Liberal candidate Garth Turner and Conservative candidate Lisa Raitt are battling it out in Halton.  Now things have gotten even more complicated with a letter from (allegedly) long time conservatives endorsing the NDP.

Liberal Party candidate Garth Turner has gotten an interesting letter from former Conservatives who won't support candidate Lisa Raitt.  Garth Turner is making common cause with his former colleagues, though their identities are not known:

I certainly have my disagreements with many of these folks, but they also have my respect. Together we are doing what needs to be done to rescue this democracy from mindless partyism and the attempts of any leader to suppress the people.

These unnamed and unknown Conservatives have issued a letter delivered to many riding residents, complaining about how Lisa Raiitt was appointed as candidate:

Ms. Raitt has no political or campaign experience. She has no name recognition within our riding or any history of community involvement. She has just recently joined our party, has never been involved in this riding association or participated in any of our fund raising events. She is nothing more than a political opportunist very similar to Garth Turner and we all know what happened after we selected that star candidate.

Needless to say, Garth Turner has reproduced this lengthy letter with a minor change:

Ms. Raitt has no political or campaign experience. She has no name recognition within our riding or any history of community involvement. She has just recently joined our party, has never been involved in this riding association or participated in any of our fund raising events. She is nothing more than a political opportunist...

Hah.

Well, the "long term conservatives" haven't finished.  It would appear that they've started a blog, and they have some advice about how to vote:

So we are recommending that Conservative voters in Halton, and for that matter, all voters in Halton, reject both the fake and the farce.

Two of us are sitting on our hands. As for me, I know Robert Wagner. I like Robert Wagner. I think a lot of angry Conservatives and embarrassed Liberals could do worse than vote for the NDP in Halton.

So what are these long term Conservatives up to?  Are they really expecting to pull votes away from Lisa Raitt and Garth Turner and send them to the NDP?  The likelihood of Conservative voters following this advice is probably slim, so if anyone is going to feel the pain from this, it would be Garth Turner.

Which then begs the question whether this is an elaborate ploy by Conservatives to move Liberal votes to the NDP, and the notion of being disaffected Conservatives is just there to add some credibility and drama.

Or perhaps the truth is even stranger.  Maybe this is an NDP game, pretending to be Conservatives, sending out an unsigned letter, aiming at Lisa Raitt but really targeting Garth Turner.

Posted by: Steve Janke at 04:04 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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