Sunday, October 02, 2005

Team Harper

Election fever is in the air as the Conservatives have launched their Edmonton campaign. All the big stars are on the signs...with one conspicuous absence: Stephen Harper.

Luckily, rising Conservative star Rona Ambrose explained the omission:

Conspicuously absent from the signs is any mention of embattled party leader Stephen Harper. But the local candidates said the omission has more to do with north/south relations than with Harper's flagging popularity.

"You know how Edmonton feels about Calgary," kidded Rona Ambrose, MP for Edmonton-Spruce Grove.

Phfewf! I thought for a second the Conservatives had concluded Ken Epp had more voter appeal than Stephen Harper - luckily there's a rational explanation for the absence.

Still...I guess this opens the door for Toronto Liberal MPs to use the "Montreal-Toronto" rivalry as an excuse for the absence of "Team Martin" signs in the GTA this election.

posted by calgarygrit at 12:43 a.m.

16 Comments:

  • Huh? Why would Harper's picture be expected to be on a billboard showcasing Conservative candidates from Edmonton?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:23 a.m.  

  • Now watch the cons scream that this is much ado about nothing yet they whooped and hollared when some liberal candidates left Martin's picture off their signs last year.

    By Blogger Robert McClelland, at 9:51 a.m.  

  • All conservative signs should feature a prominent picture of either Rona or Helena Gorgeous, with a small portion dedicated to the candidates name.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:25 a.m.  

  • IH; Since he's the party leader...

    I suspect that a bilboard showing the Conservative team from Edmonton or Calgary circa 1984 would have had Mulroney's face on it. For that matter, a billboard showing the Conservative team circa 2004, would likely have had Harper.

    It's not a huge deal but I found Rona's quote amusing...

    By Blogger calgarygrit, at 12:14 p.m.  

  • Also, (assuming he stays) I wonder if there will be a lot of pictures of Harper in Mackay's riding? Because, if not, I know some conservatives who would scream about that, harm to their party be damned. (the Liberals would love this, so it would be silly I know, but I know a fair number of right-wingers who see MacKay as the last shred of the PCs left in the new CPC, and who would love to see him gone so as to complete the Alliance take-over).

    By Blogger Lord Kitchener's Own, at 1:21 p.m.  

  • I haven't seen the billboards in question, but I have seen pamphlets which are apparently part of the same campaign strategy. They feature a picture of the eight Edmonton candidates on the front cover, and a picture of Harper on the back cover.

    IIRC, the noteworthy part about the Liberal signs from last election was that some candidates were taking their existings signs and covering up Martin's picture.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:11 p.m.  

  • Jaques Martin is gone, unfortunately. He was a great head coach; he won the gold medal a bunch of times; I was sad to see him go.

    But I never made that connection before, and I'm a Liberal Sens Fan from Ottawa. Brilliant post.

    By Blogger James Bowie, at 7:49 p.m.  

  • I will agree that the excuse given is pretty lame.

    I would suggest that most people know who Harper is and what he looks like. I would imagine most would know very little about the other candidates never mind what they look like.

    Welcome to polyticks in Canada.

    By Blogger Tim, at 9:57 p.m.  

  • They had a photo shoot so Harper's picture could go on the signs, but they couldn't get him to smile.

    To be honest with you, I think they should put Rona Ambrose on ALL the signs. Maybe she can do one of those ads like the Young Liberals are doing in Quebec.

    They could read "Vote for Team Harper. And here's a picture of Rona Ambrose to look at while you're doing so."

    By Blogger Raging Ranter, at 11:29 p.m.  

  • It's all much ado about nothing. Harper isn't the boogie man out west that he is in the east.

    By Blogger Nastyboy, at 10:14 a.m.  

  • QuebecHarpermaniac agrees on Rona.

    Rona, Rona all the time.

    Ever watch QP and you see over Harper's right shoulder the phalanx of babes with brains.

    That should be our slogan this coming election: "Babes with Brains".

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:40 p.m.  

  • If the Liberals want their own play on the letter b for their distaff side, perhaps they could use "broads from the buffet".

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:21 p.m.  

  • QuebecHarpermaniac suggest the following tag for Team Martin.

    Team Martin: Mean and Meaningless.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:42 p.m.  

  • As you may notice, the Leader is prominently displayed on the www.yourconservativeteam.ca website - this is all much ado about nothing.

    By Blogger Hasty, at 6:08 p.m.  

  • QuebecHarperManiac says:

    Jim is on another planet.

    There is no man more creepy looking than Paul Martin.

    True, its informed by the deeply creepy things he has done.

    I'm sorry but the Claude Boulay letter? That's creepy.

    I would never tell a staffer:

    "Write a letter to this stranger, tell him I can't go to his party. Mention how hot his wife is."

    Anyone with that mind-set is creepy.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:38 a.m.  

  • QuebecHarpermaniac finds Jim's response too funny to rebut.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:52 a.m.  

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