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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 2016-03-16, Page 44 Lucknow Sentinel • Wednesday, March 16, 2016 1 www.lucknowsentinel.com The Lucknow Sentinel PUBLISHED WEEKLY P.O. Box 400, 619 Campbell Street Lucknow Ontario NOG 2H0 phone: 519-528-2822 fax: 519-528-3529 www.lucknowsentinel.com POSTMEDIA JOHN BAUMAN Group Manager, Media Sales john. bauman@sun media.ca JOYJURJENS Office Administrator lucknow.sentinel@su n med i a. ca LINDSAY THEODULE Media Sales Consultant I indsay.theodule@sunmedia.ca CURTIS ARMSTRONG Group Director of Media Sales - Grey, Bruce and Huron County Postmedia carmstrong@postmedia.com P: 519-376-2250 x514301 Publications Mail Agreement No. 40064683 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO SENTINEL CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT P.O. 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The Sentinel is available on microfilm at: GODERICH LIBRARY, (from 1875) 52 Montreal Street Goderich ON N7A 1 M3 Goderich li brary@huroncounty.ca KINCARDINE LIBRARY, (from 1875 to 1900 & 1935 to 1959) 727 Queen Street Kincardine ON N2Z 1Z9 The Lucknow Sentinel is a member of the National Newsmedia Council, which is an independent ethical organization established to deal with editorial concerns. For more information or to file a complaint go to www.mediacouncil.ca or call toll free 1-844-877-1163. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canadian Periodical Fund (CPF) for our publishing activities. Canada 10cna Member of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association and the Ontario Community Newspapers Association Den Tandt: Best leader for Tories might be the one they already have Judging by the tone of recent Conservative commentary, a bright future lies ahead for party Stephen Harper built. Behind the scenes, however, some Tories are less than thrilled with the menu of lead- ership hopefuls now on offer — leading some to speculate a draft -Ambrose campaign may be in the cards. Rona Ambrose, though she now holds all the authority and privileges of the leader of the Opposition, including the offi- cial residence at Stornoway, gained that office with the pro- viso that she not be a candidate for the permanent leadership. But that is not necessarily set in stone. A draft -Ambrose move- ment, were it to yield an amend- ment in the party's rules, could change this. Judging from what I've heard from some Conserva- tives recently, including at the recent Manning Centre confer- ence in Ottawa, such a move would not be unwelcome. The reason? He's getting lots of attention already today so I'll just say this: His initials are JT. He's in Washington this week, having a fantastic time with his friend Barack Obama. In a candid chat recently, one Conservative insider walked me through the pluses and minuses of the various leadership hope- fuls whose names are most often bandied about, though none have officially registered to run. Leading the pack is for- mer senior minister and party co-founder Peter MacKay, whom polls show (0). 4 Column Michael Den Tandt will immediately become a front-runner should he enter, as he is widely expected to do. MacKay is affable, handsome and articulate. But he is no longer the fresh -faced young- ster on the political scene. His record in cabinet was mixed. As Minister of Justice, he presided over a series of social -conserva- tive -leaning bills that seemed pre -destined to run aground at the Supreme Court. At Defence, he stickhandled the F-35 fighter procurement deal that went supernova in 2012. It was Ambrose, you may remember, who was tasked with picking up the pieces. Jason Kenney, Harper's long- time minister -of -everything, remains a very influential force within the party. He is smart and terrifically industrious. But I've spoken to a series of senior Conservatives who say they can't see him as leader, and cer- tainly don't see him seriously challenging Trudeau in 2019. Appearances and tone count; these two may have too much of a Kennedy -Nixon vibe going for such a faceoff to work in the Tories' favour. Tony Clement is competent, indefatigable, and has been a force in conservative circles since the Unite The Right days in the late '90s. At Treasury Board, he pulled off the near - impossible; taking money away from other departments with- out becoming universally despised. But he suffers from some of the same drawbacks as Kenney; in a head-to-head con- test with the Dauphin, he'll look like the stodgy sedan next to the flashy convertible, though Clement is just 55. Lisa Raitt has often been mentioned as a potential next leader. Consistently during the Harper era, when something fair-minded was heard to be uttered from the Tory side, she was its source. Like Ambrose, Raitt always steered clear of the worst of the previous adminis- tration's stick -in -the -eye tactics. Her roots in the party, however, are deemed to be relatively shal- low. That's code for the Milton, Ont., MP having little chance of picking up the support she'd need in Alberta and north -cen- tral Ontario. Kellie Leitch has been floated as a potential candidate; she suffers from the same problem as Raitt — a low profile in the ridings — and additionally is held back by her role in the "barbaric cultural practices" press conference with former minister Chris Alexander, widely deemed the nadir of the 2015 campaign. Leitch could run for the prospect of elevation in a future cabinet; the chances of anyone's putting up the money this race will require — with a spending cap of $5 mil- lion, plus a $100,000 ante — for such considerations seems slim. Michelle Rempel has smarts and charm to spare and could offer a youthful, appealing presence to compete with Trudeau's. Rempel has been very noncommittal about whether she wants the job, however. At 36, she has room to bide her time. James Moore, a perennial presence in this dis- cussion, has let it be known he will not be a candidate. Former Veterans minister Erin O'Toole, at this stage, is still an outrider, though at 43 he has room to build. All of which brings us back to Ambrose, MP for the Edmon- ton -area riding of Sturgeon River -Parkland. Known to be a personal friend of Stephen and Laureen Harper, her roots in the party are rock -solid. She's a moderate social conservative - perhaps enough to mollify that portion of the party base. But her persona and approach are as engaging as Harper's were cold and aloof. A youthful 46, Ambrose offers an attractive foil to Trudeau's glamour; yet, friends say, she's disciplined, organized and steady in a crisis. Could Ambrose defeat Trudeau in a general election? Of course that would depend on events. The more pertinent question is whether any other Tory prospect could conceiva- bly do better than she could. As this race begins, that is entirely unclear. LUCKNOW NEWS World Day of Prayer a success in Lucknow Ruth Dobrensky How about that weather, one week, we think spring has sprung, the next, we're back in the middle of winter. One week my car looks more like a station wagon than a sedan, the next it's covered in mud. The crocuses must be going mad, should we start blooming or not? The golfers are probably just as confused, do we wear shorts or not? The World Day of Prayer Ser- vice was held recently at Luc- knowUnited Church with about 45 in attendance. The people from the community who attended learned a lot about Cuba and how the church is fair- ing there. There was a 93rd birthday party for Warren Wylds at the Sepoy Manor recently. Happy belated birthday Warren, we wish you many more. I hate to repeat myself, but recently, I talked about calling for the fire department and asking right away for your local fire department, i.e., Lucknow; well I'm mentioning it again. A week or so ago there was a fire just north of London, the man inter- viewed said he called 911 three times and it took 45 minutes for the fire department to arrive, by which time the barn had bumed down. There seems to be a prob- lem with the new system, so you have to be specific, as I've repeat- edly said, when you get 911, say "I want the (Lucknow) fire department, when the next oper- ator comes on, ask, is this the (Lucknow) fire deparmtnet, if they say yes, give them the info, what, where and your name, etc. The life you save may be your own. My column won't be in the paper next week, I'll be away. I'm taking my great-nephew Nick on an adventure to Toronto for a few days. We'll try not to cause a riot but we hope to have a lot of fun and get some visiting with friends and relatives in as well. Sympathies of the community to the families of: Margaret Barger, 84, Wingha, (formerly Ashfield Twp.); Terence Paquette, 67, Ripley; Helen Nicholson, 91, Wingham; Ralph Dickson, 85, Teeswater; Joyce Pollock, 85, Wingham; Morley Kristine, 72, Kincardine; Wayne McLean, 55, Ripley; Audrey Bonnett, 86, Kin- loss Twp.; Shelley Inglis Wil- liams,40, Waterloo; Tim Doucet, 51, Lucknow (formerly Wing - ham); Carmen Gross, 87, Auburn; Bonnie Strauss, 62, Elmira (formerly Teeswater); and, Neffie Nusink, 83, Holyrood.