Mississauga Ward 4 by-election had been called for April 27th! Check out Joe Horneck's campaign website and support a strong voice for transit!TodayT

Last month, I wrote about how I thought Joe Horneck would be a strong addition to Mississauga city council with an upcoming by-election for Ward 4 in downtown Mississauga.

With Mississauga Council calling the by-election today for April 27th, I encourage you to check out Joe's website and get involved with his campaign if you're in the Mississauga area. Mississauga needs a strong voice for transit and city-building now more than ever.

Mississauga News endorses Charles Sousa for Ontario Liberal Leader, says his private sector experience is "invaluable"

Like the Sousa campaign on Facebook!
Follow Charles on Twitter!
Follow the Sousa campaign on Twitter!

A great endorsement from the major paper of Ontario's third largest city!

It’s time to put Charles in charge.

We endorse Sousa, the 54-year-old MPP for Mississauga South who has held three Cabinet posts since first being elected in 2007. He has a 20-year background in banking that could prove invaluable in dealing with Ontario’s financial challenges.

Read more here!

Liberals need to renew our contract with the people of Ontario. Charles Sousa can get them to sign.

When Premier McGuinty announced his resignation, he said that it was time for new ideas and a renewal of the Ontario Liberal Party. After having some time to think about what kind of renewal we want to see in our party, I realized that I've had a front seat to seeing the positive impact that new energy and new ideas can have for the past 5 years.

The old Mississauga South was the epitome of old Tory Ontario. Largely mono cultural, it was one of the safest seats for the Ontario PC's in the whole province. But perhaps no community has been more positively impacted by change. Mississauga South is a vibrant, diverse, growing community, and Charles Sousa has been a strong representative for it. We've been great advances in Mississauga South with Charles as our MPP, including investments at Trillium Health Centre, new schools like Janet McDougald PS, progress on the Lakeview site, and a strong local economy helped by innovative tax reforms supported by Charles.

On a personal level, Charles also represented the new Ontario that families have built across the province. A successful businessman and the son of immigrants who escaped political repression, Charles represents the opportunity that this province holds. With his strong background in business and finance, but also having a strong understanding of the need to have strong and caring social services that families can rely on, Charles knows that we have to take a balanced approach to continue our strong action to grow our economy economy and renew our public service.

We've got big challenges to face as a party and a province, but I know Charles can win. I was canvassing with him in 2007 right from the get go when things looked pretty tough - we'd just lost the first Liberal MPP our riding had ever known, and we had just months before the election. But Charles knew how important it was that we get to every door and talk about the importance of protecting our public schools. As I watched the campaign grow and grow, from the back of his van to the campaign office on Lakeshore, I saw how he brought people from every community in Mississauga South together to support Liberal ideas, and on election day, Charles proved the pundits, who said he wouldn't chance wrong, winning a strong victory. In 2011, he worked hard again to renew his contract with the people of Mississauga South, becoming the first ever Liberal MPP to be re-elected in our riding.

He has the experience as Minister of Labour and Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. He has the knowledge about the economy to create jobs for families. He understands families coming to Ontario deserve strong, stable public services like health care and education. And he's a proven winner. If Charles Sousa decides to run for Ontario Liberal leader, he'll have my support and I urge you to consider him as well.

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Mississauga Erindale Speculation

With Bob Dechert becoming the first elected federal Conservative in Mississauga in 20 years, his insider status, (a party insider, former National Director of the Canadian Alliance, representing the Alliance during merger talks, and given the green-light for a third run, unlike Phil Green) and his economics background, more then a couple sources have suggested his name in a re-vamped Tory cabinet, potentially as high as International Trade. So lets get some speculation done, and the plus-minus on Dechert getting into cabinet, and his possible role:

Plus:
-First elected Conservative in Mississauga in 2 decades, if the Tories want to get a majority, they will need to hold on Mississauga Erindale, and pick up other seats in the Peel Region they consider marginal, like Mississauga South and Brampton West. A Peel cabinet Minister would help in this regard.
-Dechert won by the narrowest of margins, a cabinet spot would help bulk up his chances at re-election.
-Dechert is a party loyalist, given that some have speculated Harper might pull a Bill Davis, Dechert would be supportive of the leader, be it Harper or another.
-His economic background and international experience would be a good fit for International Trade or Industry or at the very least, Parl. Sec. or Sec. State to them. (although it seems Jim Prentice is probably going to stay on in that role)

Minus:
-The biggest minus against Dechert being given a full portfolio is Lisa Raitt, newly elected MP for Halton. Raitt is a relatively high profile woman with urban experience representing a GTA riding; exactly what the Conservatives needed, and a good potential regional minister for the GTA West. Raitt should be a given for any new cabinet, and given that Halton and Mississauga-Erindale border each other, having both in cabinet might throw off regional balance somewhere else.
-Another gender based minus is that the open portfolio Dechert might be best suited for, International Trade, has had lots of rumours flying around lately that Harper wants to place a woman in it, with the most suggested names being Raitt and Alice Wong (who has the added bonus of being from urban BC and ethnic)
-Ontario balance. Of the current Ontario ministers, Tony Clement and John Baird are very likely to stay on in cabinet, although perhaps in different roles. Jim Flaherty in Finance is a bet to stay in his powerful position, Peter van Loan might get shuffled out of House Leader, but will probably stay in Cabinet, while Diane Finley will probably stay (albeit in perhaps a reduced role) thanks to her husband. The only Ontario cabinet ministers who might get moved around are Rob Nicholson in Justice, after the poor reaction to the Tory crime plan in Quebec, and Bev Oda, likely to be replaced by Alice Wong as Harper attempt at tokenism. Add Lisa Raitt to the mix, and you dont have a whole lot of wiggle room for Dechert.

My prediction: Dechert gets either Parliamentary Secretary to whoever the Minister of International Trade ends up being, or a Sec. of State appointment for an economic related portfolio.

Now of course, with an election possibly only another 2 years away, the question has to be asked, who will run for the Liberals against Dechert? Some possibilities:

Omar Alghabra
I think Omar making another run for it might be the most likely, assuming he wants it again. Omar was criticized by some however for spending not enough time in the riding, which might make it difficult to knock off an incumbent, particularly one which might get a cabinet post that will have him...out of the riding a lot. He already has the infrastructure in place, however, he might face a wild card or too.

Harinder Takhar
Takhar, however, I dont see as being one of those. I cant see him giving up a cabinet post to fight for what would probably be a tough nomination (if history is any guide) and a tough fight to even get elected. If he is maybe shuffled out of cabinet in the future he might think about it, but I cant see Takhar jumping from provincial to federal, although some jumping from one level to another is definitely possible for some others.

Steve Mahoney/Katie Mahoney
This is where things start to get interesting. Steve is the former MP for the area, and has remained in the public eye as Chair of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, while his wife Katie is a city councillor for a Ward which is part of the riding. Either one would be very credible candidates. The interesting part is that both have had speculation about runs for mayor of Mississauga at some point, and both would be credible candidates in that as well. The question is, if they did want to run for mayor, when? Hazel will be mayor for exactly as long as she wants, and more then a few people have suggested it is unlikely she would ever resign voluntarily, and her dying in office is a very real possibility. If a special election happens before the next federal election, be sure to see one of these two running municipally, if not, having one of them seek the federal nod would not be surprising at all. However, the the Mahoneys could be further motivated to seek whatever course of action by the ultimate wildcard:

Carolyn Parrish
She beat Dechert once, in 2004, remains fairly popular locally (as given her election to City Council) and has a good network within the City. Parrish wants to be mayor, and would run in a second if given the option, so even if no one else volunteers for Mississauga Erindale, I can see her staying out and focusing on municipal politics. The Mahoney-Parrish dynamics come into play here, as while a Mahoney is almost certain to run for mayor, they might not run for the federal nomination. Parrish could probably get the nomination if she wanted, the question is, what does she want?

Hugh Arrison and Jim Flaherty don't get the job done.

So Jim Flaherty was in town last night for a fundraiser with his close supporter and policy follower, Hugh Arrison.

http://www.mississauga.com/article/18997

"This riding is, quite frankly, ripe for a Conservative Member of Parliament and the member-to-be is someone who has the business background, is the right candidate for the right riding at the right time."

Interesting that Jim talks about the importance of the riding to the party, not you know, the people of the riding to the government, but I guess Jim Flaherty lacks the political sense to say something less cold-sounding.

Flaherty also talked about the funds the Tories have set aside for infrastructure in the GTA, a not so subtle attempt to try and make Mississauga voters forget about the times he said not to invest in Ontario and rejected Hazel McCallion's advice on balancing budgets.

So Jim must be pretty proud of himself, n0? Go into a riding they think they can win, put on a dazzle, $250 a pop show for the crowd, and leave Mississauga with the wind at his back.

What a shame that reality has a liberal bias.

http://www.thestar.com/FederalElection/article/502107

Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion, vocal in her demands for a better deal for cities, said Dion's plan is just what she's been asking for.

"And it's not for potholes," said McCallion, taking a swipe at Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's statement that Ottawa isn't in the business of fixing city roads. "It's for transit and sewage treatment and bridges and hospitals and colleges and all sorts of important things."

You know all those hard-working, middle class Canadians the Conservatives keep trying to win over? A whole lot of them live in Mississauga, and a whole lot of them like a government that doesn't bash their home province and city.

Harper's Mississauga blitz

http://www.mississauga.com/article/18909



Harper has paid plenty of attention to Mississauga since the campaign started, which makes logical sense, as I and others have written before, the GTA suburbs, particularly the Western GTA suburbs, are an area the Conservatives will need to make gains in in order to win a majority. The last quote of the article is interesting:



"This is quite an impressive crowd," Harper said. "And they used to say there were no Conservatives in the GTA."



The suburbs of the GTA have plenty of conservatives, just not so many Conservatives. The provincial PC's used to dominate Mississauga, but lost power when small-c conservative voters switched to the provincial Liberals. The last provincial election was evidence of that, when the PC's failed to even be competitive in the former true-blue stronghold of Mississauga South, as Charles Sousa, who while being socially liberal, could uncontroversially be called a moderate fiscal conservative, held on to the small c-conservative vote.



Given that Harper has such a focus on Mississauga, lets take a look at each seat in the city. I'll try to keep my partisan bias a bit more in check then usual.



Mississauga South

The Tories most likely prospect for a pick-up in the city, and probably one of the top 10-15 targets for them in the country. Liberal support in the South is traditionally concentrated in "wings" of the riding (lakefront areas like Port Credit and Lakeview, and the areas near Winston Churchill along the city border with Oakville) as it has more younger families moving out of Toronto, and bringing small-l liberal social values with them, and a higher concentration of Liberal friendly ethnic communities. Tory support is located in the interior of the riding, in the more affluent and WASP'y areas like Lorne Park. For this reason, Mississauga South will be a bell weather in terms of the success of the Tories attempts to win ethnic votes across the country. Paul Szabo has the advantage of incumbency, relatively high visibility from chairing the Ethics Committee, and being a social conservative, which gives him a bit of a personal vote that might otherwise go Tory. I've written plenty about the Conservative candidate, the Flahertyite Hugh Arrison (4 of the top 10 entries for him on Google are blog posts by yours truly) who while not being the star candidate the party was clearly hoping for (HQ was clearly rooting for Ted Opitz, while I'm still convinced that their were failed efforts to recruit Effie Triantafilopoulos) Arrison is hoping that his made-in-Alberta conservative credentials will be enough to unite the fractured Mississauga South conservative movement behind him. The Green candidate Richard Laushway could potentially be a spoiler here for both major parties, with the potential to take votes from both, and a solid chance to finish ahead of the NDP in the riding.



Mississauga Erindale

Two time loser Bob Dechert is running for the Conservatives (his party insider status got him the green-light to go for a third run, unlike the South's Phil Green, whose environmental credentials scared HQ) against Omar Alghabra, who has held the riding against Dechert in 2006, when the Tories were slightly favoured (I believe democraticspace predicted his victory). Like Szabo, however, Alghabra has benefitted from an increased profile since the last election, acting as critic for immigration and citizenship in a riding where the Liberal base is largely ethnic. The Tories will be gunning hard for this one, having only lost by 5%, but Omar is a good MP with a strong local profile, so I don't expect the race to be as tight as last time.



Mississauga East—Cooksville

The Tories went to all the trouble of subverting the democratic process to appoint ex-Liberal Melissa Bhagat, at the cost of much of the riding association loyalists, in a riding that should stay safely Liberal. Former cabinet minister Albina Guarnieri hasn't faced a serious challenge since winning that riding in 1988, and even if the Tories hadn't pulled a Tim Peterson, Guarnieri would be able to on comfortably.



Mississauga-Streetsville

The Tories ran a decentish candidate in former MPP Raminder Gill in the last election, and could only muster 33% of the vote. Given the not exactly warm reception Mississauga South voters gave the floor-crossing Tim Peterson, combined with Liberal candidate Bonnie Crombie running a very active campaign, and Liberal HQ pouring resources into this riding, I don't expect Khan to be able to retain his special status as the only ethnic urban representative the Tories have east of Alberta.



Bramalea—Gore—Malton

A very heavily ethnic riding, the Tories would need not just a shift, but a landslide change in the voting habits of the people of this riding in order to even be competitive. Gurbax has a good local profile, and a good campaign team. A write off.

Mississauga—Brampton South

The safest Liberal seat in Peel, even if Navdeep Bains wasn't a good MP whose star is rising.

So broadly speaking, B-G-M, M-BS, and ME-C are probably off table for the Conservatives. Mississauga Streetsville might normally be competitive this time around for the Conservatives, but they won't win with a floor crosser, despite the resources they are pouring into it. This leaves Mississauga South and Mississauga Erindale as target seats for the Conservatives, although they face up-hill struggles in both, due to Arrison's links to the locally unpopular Jim Flaherty, and Omar Alghabra's increased local presence and profile.

Life after Hazel, and wrapping up Montreal

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080804.whazel04/BNStory/National/

Interesting piece in the Globe about Mississauga municipal politics after Hazel is not longer mayor. I think Carolyn Parrish, the former controversial Liberal MP and current city councillor, hits the nail on the head when she says:

"No one of substance will run against Hazel McCallion. She is just too revered in this city."

Hazel's level of being revered can be debated, but it is certainly true that no big-name figure will risk embarrassing themselves running against Hazel. The article names all of the currently discussed contenders for the job, Parrish herself being the consensus front-runner, but other names include city councillor Katie Mahoney, her husband, Steve Mahoney, councillors and Hazel loyalists Pat Saito and Maja Prentice, and a non political challenger. This brings us to some interesting scenarios. A rematch of the 2004 Mississauga-Erindale Liberal nomination between Parrish and Steve Mahoney would probably be the most hard fought of any potential campaigns, as Parrish and Mahoney have plenty of bad blood between each other, and the feud they formed from the nomination shows no signs of having been cooled. Although it is generally thought that Parrish would be able to get most of the support of the Mississauga Liberal machine, Mahoney would probably be able to get the support of a significant chunk of it, as well as become a standard bearer for any "Anyone but Parrish" movement. A second scenario is that of a more openly Conservative aligned candidate running, and attempting to come up the middle and take advantage of a potentially split Liberal vote. Of course, a Conservative challenger could also take votes away from Mahoney, spliting the anti-Parrish vote and assuring victory for her. A third possibility is an election with many various councillors running, perhaps up to 4. I think Parrish would also have an advantage here, with her superior name recognition and political machine able to pull votes in areas that might otherwise vote for the local council member. If you are noticing a theme here, it is that Parrish is the favourite in all the scenarios I've listed, which I think is accurate. Parrish (for now) is the only possible candidate with real city wide name recognition, a powerful political machine, and regardless of what you personally think of her, to not recognize her as the favourite is ignorance.

ps:
I liked all the various comments on my last couple of blog posts telling me that the great hand of the Liberal Party had come and smacked down on a lowly blogger. In a stunning development, the natural governing party of Canada has bigger fish to fry then concerning itself with an errant youth. Here's what happened: Concerned about the impact of my blog on a campaign I wanted to win and help out, I went down to W-VM office the next day, and had a good long chat with the campaign manager. He apologized for the way I had been turned away, and that that had been a mistake on the part of a volunteer who didn't know what proper procedure was for dealing with would be volunteers, and that he had used my blog post as a tool to get his team more motivated and focused, and I apologized for not going through proper channels to voice my concerns. I pulled the original blog post and posted a new one, and I then spent the rest of the day doing what I wanted to do from the start: helping out Marc Garneau's campaign. I made phone calls for a few hours, then went out canvassing with Marc himself to ID some voters, the result of which was a couple dozen Liberal or likely Liberals ID'd, a hand full of BQ supporters, and zero NDP or Tory supporters. So after all the false drama that was attempted to be whipped up by rabble.ca and such, the end result? A happy local campaign, a happy party, a happy volunteer, and Liberal voters being ID'd.

Navdeep Bains BBQ

I went to Navdeep Bains' BBQ yesterday, with special guest Paul Martin. It was a wonderfully diverse event, showcasing the multiculturalism of Mississauga-Brampton South. The food was great, split between that most Western of foods, the hamburger, and an array of Indian subcontinental foods. A number of local MP's and candidates were present, including Mississauga Streetsville candidate Bonnie Crombie, Mississauga Erindale MPP and Cabinet Minister Harinder Takar, Mississauga Erindale MP Omar Alghabra, and Etobicoke Centre MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj. Mr. Bains gave a speech detailing the importance of the Green Shift, and his experiences as an MP under Paul Martin, while Paul Martin gave a very strong speech about the topics of aboriginal affairs, a subject close to his heart, and the need for a Liberal government in Canada. Here are some pics:

Hugh Arrison wins it

http://www.mississauga.com/article/15140

So Hugh Arrison, the financial consultant, won the Conservative nomination for Mississauga South. Given that Arrison won on the first ballot, it is likely Mississauga South Conservative spurned Ted Opitz, who faced concerns over his outsider image as he is actually from Etobicoke. So what does Arrison as a candidate mean? Well, he isn't a star candidate by any stretch, and Don Plett, when he spoke at the last AGM, openly stated the Tories were looking for one for this riding. I've speculated that the lack of one might further indicate that the Conservatives have moved Mississauga South down the target list. Arrison's first ballot victory (in a 3 horse race) would indicate that his team has at least decent organizational skills, and in a close race, could bring out the vote. Although the economy is always an important factor in any race, Arrison's background as a financial consultant and Szabo's as a chartered account as a finance man for many organizations should bring this to the forefront.

Now, how can the Liberals beat Arrison?

-Talk about (and bring to light more) Arrison's Alberta Conservative roots, (which include an endorsement from Peter Lougheed) and what this means for Ontario suburbs, highlighting the failures of the Alberta-centric Conservative Party towards the needs of the growing GTA suburbs, and how Arrison is an agent for a lack of progress in important local areas.

-Highlight the failures of the Conservatives and how they clash with Arrison's values during the nomination. On Arrison's website, he says:

"But mostly I believe in: ACCOUNTABILITY “Walk your Talk” And in continuing to reform our political institutions and processes to make them more open, democratic and accountable … to YOU."

A rundown of Conservative hypocrisy is enough to paint Arrison as more of the same double-talk that the Conservatives offer.

-Particularly compare the Conservative "accountability" that Arrison claims to represent with Szabo's chairmanship of the Ethics committee.

-While much of the rise in the Green vote in the GTA in the provincial election can be attributed to annoyed Conservatives and pro-secular schools activists, the rise of the environment in the suburbs cannot be ignored. Ridings like Mississauga South show the importance of why the tax shift must be argued, and argued well. If the shift can be sold as a pro-environment measure, with revenue neutrality, it can be a big hit amongst suburban voters, who do care about the environment, but ultimately will put the economy and pocketbooks first. If self doubt about the shift continues amongst Liberals, and real flesh is not put to the bones first, the Tories can jump on it, and tax resistive suburbanites will help make swing GTA ridings like Mississauga South, Oakville, and Mississauga Erindale go blue. These are the ridings the Liberals need to hold/win if they wish to form government.

Hazel fires another shot

http://www.mississauga.com/article/14668

Hazel, the Queen of Suburbia, and someone who has feuded with the federal government many times recently, has fired another shot at the Conservatives:

"Canada is missing the "vision that built the rail lines across this country," she said."As I travelled abroad a few weeks ago to Taiwan and Korea, they are investing billions of dollars in their infrastructure," she told the gathering here of municipal leaders from across Canada."The economic success of this great country is based on the status of infrastructure in our municipalities. That's where the action is. That's where companies come to operate their businesses," she said.The feisty mayor drew gales of laughter from the audience when she took a shot at remarks Flaherty reportedly once made about Ottawa not being in the "pothole business."He was suggesting municipal infrastructure isn't Ottawa's responsibility."I can think of some potholes that need fixing in Ottawa," she said, a slag at Harper's recent axing of his Foreign Affairs Minister Maxime Bernier."

It will be extremely interesting to watch how Conservative candidates in Mississauga react to anti-Hazel remarks made by the government, the Finance Minister in particular.

The Tim Peterson Angle gets played against Ted Opitz...by the Conservatives

http://www.mississaugablogs.com/2008/05/ground_control_to_major_ted.html

John Stewart is back, and while the stuff about Opitz's use of websites is interesting, but hardly a new political development, the real meat is the words of ex-tennis champ David Brown, (who by the way, I am pretty sure is not the same David Brown who ran for the PC's in the last provincial election in Mississauga-Erindale and the federal PC's in Mississauga South in 2000) who is rival candidate Hugh Arrison's campaign manager:

" Brown proceeds to play the Tim Peterson card, suggesting that Mississauga South Tories do not accept interlopers well. Opitz, of course, doesn't live in the riding which means he has to work twice as hard to prove himself to the 400 or so core members of the association, who will likely end up holding the balance of power in the contest."

And while in fairness in Orpitz, who says he will no longer use the re-directing sites, after a talk with the other candidates, I wouldn't be shocked to see Brown's words used in some anti-Opitz literature, should he win the nomination:

"It's not the way to represent the party and it's not the way to conduct yourself with the other candidates. I think people will use this to judge the character, or lack of character within this individual. This is not the way we feel Conservative candidates should be operating."

While we are on the subject, I find it interesting that Brown plays the Tim Peterson card, considering that when I was working in Szabo's campaign office in 2004, Brown came in a requested a Szabo sign with the "Team Martin" part folded back, because he said he wanted Szabo to win re-election, but the Liberals to lose overall, so I am assuming he cast his vote for the MP he is now hoping to knock off with Mr. Arrison.

Multiculturalism in Mississauga

http://www.mississauga.com/article/13354

The program in the article which the Ontario Liberal government funds is a very good example of making multiculturalism work. It is interesting to compare Liberal governments, both past and present, federal and provincial, to welcoming newcomers, and helping them settle. The success of multiculturalism as a policy, and investment in it, is embodied in Mississauga, which was once a mere collection of WASP'y outcroppings in the West GTA, into a strong, multicultural unit, and one of the more vibrant suburbs in the country (well, as vibrant as suburbs can be). With the immigration file emerging as a possible election issue, this is a good time for reflection on what immigration and multiculturalism has done for the City of Mississauga.

Oh, the Conservatives had a little fest in the city as well, for appointed (and local association splitting-gee, a Conservative appointee causing trouble for the association in Mississauga? Sounds familiar) Mississauga East-Cooksville candidate Melissa Bhagat, which I would have loved to crash and ask the guest of honour, Jason Kenney, about what we felt the contribution of "overheated Sikhs" to the Mississauga community.

Why do Mississauga South Conservatives hate Facebook?

It seems the most common users of Facebook are students, and people running for political office. With Facebook a great way to reach younger voters (and an increasing number of older ones), I was compelled, out of being bored more than anything else, to see how well represented the parties of Mississauga South are on the site.

My method was rather crude, I simply typed in Mississauga South and see what happened. I got 131 groups, and included only groups that were Mississauga South specific (and political in nature). Here are the results I got:

Liberal
-Vote Charles Sousa
-MSFLA
-Re-Elect Paul Szabo, MP for Mississauga South

Green
-Peter Browne for Member of Youth Parliament - Mississauga South
Mississauga South - Green Party of Canada
-Mississauga South Green Party of Ontario (GPO)
-Mississauga South Green Party of Canada
-Elect David Johnston

NDP
-Mississauga South New Democrats

So the Greens have a number of groups (admittedly small in membership and overlapping), the Liberals a few, the NDP none, and the Conservatives, the 2nd party in the riding, none. (I must admit that a Tim Peterson group did exist at one point, I would reckon many defeated candidates in elections deleted the groups)

Given that most political Facebook groups are either deliberately created by the central association, or spontaneously by supporters, I can draw two conclusions about the Conservatives: The central association is either too out of touch to realize the usefulness of Facebook as a tool, or the membership is too out of touch or apathetic to create one. Given the relative slant of Conservative membership to lean towards old white people, at first it doesn't shock me that no groups exist. But then I realize-The MS Conservatives are smack in the middle of a nomination race, and no candidate has a group that could be easily found by simply searching the riding name.

While the Conservatives make no secret of the dislike they have for the youth vote, particularly youth in urban/suburban areas, (and I'm not just talking out my ass on this one, when Ian Brodie came in to talk to my class at the end of last semester, he dismissed much Liberal support as coming from "young people with no particular responsibility") to not take advantage of Facebook in a riding where on paper, they have a good shot, shows that perhaps the Conservatives, (and more specifically Jim Flaherty) given the attacks on the provincial Liberals (who Mississauga voters gave overwhelming support to in the election) and the municipal government led by Hazel McCallion (for whom 90% of the vote can be expected) are perhaps going to write this city, and this riding off.

The Liberal Bag is mildly famous

http://www.mississaugablogs.com/2008/03/tuesday_notes.html

After Conservative Party of Canada President Don Plett gave his keynote speech at the recent meeting of the Mississauga South federal association and disappointed many by not specifying a nomination date, speculation about a possible "star" candidate waiting in the wings ramped up significantly.Mississauga South university student William Norman, originally from the City, speculated at his www.theliberalbag.blogspot.com/ site that Effie Triantafilopoulous might be in line for an appointment.To which Effie replied in an email: "I have not been approached by the party nor am I pursuing it. Just idle speculation."

Well Effie, I'll openly admit it was idle speculation. Also I am laughing that my little blog has managed to have even a tiny effect on the politics of Mississauga South. Anyway, the other thing Stewart touches on in this blog posting is also of interest to Mississauga, specifically the ongoing adventures of the other Mississauga riding to have a floor crossing, Mississauga-Streetsville.

Yesterday, Crombie's spouse Brian — who was the co-chair of the highly-successful Mississauga summit late last year — was named as one of four senior officers at Mississauga's Biovail Corp. who are the subject of serious allegations of misrepresentation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the Ontario Securities Commission.Crombie is the former chief financial officer at Biovail who has long worked with its founder Eugene Melnyk. The charges have not been proven, of course, and Crombie and Melnyk have both declared their innocence and vowed to fight the charges. Nonetheless, the timing for a political spouse simply could not be worse.

Due to Melnyk's relationship with the Ottawa Senators, this incident has gotten quite a bit of press up in Ottawa, but I was unaware of Bonnie Crombie's husband's relationship. I ultimately don't think this will effect Crombie much. Khan himself both broke a law specifically related to our democracy, and subverted the will of the people of Mississauga-Streetsville by crossing the floor, while Bonnie herself is not directly involved in this, and is building herself up a nice profile within the community, in a city which is turning increasingly Liberal-safe. I'm still calling Mississauga Streetsville an easy Liberal pick-up.

Mississauga Conservatives left hanging

First of all, let me say the OYL AGM was a blast, and congrats to all the winners, particularly our new Eastern co-ordinator, Krista Balsom.

http://www.mississaugablogs.com/2008/03/doubts_linger.html

John Stewart of the Mississauga News gives a pretty good summary of the MSCPC AGM the other day, and discusses some things I've mentioned in previous blogs:

President Don Plett of the Conservative Party, who was the special guest speaker at the agm, didn't make the announcement so many were anticipating.Instead he faced some pointed questions about why the five-and-waiting candidates in the race (Tom Simpson, Ryah Shadursky, Don Stephens, Hugh Arrison and Ted Opitz) must wait even longer for a date with destiny.

Hugh Brown, who is the campaign manager for Arrison, gently pointed out that the Liberal incumbent, Paul Szabo, is well-entrenched in the riding, has just received oodles of national face time as the chair of the Commons ethics committee looking into the Mulroney-Schreiber standoff, and is getting off to a nice head start.

...And, oh yes, Plett explained, Harper and the Conservatives are very interested in recruiting women and ethnic candidates, and even better if they come in one package.

...Plett took some umbrage at the suggestion that the fix is in, and pointed out that even a fresh, ethnically-pure, gender-correct superstar with a party-issue blue parachute would not be appointed because Mr. Harper is opposed to appointments.But, as one long-time Tory who attended last night's function said, "something really doesn't smell right here. Something's wrong."

I've long thought that Effie Triantafilopoulos, who would have likely gotten the provincial Conservative nomination had John Tory not appointed the floor-crossing Tim Peterson, might be a good shot to get appointed as the federal Conservative candidate, and I think Plett's comments, as well as the refusal to call a nomination date lend more credence to this. The appointment of Tory candidate Melissa Bhagat in Mississauga East-Cooksville shows that the Conservatives are definitely looking for female and ethnic candidates in the GTA West, although considering that riding is basically unwinnable for the Conservatives, as opposed to Mississauga South, which other than Oakville is really the only shot for the Conservatives in the region, it is unusual that the Conservatives would want to let Szabo get out to an unchallenged head-start, particularly at a time when his name-recognition has never been higher. I honestly thing Mississauga South Conservatives are being strung along by the central party, just another example of how fast Conservatives are to ignore residents of urban Ontario, even the party members themselves.

Two big announcements in Mississauga

I think this: http://www.mississauga.com/article/11751 and http://www.mississauga.com/article/11711 can be seen as pretty linked to each other. The provincial Liberals give a ton of money to Hazel while she and the provincial government feuds with Jim Flaherty, giving Dalton another leg up in his back and forth, and the federal Conservatives make an announcement friendly to Eastern-European voters, of which Mississauga (and particularly Mississauga South) has a lot of. Eastern European voters (particularly Polish ones) are important voters for the Conservatives, as unlike many other immigrant communities, the Conservatives do have good support within the community. Interesting to see these come back to back.

Sad state of Mississauga Conservatives

I was just reading the Mississauga News website when this: http://www.mississauga.com/article/11451 caught my eye. While ultimately whoever wins the nomination is more or less pointless (Mississauga East-Cooksville is a safe Liberal seat and Albina Guarnieri is a very entrenched incumbent) that Conservative HQ is so fast to want to appoint a party switcher to the protest of the grassroots brings to mind every ones favourite floor crossers, Tim Peterson and Wajid Khan. Seriously, can the Conservatives have a home-grown candidate in Mississauga for once rather than an ex Liberal opportunist? Interesting to see if when the election finally does come if any Peterson-style backlash hits the ME-C Conservatives.

Conservative inaction damaging progress of Mississauga, and the abandonment of fiscal conservatism

http://www.mississauga.com/article/9419

As I've written many times, Hazel McCallion should be the role model for fiscal responsibility, and her moderate and pragmatic values should serve as inspiration for all those who call themselves fiscal conservatives, as well as municipal governments.

While this incident further shows Conservative hostility towards Ontario's cities, the more interesting matter Hazel's bashing of the Conservatives should serve as a sign that the Conservatives have in fact abandoned fiscal conservatism. Given the huge deficits and gross spending by the Bush administration, and economist baffling decisions such as taxing income trusts and the GST cuts, it can be very fairly postulated that "economic conservatism" as generally understood, is no longer an actual set of policy prescriptions, but is merely a piece of rhetoric.

Replacing "fiscal conservatism" is two contrasting policies. While the Conservatives and Republicans cry they are fiscal conservatives, what they really are is "fiscal populists". The Bush administration, with its costly Iraq war spending, and military Keynesism, has been described by commentators as "Big Government conservatism", a combination of socially conservative domestic policies, expensive foreign policy, pork barrel spending, and corporate subsidies. In Canada, the Conservatives have seemingly showed disdain for basic rules of economics, and the advice of economists, in favour of implementing flimsy policies more concerned with bumping up Conservative support 1-2 points than with moving Canada's economy forward and helping individual Canadians achieve financial security.

Back to Mississauga, good to see the "small man of Confederation" has delivered the goods while Lawrence Cannon dithers.

Liberals and Conservatives on getting things done for Mississauga citizens

The Liberals: http://www.mississauga.com/article/8758

Mississauga South Liberal Paul Szabo has been named the hardest-working MP in Ottawa for the second consecutive year.

Pat Martin can childishly name-call and disrupt the Parliamentary process all he wants, but Paul Szabo, my member back home, is very effective for the people of Mississauga South.

The Conservatives: http://www.mississauga.com/article/8760

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said the 86-year-old mayor of Mississauga should shut up and stop whining about her city's infrastructure problems and get to work fixing them.

It is fairly rich for the former Minister of Downloading and Locking up the Homeless, whose most high profile actions as Finance Minister federally have been a broken promise on income trusts, and a GST cut the vast majority of economists have been critical of, to speak so ill of the Mayor whose city has become associated with successful urban growth, balanced budgets, and lack of debt. While a general urban bashing makes sense from a Conservative stand point (they won't win any seats in the major urban core areas, and bashing big cities and big city values plays well in rural areas and among SoCons, the Conservatives bedrock supporters) the sheer hostility towards much of the suburban areas, and Mississauga in particularly I can't understand.

If the Conservatives wish to win a majority, Mississauga is an area in which they will need to make gains. On the Mississauga South Federal Conservative webpage, one of the lines they have states "Who will represent Mississauga South in a Conservative majority government?" The line is more than just filler, it has real substance. Mississauga South is among the top targets for the Conservatives, missing it by less than 5% in the last election, and if any real Conservative beachhead will be established in the GTA, it will be on the banks of the Credit River.

It isn't as if Mississauga is downtown Toronto, beyond the South, the Conservatives even have an incumbent in the city in Mississauga-Streetsville (albeit via a floor crossing), and have a realistic shot at Mississauga-Erindale, meaning that in the best of times, they could control half the city riding's, meaning Mississauga is not exactly an electoral wasteland.

The only possible explanation I can think of for the cold shoulder the Conservatives are showing towards Missers is they have figured that general urban bashing will secure more rural seats than developing actual urban policies would gain urban seats. Mississauga voters need to realize that Conservatives ultimately do not care of them, which is a real reflection that the Conservatives are willing to ignore and trash a city that ultimately represents so much of what is right with Canada; economically successful because of moderate and balanced approaches, wonderfully multicultural, and based around a successful federation.

More Hurricane Hazel

http://www.thestar.com/News/article/275278

Support for Hazel, in the GTA, and in the urban centres of the province continues to grow, as her campaign against the most anti-urban government in modern days.

This week, it was federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty who ran into the municipal rock of ages. "I tell you I'm taking on Mr. Flaherty," the mayor said. And, as a result, he and his government might well be picking up bits of wreckage for the foreseeable future.

McCallion slapped a 5-per-cent infrastructure levy in place – no muss, no fuss, no months of squeamish agonizing – to vacuum up some of Ottawa's GST cut and take care of what the feds won't do.

And, step aside, boys, from now on she'll lead a national campaign entitled Cities Now!, to demand Ottawa use its huge surplus to help urban centres tackle their many and mounting problems.

"I'm not fighting for Mississauga," she declared. "I'm fighting for the municipalities of Canada."

Others might be content to wait for bridges to fall down. Not Her Worship.
Suddenly, the easy outs of Ottawa have been closed off. No one can accuse Hazel of being some union lackey. No one can accuse her of running a fat and wasteful shop.

Unlike your more effete urban pols, McCallion's got a style and face and sensibility at home in every Tim Hortons and curling rink, legion hall and mall in the country.
She had street cred before the term was invented. If she says so, it must be true. And if she's angry, something must be wrong. And if you're in her crosshairs, well, might want to get your affairs in order.

"I am in a fighting mood," Greater Toronto's best-loved octogenarian announced

Come election time, the Conservatives will find that Misser Liberals will be in a fighting mood, not content to let federal mismanagement destroy Canada's greatest urban success story. The recent provincial election showed that Mississauga, once a safe Conservative area, is becoming Liberal country. Wajid Khan, at a rally the other day, talked about how proud he was to be a Conservative, and how the GTA needed more Conservative representatives. As long as the Conservatives take an openly hostile. approach towards Ontario's cities, and the GTA in particular, Khan should be spending more time discussing with his riding why he felt the need to join an anti-urban party, and less time grandstanding.