Voters sound off on end to Harper’s reign

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This article was published 20/10/2015 (3712 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was more the case Harper is out than Trudeau is in for many Winnipeggers the morning after the towering Liberal victory in Monday’s federal election.

“There isn’t a part of my being that isn’t rejoicing that he’s gone,” said Talia Syrie, 39, owner of The Tallest Poppy restaurant, who was spotted having coffee in Main Street restaurant, Parlour Coffee, on Tuesday morning.

She is just less sure of who’s replacing him. She thinks Justin Trudeau benefited significantly from “strategic voting,” on his way to a majority government, and wonders if Trudeau will be enough change from Harper.

Joanne Toupin, owner of Sleepy Owl Bakery, spoke of fatigue for Stephen Harper’s “dirty playbook” style, including endlessly streaming ads claiming Trudeau’s “not ready.” “All the dirty playbook tactics, I hope we’ve seen an end to them,” said Toupin, 30.

That also resonated with Stefanie Esposito, 29, the operations manager of theAxworthy Health and RecPlex at University of Winnipeg.

“I’m not a fan of taking shots at people for they way they look. I think that’s pretty lame,” said Esposito, referring to the Conservative TV commercial that suggested Trudeau had “nice hair” but lacked substance. “I’m pretty happy” with Monday’s results, she said.

Even people who voted for the Conservatives, like Michael Buffie of the Selkirk-Interlake-Eastman riding, weren’t entirely unhappy to see Harper go. Much of what Harper stood for didn’t sit with his values, he said.

“I wasn’t really voting for Harper but voted for the Conservative philosophy and ideals,” said Buffie, an Education student at University of Winnipeg. For example, the “Muslim thing,” where Harper opposed a woman wearing a niqab at citizenship swearing-in ceremonies, “caught me off guard,” said Buffie, 26. “I didn’t really support that.”

Buffie didn’t think much of Harper’s campaign, saying he should have run more on his record and future policies. Buffie believes a big source of votes for Trudeau came from motivated young people. “I think it was (Trudeau’s) overall energy, and he appealed more to the younger generation,” he said.

Fabricio Mendes, 40, who works in commercial real estate, said “people just got tired of the Conservatives and the country not going anywhere. I think the country has just gone laterally for too long.”

Mendes, who moved to Canada from Brazil a dozen years ago, and still has family there, believes people are also “fed up” with Harper’s international policies. They were “not how Canadians want to be seen in the world.”

The Liberals, he said, “stood for safer change. The NDP are more drastic in terms of taxes.”

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But Brad Skibinsky, 42, a homecare worker, felt Trudeau won because he offered “the most radical change” in style and substance from Harper, including more open government. “They’re further apart in their personas.”

The defeat of the MP in his riding of Winnipeg Centre, the NDP’s Pat Martin, was a surprise but “Martin hasn’t had much of a challenge in the past,” Skibinsky said. Liberal Robert-Falcon Ouellette won Winnipeg Centre.

Retired civic employee, John Hoban, 59, was “somewhat shocked” by results but said “it was time for a change.” He believed name recognition with Trudeau’s “old man,” former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, boosted the son’s fortunes.

Stacey Kaul, 50, a truck driver, was one of those who wanted change. For many people, Trudeau was the only option. “The public didn’t want Thomas Mulcair, the socialist,” he said.

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca