Questioning the company they keep

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/10/2015 (3671 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

What can you tell about a politician from the company he or she keeps?

In the late stages of a remarkable federal election campaign, this has become a pressing concern for voters. Particularly since several party leaders have been found to keep the company of some rather questionable characters.

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, working diligently to win a fourth term, raised eyebrows with his decision to attend tonight’s rally organized and hosted by Toronto’s infamous Ford brothers — former mayor Rob, now a city councillor, and former councillor Doug.

Now running second to the Liberals in most opinion polls, the Conservatives must hold on to their Ontario seats. The strategy behind Harper’s participation in the Ford rally, such as it is, would be to capitalize on the improbable ability of the Ford brothers to pull votes out of key areas of Toronto.

Many Torontonians are willing to vote for a Ford, almost any Ford, regardless of the abuse they inflict on themselves or others close to them. And that’s pretty remarkable when you study the Ford story.

Consider this timeline: after admitting he smoked crack, Ford launched his re-election campaign in January 2014; in May, he entered a drug-rehabilitation program; upon his release, he revealed he had an abdominal tumour and withdrew from the mayoral race; he then registered for his old city council seat and, without much in the way of campaigning, won handily.

Meanwhile, brother Doug, who had taken up the Ford colours in the mayoral election, came in a respectable second to John Tory.

Say what you will about their life choices, but the Ford brothers are a political force of nature.

That the Fords are still a force in Toronto politics reveals quite a bit about the political culture in Ontario’s largest city. Take away the financial district, the world-class arts and sports, the internationally renowned academia and what do you have left? A well-established, populist wing-nut constituency that has more in common with voters in southern Alberta than Rosedale.

Can the Fords help Harper snatch victory from the jaws of defeat? Unlikely, given the fact Toronto has never been fertile ground for the Conservatives, even when they were winning majority mandates. The Liberals are running well out in front of the Conservatives in Ontario, so much so the Grits are campaigning in Tory strongholds, confident they are going to steal seats.

All that makes the image of Harper snuggling up with the Fords a pretty clear sign of desperation. Harper must know associating with Doug and Rob, even if it somehow pulls a few extra votes out of Etobicoke, will likely hurt him in the rest of the country, where this event will carry the stink of death and desperation.

The only saving grace for Harper and the Conservatives right now is the fact Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, after having run a relatively tight and scandal-free campaign, has himself become embroiled in a controversy tied to the company he keeps.

Dan Gagnier was advising TransCanada Corp. while serving on Trudeau’s campaign. Gagnier was forced to resign this week, after it was learned he was providing advice to the North American pipeline company on how to lobby a Liberal government in the event it wins the election.

Trudeau initially supported Gagnier when that news became public, but it did not take long for the leader and the campaign to disown him. Trudeau’s political enemies are holding up the affair as evidence the Liberal party continues to suffer from the same misguided moral compass that plunged it into past controversies, notably the Adscam scandal in Quebec.

The Liberals knew Gagnier was a lobbyist, and they knew he was working with TransCanada prior to joining the inner circle of the campaign. It appears Trudeau assumed Gagnier, a veteran of political campaigns, would be sensible enough to maintain a firewall between his professional and political activities.

Trudeau assumed wrong, and now the Grits are trying desperately to change the channel as they approach the final 48 hours of the campaign — a critical period when huge numbers of voters can, and do, switch allegiances.

The Gagnier flap is eerily reminiscent of the old story about the scorpion and the frog, where the former asks the latter for a ride across a river and then stings the frog halfway across, dooming them both. When the frog asks why, the scorpion replies: “I couldn’t help myself. It’s my nature.”

There is inherent risk when you invite a lobbyist into your inner circle. Back-channel networking and inside-information sharing is part of their nature. Having failed to anticipate the risk, the Liberals have to somehow make it through to election day without voters wondering what that says about Trudeau’s judgment.

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The company politicians keep has always been a live issue for voters. It’s why political parties vet their candidates so carefully, and jettison anyone who says silly or offensive things via social or traditional media.

And thanks to the Internet, we all have access to a world of information on the people involved in campaigns. Background checks that used to take months and involve professional investigators can now be accomplished by anyone with a good knowledge of web search engines and online resources.

In this election, we’ve seen some really disturbing images of the company the leaders who would be prime minister are keeping: Harper and the Fords; Trudeau and lobbyists for the oil industry.

These relationships have the potential to not only doom campaigns, but also undermine what little faith Canadians have left in politics and politicians.

dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca

Dan Lett
Columnist

Dan Lett is a columnist for the Free Press, providing opinion and commentary on politics in Winnipeg and beyond. Born and raised in Toronto, Dan joined the Free Press in 1986.  Read more about Dan.

Dan’s columns are built on facts and reactions, but offer his personal views through arguments and analysis. The Free Press’ editing team reviews Dan’s columns before they are posted online or published in print — part of the our tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.