The last federal cabinet minister from a riding that included Cornwall was Ed Lumley who served in the Pierre Trudeau/John Turner Liberal governments and was touted as a possible successor to Trudeau.
That was way back in 1984, when the pump price at local gas stations was 45 cents a gallon and $25 bought a week’s worth of groceries.
The fickle finger of fate intervened in the 1984 federal election and Lumley was defeated in the greatest upset in local election history, just months after Turner made him minister of communications and minister of regional industry expansion.
All these years later, many hold firm to the belief that the riding threw a future prime minister to the curb, but that’s for another column.
The huge upset launched Lumley into the corporate world orbit where he became one of the country’s leading corporate influential figures.
That could change after the next federal election, if the political stars align in the right order for Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives. The Tories haven’t had a razor-sharp quick quipster of Poilievre’s ilk in the House since John Diefenbaker.
Two things have to happen and both, at this stage, are good bets: 1) The Tories have to form the government (polls say Trudeau the Younger is in a free fall), and 2) Eric Duncan has to be re-elected as MP for Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry. Part two is a slam dunk. It is not a matter of if Duncan will win, but the size of his re-coronation. He is the quintessential grass roots representative backed by a well-financed, well-oiled riding association machine.
The challenge for the Liberal, NDP and Green associations is finding somebody willing to run against Duncan.
Poilievre would have a rich crop of MPs to harvest for coveted cabinet posts, but it is hard to believe that Duncan would not be on Double P’s short list.
WACKY AND WEIRD: With all that is going on in the world, why is a digitally enhanced Royal photo major news? … You can’t make this stuff up: Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis told a church congregation that in a vision Jesus himself told her to prosecute Trump. Meanwhile, many U.S. evangelicals claim that their man Trump is God’s chosen one. … A climate change activist, who heads up something called the anti-natalists organization, is calling on people to stop having kids because overpopulation contributes to climate change. Bet she’s happy her mother wasn’t a charter member of the group. … In Florida, three kids aged 11, 12 and 16 were arrested by the FBI and charged with robbing a Wells Fargo Bank. One columnist suggested that they be sentenced to one-year without an I-phone and write out “I won’t rob a bank” 300 times.
THIS AND THAT: Retired Cornwall Transit driver Bob DiMillo recalls that the operation had its longest strike back in 1979 when he and 31 other drivers set up picket lines on April 5. They were out five months. Strike pay was $40 a week. He recalls spending a lot of time at a picnic table set up near the Second Street West transit building entrance. Was it strike headquarters? “No,” laughed DiMillo, “that was across the street.” … Why is it that some of the best sports mentors – hockey coaches and ball managers – never scored 10 goals in the NHL or hit above .210 in the Majors?
THIS MONTH IN 1967: The Vatican was slowly easing its stern law governing mixed marriages which allowed for the ex-communication of Roman Catholics who married outside the church. The law also called for a non-Catholic marriage partner to sign a pledge to raise children in the Catholic faith. … Teamster president Jimmy Hoffa started serving an eight-year prison sentence for jury tampering. When released from prison Hoffa would disappear. His body has never been found. … Fearing that violent vibrations caused by re-construction of Pitt Street was going to bring down the old fire station next to city hall, city fire fighters wanted out of the building. However, an engineering firm hired by the city said the century-old building was safe and firefighters were in no danger. … The provincial government announced that it would spend $1 million re-developing an 11-mile stretch of Suburban Road 16 (aka St. Andrew’s Road) between St. Andrew’s and Monkland and it would become part of Highway 138 linking Cornwall to Ottawa. … Plans to build the 93-bed Maxville Manor at a cost of $700,000 were announced. … Cornwall Collegiate Board was at the annual Toronto hiring fair looking for 10 new high school teachers. … Joe “Skip” St. Denis was winner of the Jacques Richard Memorial Trophy as Cornwall’s top sports personality. … The new six-bed intensive care unit at Hotel Dieu Hospital accepted its first patients. … Cornwall Royals were set to take on the Northern Ontario Hockey League champion Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds after winning the Central Junior Hockey League title with a 5-2 overtime win over Smiths Falls Bears. Royals scored three goals in the 10-minute overtime period. Three members of the club – Pete Prevost, Jovan Marich and Rick Plamondon – were named to the CJHL first all-star team. Cornwall fans voted Marich their favourite player. … Plans to build a five-storey office building on Second Street East across from Central Public School were unveiled. …. Longest-serving inductees of the 400-member Domtar Cornwall mill club – I. J. Lamesse and J. H. Lagden – each had logged 47 years. … Newest Cornwall car dealership was North end Toyota on Cornwall Centre Road. … Osnabruck District High School Lancers won the EOSSA ‘B’ basketball title with a 62-29 win over Iroquois Warriors. Larry Winters had 22 points. Wayne Waldroff and Allen Stewart each had 12 points.
TRIVIA: Canada is one of the largest (land mass) countries in the world. Put the four largest – China, Canada, United States and Russia – in order.
TRIVIA ANSWER: Of these five former prime ministers – Joe Clark, Kim Campbell, John A. Macdonald, Stephen Harper and Robert Borden – only Campbell had a law degree.
QUOTED: “Voting NDP for the first time is like committing adultery for the first time: the chances are you will do it a second time and maybe even a third time.” – Larry Zolf, broadcaster
