MacKay 'banged up' by Stronach's surprise move (CANADA)

[TrogL]

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1116438773479_111847973/?hub=CTVNewsAt11

Seeking solace on his father's farm in Nova Scotia, Deputy Conservative leader Peter MacKay says his heart and soul have been battered by the departure of former caucus mate Belinda Stronach.

In his first public comments since Stronach said she was leaving the Conservatives for a seat at the Liberal cabinet table, MacKay told reporters his heart has been "a little banged up" by events he had no inkling were in the pipeline.

...

"I was completely surprised," he said of the decision that he's been unable to sleep since hearing late Monday night.

They were "romantically linked". Read into it what you will.

[getmeouttahere]

1. Anything to prevent another....

right-wing takeover in North America!

[Jack Rabbit]

2. Power!! Betrayal!! Sex!!

No, that's not a Hollywood blockbuster. That's Canadian politics.

[JohnyCanuck]

3. It's called Karma. What goes around comes around.

ETHICS? WHAT ETHICS?
AN OPEN LETTER TO STEPHEN HARPER AND PETER MACKAY

You, Peter MacKay, signed an agreement with PC leadership candidate David Orchard at the convention in May 2003, the main plank of which was that you would NOT merge with the Canadian Alliance and that you would uphold the constitution of the PC Party in order to PREVENT a takeover by the Alliance. (The PC party had adopted in 1999 a constitutional clause which required that the party would run candidates in all ridings in every federal election.) Your agreement with David Orchard and your signature on it enabled you to become the leader of the party.

After the signing of the deal, you shook hands with Mr. Orchard and said that together the two of you would build up the PC party. Then you promptly broke the agreement and railroaded your party into oblivion, with the relentless prodding and eager co-operation of Stephen Harper and your various political and financial supporters. At no time did you ask for nor did you receive permission from your party to break the agreement with Mr. Orchard and to proceed to do the very opposite; and you only "consulted" us party members through our decision-making bodies WELL AFTER you had signed an agreement with Stephen Harper to liquidate the PC Party which you were constitutionally obligated to defend and uphold. You were helped in this treachery by Stephen Harper whose Canadian Alliance members were urged to join the PC Party merely to vote it out of existence. After thousands did so, you and your assorted allies concocted a phony approval process -- with no debate allowed at any level of decision making! -- producing approval rates for the merger that are usually found only in dictatorships. This whole process was accurately described by Progressive Conservative senator Lowell Murray as "a coup d'etat."

After having destroyed your party and utterly breached your signed agreement with Mr. Orchard -- which surely should have given you as a MP, a lawyer and an officer of the court some pause! -- you and Stephen Harper have grabbed $70,000 of David Orchard's campaign funds, funds to which you are not legally entitled. The Conservative Party has held on to these funds for a year and a half, while according to the legal contract Mr. Orchard signed as a leadership candidate he was to have them returned to him in 48 hours! The Conservative Party, under your combined leadership, has in effect stolen Mr. Orchard's campaign donations, forcing him to take your party to court. You have thus defrauded the 257 donors to the Orchard campaign whose money you have put in your party coffers. Your party has formally conceded that the monies are owed to David Orchard, but is refusing to return them, in a "might makes right" fashion. You have no claim to these funds and you both know it!

Canadians need to know that your party that claims to be the Canadian citizens' ethical watchdog is led by two dishonest and unethical individuals, who deserve to be called scoundrels.

http://www.davidorchard.com/online/2do-index.html

[Spazito]

5. Yep, a POS like McKay is too self-absorbed to be heart-broken

about anything except his political future and how this 'impacts' it. I still think he knew full well what Belinda was going to do and was supportive. Anything that would help bring Harper down as leader of the party and give ol' Peteyboy another chance at it, he would jump at it. It sure isn't like he hasn't backstabbed as needed in the past!

[daleo]

4. Whining about your love life isn't good form, McKay.

Save it for your friends at the pub, if you have any.

[Lisa]

6. Is he hoping that Canadian women will leap into his arms ...

... "nature boy" outfit and all, because we're supposed to feel terribly sorry for him? Electorally-speaking, that is. Too bad, Peter -- it doesn't seem to be working on me, or any of my female acquaintances.

Hmm. So he claims that he didn't see any signs that Belinda Stronach was unhappy, the day before she made the move. (The Globe and Mail reports that Harper humiliated her in front of a bunch of other people, after she said she was opposed to having another election right now.) If McKay were as interested in her as he's claimed, one would think that he would at least have known about that and tried to make her feel better ... if not actually getting in Harper's face about his management techniques.

And didn't he say he was taken by surprise when the Reform/CCRAP people started bossing the PCs around right after the merger?

I think it was Jay Leno, commenting on Eminem's alleged surprise that Elton John was gay: "A nice young man, but not terribly observant."

[reality based]

7. What a sensitive fellow he is!

Jilted for a bunch of fun-loving liberals he was. Had to go to his dad's potato farm to get it back together. Was working in the field when the news media arrived to record his hurt feelings. Ah cruel politics! Will somebody vote for him to ease his sorrow?

[PassingFair]

8. Keep posting, Canadians!

You sound like us, only a lot nicer!
Glad to see you're nipping the neocons in the bud.

[arikara]

9. Another self-absorbed right winger feeling sorry for himself

and he's not getting a lot of sympathy from around here... everyone I know is saying that he highly deserved it after what he did to his party.

And he must be one lousy boyfriend not to know that Belinda was having problems.