Which Federal Conservative MP Spoke At Illegal

...401 blockade.  This one.  Mind you, Scott Reid is still a back-bencher.  The whole illegal protesting gig didn't work out for him as well as for some.

Q: How Much Tory Turmoil Must The Hudak Tories Endure?

A: Even MORE!!!

Thanks to redistribution, I shared a riding with Norm Sterling for seven years and, since 2007, with Randy Hillier (Ontario PCs Struggle To Prevent Civil War On Eastern Front – Dec. 4).

It is no surprise to me that Mr. Sterling is locked in a struggle to avoid being tossed out by his riding association. Mr. Hillier runs three constituency offices, is attentive to local issues and is conscientious in following up on casework. By contrast, Mr. Sterling was so neglectful that my staff regularly dealt with complaints from constituents that they couldn't get service (or even responses) from his office.

Mr. Sterling's response to the possibility of losing the provincial PC nomination is to divert attention, by claiming that the MPP in the riding next door should be thrown out of caucus and forced to set up a rival party for – horrors! – bringing new blood into the Ontario PC Party.

Mr. Sterling should be selling more memberships, not starting public fights designed to force his leader to award him the nomination in the absence of a democratic vote.

Scott Reid, MP, Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington

Oh My!

Meanwhile, more MSM outlets twig to the Tory Turmoil story! Meanwhile, Adam Radwanski notes that, without the kind of "renewal" Randy Hillier and Co. are offering, the Hudak Tories are getting a bit long-in-the-tooth.

Iggy Shows Flashes Of Gloriousness Re Coalition

He's dead on, as far as I'm concerned:

...the right way to do it is to run your flag up, (opposing parties) run their flag up, you fight like crazy, you put your choices clearly to the Canadian people, they make their choices and then you play the cards that voters deal you.

And a point I hadn't thought of:

Liberal strategists don't want to give ammunition to Harper's Tories, who so successfully demonized the 2008 coalition attempt.

And they don't want to make it harder for Liberals to win enough seats to make a coalition, much less a majority, possible. Strategists reason that New Democrats who want to defeat Harper would have little incentive to vote Liberal if they felt the Liberals would inevitably invite the NDP to join a coalition.

There's more, including comments on to what extent a Liberal-led coalition could work with the BQ. Kind of sounds like compromise between the advice given by Rob Silver and Scott Reid.