The good news for the local chapter of the New Democratic Party (NDP) is that Mario Leclerc, an excellent candidate, answered the call to arms. The bad news is that this time around there is no orange wave/vague orange to ride.
That was in 2011 when the party, with the dynamic Jack Layton at the wheel, over-ran the Liberal fortress to become the Official opposition. There was talk of a Liberal/NDP coalition.
It was called the orange wave with the epicentre in Quebec, where Layton and the NDP almost ran the Liberals (and Bloc) out of the province.
The Liberals in Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry (as it was called in the day) recruited Bernadette Clement, a rising star in the local political orbit.
She was handed the daunting task of dethroning reigning champion Guy Lauzon, or at least giving him a run for this money. It turned out to be a mismatch of, as they might say, biblical proportions.
The Clement campaign turned into a train wreck; the worst local showing ever for a federal Liberal candidate. Lionel Chevrier and Lucien Lamoureux must have been spinning in their graves. When the dust settled, Super Guy’s margin of victory was a whopping 21,000. One of the most lopsided Tory wins in the country. The Clement team didn’t win a single poll outside the city.
The Liberals held second-place by a thread. Leclerc and the NDP, who ran a text book campaign, came within 198 votes of a second-place finish. It was the local NDP’s greatest moment since George Samis punched his ticket to Queen’s Park, and retired undefeated.
Tragically, by the 2015 election, Jack Layton was dead and the orange wave was reduced to an insignificant ripple. In Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry, the NDP vote count slid to 4,333 from Leclerc’s 8,313.
Soft Liberal votes that had slid into the local NDP camp, moved back to the Liberal fold and produced better results, but nothing to celebrate. In the 2015 rematch, Clement cut Lauzon’s lead to a “mere” 6,606 votes, well within the landslide range.
BACK IN 1965 – The federal harbour commission announced plans for a tank farm on National Harbours Board property (adjacent to the harbour). Several firms expressed interest in leasing the property and installing oil storage tanks…Assessment figures showed the population of the United Counties had grown to 48,231. Glengarry led the population parade with 18,563, Dundas came in second with 17,309, while Stormont had 12,359. Its population was reduced when the city annexed parts of Cornwall Township and grew from one square mile to 32 square miles. Overnight the city’s population grew to 36,000 from 17,030…Dominion Textiles was building spinning and weaving plants on Highway 2 just east of Long Sault. The plants would employee 375…Alexandria’s Ski-Hi Drive-in opened for the season with “Gun Fight at the OK Corral’…Capital Record Shop held its grand re-opening at 17-A Second St. E…A carton of cigarettes sold for $3.17…The committee on municipal law called for local health boards to be replaced by regional boards…Three members of the Cornwall Royals – Ray Barnes, Ron Ward and Jean Payette – were recruited by the Smiths Fall Bears (Central Junior Hockey League champions) for their Memorial Cup Eastern quarter-final round-robin series that included Sydney and Lachine Maroons. Lachine won the series and picked up Ward for the Memorial Cup semi-final against Niagara Falls Flyers…Cornwall Wildcats joined the Quebec Senior Lacrosse League. The junior club was reinforced with five senior players. They opened the season with a 17-5 win over Ottawa Notre-Dame. Juniors Ron Thompson, five, and Eric Cooper, four, led the Cats scoring…Cornwall Board of Trade and Cornwall and District Labour Council said the shortage of dentists – there were 11 – serving the city jeopardized dental care. However, while it acknowledged a need for more dentists, the local dental association said there was a bigger need for hygienists and dental education. Employee dental plants were almost unheard of and became one of organized labour’s big contract victories.
TRUMP TAKES Hard to see how the Musk-Trump unholy alliance can last four years…The luckiest guy at the Blue Jays season opener was the one who got booted out in the first inning for wearing an anti-Trump ball hat. Instead of having to watch the Jays get pounded, he ended up with an apology and two free tickets to a game the Jays won. The way the Jays played in the opener, everybody should have received a free ticket.
THIS AND THAT Watching the Boston Bruins not the same without super pest Brad Marchand…Philly Flyers wrote the last chapter in the John Tortorella NHL coaching saga.
TRIVIA Elon Musk spent two years at this Canadian university before transferring to the University of Pennsylvania in 1991: 1) University of Toronto, 2) Waterloo, 3) Queen’s, 4) Simon Fraser, 5) McGill.
TRIVIA ANSWER Prime Minister Mark Carney didn’t get a lot of ice time in his two seasons in nets – 1984-1986 – for Harvard University. Fact is, the team trainer got more time on the ice. The record shows that he was a third-stringer, but he did get in a playoff game against Colgate. The starting goalie was replaced by the back-up with Harvard up by eight goals. When the back-up was injured late in the third period, Carney got the call. He stopped all five shots to “preserve” the 10-0 win.
QUOTED “American politicians will do anything for money. English politicians take the money and do nothing.” – Stephen Leacock
