Pierre and Mark and Danielle and Usha
An unspectacular first day, with omens
One must guard against self-gratification. The Mark Carney/ Mike Myers skit had 9.3 million views on Elon Musk’s website when I wrote this. I liked it too. But if the new Liberal leader’s goal is to run away from Justin Trudeau’s way of doing things, he might have done better just to shut down his X account. One Brat Summer was already a lot.
Mind you, everyone’s been self-indulgent, heading into the biggest fight of any of their lives. Reporter Rob Benzie got a lot of attention for his big Star story about last week’s Ford-Poilievre call. Both men promptly said “the story” wasn’t accurate, while confirming most of its assertions: that the congratulatory call happened; that it came almost three weeks after Doug Ford’s election victory; and that it was the first conversation the two men had ever had with each other. What’s in dispute is whether Pierre Poilievre “asked” Ford, in so many words, for help. For the last word on that, let’s check in after either man publishes his memoirs. Meanwhile a detail in Benzie’s story escaped widespread attention: “In the recent Ontario campaign, federal Tories wouldn’t aid their provincial cousins on the hustings except in Eglinton-Lawrence, where PC Michelle Cooper beat Liberal Vince Gasparro by 167 votes.” Hmm. What made Eglinton-Lawrence special? I needed to be told: Jenni Byrne used to date Vince Gasparro. Glad to see everyone’s focussed on what counts.
Back to history in the making. We gathered at Rideau Hall for the big announcement. Ten minutes after noon, I wondered where Carney was. “He went in the back entrance,” a colleague told me. “He’s already inside.” See? Sneaky.