There’s an old saying always be careful what you ask for. So it might be with Double P and the Conservatives who are champing at the bit for an early election. They called for the Prime Minister to step down and celebrated when Trudeau the Younger threw in the towel. However, The Younger, with sinking approval numbers, would have been an easy target in an election campaign.
The next election would have been all about an unpopular Prime Minister (and the carbon tax) who tried to ignore his best-before-date. The coup de grace was delivered when Chrystia Freeland quit cabinet. Not now. On both. Mark Carney could be a game-changer for the wounded Liberals. Unlike Freeland, he doesn’t come with the Trudeau baggage. And, the smart money, as they say, is flowing to the former banker in his bid to grasp the leadership reins.
Both front-running leadership contenders are ready to scrap the consumer carbon tax, a key plank in the Conservatives’ platform. It would be a flip-flop for Freeland who back in May, as finance minister, defended the tax. Double P and the Tories have spent a lot of time and money promoting their “Scrap the Tax” campaign.
The polls tell us that this is still Pierre Poilievre’s race to lose, but Carney would be a game changer and make the race a lot closer than expected. It might require a shift in the Conservative war plans.
On the local front, all is well for the Tories in Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry where Eric Duncan has a firm grip on the riding. It has become one of the safest Tory seats in the province.
FEBRUARY 1967 – An 81-year-old city man was swindled out of his life savings by a phony bank inspector scheme. It started with the man receiving a call from a “bank inspector” who wanted his help in catching a suspected dishonest teller. The man withdrew his money and handed it over to a “bank inspector” who said he would return it to his account. Of course, it never was returned…An anti-American speech at the annual Cornwall Service Council dinner by a member of the Soviet Union embassy in Ottawa got a frosty reception. Dr. Alexei Popov had been invited to speak at the Brotherhood Week theme dinner. Some members of the audience heckled the speaker, while a handful got up and walked out. Among other things, he proclaimed Communism “the greatest force of our time.” A member of the Lions club had the painful task of thanking the speaker…Outdated and badly understaffed. That was the bottom line on a coroner’s jury report on conditions at the United Counties jail where weeks before an inmate had hanged himself in his cell with his belt. The jury said the two-person staff on overnight shifts was insufficient…Central Public School became the first public elementary school in the local system to have a library. It was stocked with 2,000 books. Elsie MacMillan was the librarian…The Hotel Dieu Hospital sold a parcel of property at Fourth Street and McConnell Avenue to the ministry of health for $55,000. Plans called for a regional school of nursing to be built on the property. It was to cost $1.8 million…The province announced plans to redevelop County Road 16 from St. Andrews to Monkland as part of the provincial highway system. It would be called Highway 138…Rick Plamondon scored six times to lead Cornwall Royals to a 10-5 win over Pembroke Lumber Kings. Wayne Horne, two, Jovan Marich and George Desjardins also scored…North Shore from Lynn, Mass, won the Cornwall International Bantam Hockey Tournament…Rick Baird‘s foul shot with 20 seconds left in the game lifted CCVS to a 47-46 win over SLHS in an EOSSA basketball fixture…Cornwall’s first adult night club – The Rendez-Vous – opened in the Cornwallis Hotel…City lawyer Ron Adams was named district administrator for the new Ontario legal aid program. All 26 lawyers in the SD and G lawyers’ association agreed to be part of the system.
THIS AND THAT Above and beyond shout-out to the Cornwall Police Service officer who got out of his cruiser to help a woman when her car got bogged down in snow during Sunday’s mini-blizzard…The self-proclaimed greatest President since Abe Lincoln owns the lowest approval rating during the first month in office in 80 years…Any day now we should see a report on how anxiety levels in the Excited States of America have skyrocketed since the “chosen one” has re-taken the Oval Office…Methinks it is going to be a long, hot summer of protests and violence in a divisive America…Local artist Jane MacMillan (once again) has produced a splendid calendar featuring her work…From “It’s a Small World” file, City councillor Todd Bennett and his wife walking down a street in a small village in Portugal bumped into a couple from the Cornwall area who they know.
TRIVIA George Stanley designed the Canadian maple leaf flag that was first raised on Parliament Hill on Feb. 15, 1965. What was Stanley’s occupation: 1) Graphic artists, 2) Vancouver high school art teacher, 3) Dean of Arts at Royal Military College, 4) Retired army colonel, 5) Winnipeg physician.
TRIVIA ANSWER Leonard “Red” Kelly served as member of Parliament for York West from 1962 to 1965 while playing for the Leafs. During his time in the House (and on the ice) he played on two Stanley Cup championship teams (Leafs). Kelly died in 2019. He was 91.
QUOTED “About the only people who don’t quarrel over religion are the people who haven’t any.” – Bob Edwards, journalist.
