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Even Rodney knows he is going to lose |
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Written by Al Hollingsworth
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Saturday, 09 May 2009 |
What I have always admired in New Democrats is there is no quit. The word is simply not in their vocabulary. They are like a dog with a bone, they just won’t let go.
And when they do get what they want, it is virtually impossible to wrestle it from them. Any doubts? Just ask the long list of talented individuals who tried to take the Sackville Cobequid seat from them over the last 25 years. That’s right, John Holm won the seat in 1984 and it has kept the bright orange glow ever since. I expect they’ll add the Sackville Hammonds Plains riding this time around.
They should, with the exception of Queens, hold all their seats and add six to 10 more seats, when the smoke clears on June 9th. Not only did they win 20 seats in 2006, they finished a strong second in a number of races.
Historically, the NDP have worked those second place finishes into wins the next time out. That’s why I think Mat Whynott will take out Barry Barnett this time. Like all NDPers, he hasn’t quit working at it from the time the votes were counted on June 14, 2006.
I mention Queens as being doubtful for the NDP only because they gained the seat when the Liberals did not field a candidate three years ago, and the disenfranchised Grits, for the most part parked their votes with the NDP candidate, Vicki Conrad. Personally, I hope I am wrong, because in my mind, the Progressive Conservatives do not deserve to win one single seat.
When Rodney MacDonald was elected in 2006, his first words to the media were: “I will always lead a government that puts the people of Nova Scotia first.”
And true to his word he did, at least in the case of Heather Foley Melvin, by giving her a two year contract extension. This extension could indeed be the final nail in the Tory coffin.
“Heather two names” gets $139,000 a year, and Rodney has also protected her backside with a clause in the contract that guarantees her a year’s severance pay. Even my Tory friends are shaking their heads at this latest faux pas.
“Why? Why? Why,” an old PC warhorse barked as we met on Sackville Drive.
“Because he knows he’s going to lose,” I suggested.
The politically stupid move also begs the question how many other contract persons have been granted extensions.
Even more galling is the fact that this is taxpayers’ dollars being dished out. We can’t pave roads, staff hospitals and build schools, but Rodney seems always to find money for his political friends.
I have a confession to make.
On June 14, 2006, I walked into the polling station and put my “X” beside the name of Steve Craig. Craig was the Progressive Conservative candidate, and I really believed that 34-year-old Rodney MacDonald, the party leader, would be good for Nova Scotia. A different generation, young ideas and ideals. What happened next should have tipped me off.
I walked out of the church hall, crossed the parking lot and started up the path that is a short cut to my street. Five or six feet into the pathway, my foot made contact with a rock and down I went, splitting my head open in three places.
Arriving home, my wife met me at the door, with a look of horror on her face.
“What happened to you?” she asked. Wiping the blood away, I replied, “I voted Conservative.”
It must have either been God or Trudeau.
(Al Hollingsworth is a retired journalist and broadcaster) |
