Tough-on-crime Tories face tough-on-crime opposition to tough-on-crime candidate
When Stephen Harper picked former OPP commissioner Julian Fantino to run in the upcoming by-election in Vaughan, he must have figured that he had the law-and-order vote wrapped up. A tough-guy PM paired with a tough cop turned politician? A match made in tough-on-crime heaven. Well, turns out some Tories aren’t so sure. A group calling itself Conservatives Against Fantino has launched a campaign to get Vaughan’s Tories to hold their noses and vote Liberal or NDP rather than vote for the former commish. The catch? The group’s leaders, Gary McHale and Mark Vandermaas, aren’t even from the riding.
According to the Post:
Tensions between the pair and Mr. Fantino began in 2006, when native protesters from the nearby Six Nations reserve began their occupation of Caledonia.
Both sides made accusations of poor leadership and corruption. Mr. McHale argued that Mr. Fantino instructed the OPP to ignore unlawful actions committed by native protesters.
Mr. Fantino says that Mr. McHale provoked police and encouraged confrontations.
The Star, meanwhile, seems positively giddy that a dozen-person protest might derail the high-profile candidate:
Name recognition might have initially given Fantino an edge over Liberal candidate Tony Genco, former CEO of Downsview Park, said Nelson Wiseman, professor of Canadian politics at the University of Toronto. However, Wiseman said the Conservatives Against Fantino could help the Liberals maintain their hold in a riding where Conservative support has been growing…“This is not good new for Fantino,” Wiseman said. “This kind of publicity is bad, bad, bad.”
Still, we think Fantino probably has bigger things to worry about than the ghosts of Caledonia: last election, the Liberals went home with a commanding 49 per cent of the vote to the Tories’ 34.
• Fantino foes vow to keep former top cop out of office [Toronto Star]
• ‘Conservatives Against Fantino’ targets ex-police chief’s by-election run [National Post]
Fantino has a lot in his record to be worried about, maybe the Caledonia people can people checking and they will wiki him …..
Fantino used the same ‘outsider’ argument against us going to Caledonia that his handlers are using now against us going to Vaughan.
I guess it’s OK for Merlyn Kinrade (who does live in Caledonia) and me to travel 8,000 miles to serve in a peacekeeping mission in Egypt, and OK for Canadian soldiers to come back in body bags while trying to stablize Afghanistan, and OK for thousands of other servicemen to fight and die, and liberate the death camps of Europe for people they didn’t know, but it’s NOT OK for Canadians to travel to Caledonia or Vaughan to democratically and peacefully oppose racial policing in our own country?
The outsider argument is the first resort of someone with something to hide. Anyone who thinks this is a he said/she said argument should read Blatchford’s ‘Helpless’ (for which we provided extensive evidence & background info) to know we weren’t the problem in Caledonia. Or, check out the resources at our website which go even deeper into Fantino’s despicable conduct.
Mark Vandermaas
Co-founder,http://www.conservativesagainstfantino.ca
Founder, Caledonia Victims Project
[email protected]
Calm down Mark and put the fire out… here use my fire extinguisher.
I read the book “Helpless”. Interestingly enough, within 2 hours of reading names in the book, I found 9 people who were named and never interviewed by Ms. Blatchford. And that was just using 411.ca. Where did she get her information?
Apparently, it didn’t come from the 9 people that I spoke with.
Yes, she seems to have spent a lot of time with some people who have had tremendous impact on their lives. That cannot be disputed.
Why would she give anonymity to Paul Tricky (everyone knows who he is anyway) but not avail the 9 other people that she never spoke with, but named in her book, that same journalistic freedom instead of throwing them name, face and barrel under the bus?
This book isn’t about the truth, nor was it meant to be. This book is about making money.
How does one write a book about the Caledonia land dispute and say that it isn’t about land claims? Isn’t that like saying that WWII wasn’t about fight against oppression?
Finally someone talking sense. Popeye has it right. Very few if any of those named in Blatchfords book of nonsense were interviewed. It seems very interesting that those interviewed have always had the most to say whether it is in the blogs, websites or the local birdcage liners. Its time these group of mouthpieces realized the majority do not agree with their financial making position.