Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Stephen Harper Comes To Town: The Report

The Granite Brewery was packed to the rafters with enthusiastic Tories as Stephen Harper ventured into the heart of Liberal darkness to convince Torontonians to break free from the chains of fear bound around the city by the Chretien-Martin government and embrace the possibilities of regime change.

From my spot near the back of the main dining room, right in front of the TV cameras, I could see the big names: Peter Kent, whose riding the Granite Brewery is located in; Bill Davis, Michael Wilson, Barbara MacDougall, Senator Consiglio Di Nino. Even Dave Broadfoot was there. (Yes! The honourable member for Kicking Horse Pass himself!)

Christie Blatchford was standing next to me as well, chatting away about the campaign.

David Asper gave a rousing speech damning the media as "Liberal apologists."

Stephen Harper came in a little after nine to loud applause. His speech was full of promises to sceptical Toronto voters: gas tax revenue sharing, infrastructure funding, public transit pass tax breaks, tougher sentences for gun crimes, and of course, the child care tax incentives.

I haven't seen a crowd of Tories in Toronto this enthused. Ever.

Let's hope it's a sign of good things to come on Monday.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The gas tax revenue. An original Preston Manning idea. Did he mention that today in Toronto? Toronto Mayor David Miller said the
Tories are bad for Toronto which isn't a surprise since Miller represents the NDP. But he should like the the gas thing. Or not. Allan.
Toronto.