Oh, wait, he's endorsing a Conservative. It's all cool in that case. I suppose if you can't be consistent, be consistently partisan.

        • http://secondthots.blogspot.com Dennis_F

          By that logic, it's up to the people of Vaughan to decide what to make of Don Cherry's endorsement, isn't it? And, by all appearances, they quite like it, don't they.

          • Gayle

            I doubt the endorsement has anything to do with it. The CPC released it just to get coverage so Fantino's name would be in the news again.

      • OntarioTown

        You've got to be kidding. Smiley knock on doors stuff and handing out brochures is hardly the same as debate.

        ….sigh

        • http://secondthots.blogspot.com Dennis_F

          I would argue that Fantino's extensive record as a public servant is worth far more than engaging in a one-night shout-fest. But I know that Liberals are trying to make as much out of this as they can. Like they say, when you've got nothing else, especially a decent challenger…..

          • Gayle

            Not about whether the challenger is "decent". By all accounts Genco is a good candidate.

          • http://secondthots.blogspot.com Dennis_F

            Really.

            a) He's apparently been exaggerating his role in bringing two international events to Toronto.

            b) Liberals here apparently don't want to to talk about him. They'd much rather talk about Fantino.

  • chet

    And for those saying "Fantino's only going to win because he's such a good candidate",

    well, attracting superior candidates is not a cause but a symptom.

    A symptom of a much larger disease for a once great party who can no longer field winners in even "safe" Liberal areas.

  • http://secondthots.blogspot.com Dennis_F

    It's the Liberals who are making this into a hockey thing, and being quite clumsy while they're at it. Don Cherry is more than a hockey figure. Indeed, it's that fact that makes his political critics so furious. They wish his appeal was limited to hockey. It isn't.

    But it's amusing to see Wherry pulling up the old stats in the hopes that Dryden repeats his winning ways in the political arena. Go Liberals!

    For what it's worth, I think the results in Vaughan will be over-interpreted. This isn't Outremont, where Dion was clueless about what was happening right under his nose. Currently, I think Iggy will be a victim of Conservative strength in this high profile by-election. Iggy even tried to recruit Fantino, who only worked under the provincial Liberals as a means to an end. The man is as conservative a public servant as they come, and has never really been afraid to show it. Unlike Dion, I think Iggy has seen what was coming. If anybody could tell me what he could have done differently, I'd love to hear it. Sometimes the other guys are simply better. In Vaughan, Harper and the Conservatives are simply better.

    • http://secondthots.blogspot.com Dennis_F

      Well, maybe I overlooked one thing: Maurizio Bevilacqua. I suppose one could specifically blame Iggy for having this former riding stalwart looking angrily in on this by-election from the outside. This may have allowed Harper to outflank the Liberals with his own regional stalwart, so to speak.

      • Neely08

        The rumor is that Bevilacqua is not looking on from the outside but has his supporters working for Fantino in this by-election.

  • sourstud

    Another desperate move by desperate Liberals.

    • gottabesaid

      I agree… although, anyone who had a lick of respect for democracy would have, I dunno, showed up for public debates, and allowed his potential constituents to ask him a question or two.

      The fact that the Liberals could lose to this guy shows just how bad off they are.

  • http://tigeronpolitics.wordpress.com Ben (The Tiger)

    Would've been news had Dryden _not_ endorsed Genco.

    Speaking of which, what does the mayor-elect of Vaughan think about his old seat?

Previous

Next

From Macleans