By VIRESH FERNANDO
Given his
unexpectedly strong showing in the delegate selection battle in the Ontario
Liberal party leadership race former Ontario Transportation Minster and
businessman Harinder Takhar is being touted as possibly the next finance
minister of Canada’s largest province.
At the
conclusion of the delegate selection process this past weekend it was clear
that Takhar’s small but close-knit and dedicated campaign team headed
by Omar Khan had more than held their
own against the much better financed and resourced campaigns of Kathleen Wynne
and Sandra Pupatello which are supported and managed by experienced party
insiders.
In the
weekend battles Sandra Pupetello cornered 504 delegates decisively beating the
previously thought front runner Kathleen Wynne who collected 463 delegates.
Takhar with thirteen per cent of the vote won 244 delegates just 13 shy of
twice unsuccessful provincial and federal leadership candidate Gerard Kennedy whose
campaign was only able to elect a disappointing 257 candidates.
At the
convention there will also be approximately 400 ex-officio delegates who are
party officials and candidates defeated in the last election. These ex-officio
delegates will be revealing their allegiances in the next few days and a
significant majority of them are expected to support Pupatello.
According to
two party insiders who asked to remain anonymous if a significant majority of
the delegates who are committed to Takhar and Charles Sousa on the first round
of voting were to move with either of these candidates to Pupatello on the
second or third ballots, Pupatello could be elected the next premier of Ontario
by mid afternoon on Sunday January 27.
While the
real horse trading will take place on the floor of the Liberal party convention,
discussions are already taking place as to which trailing candidate will
support which candidate ahead of them in the early rounds of voting.
Part of
those discussions are about the expectations as to future cabinet appointments
and Takhar who is the only candidate with an extensive management and business
background is likely to seek and receive at least a strong promise of
consideration to take over the finance portfolio in the next Liberal government.
Takhar’s
campaign spokeswoman Jenna Mannone, however, strongly denied that Takhar has
sought or been offered any special consideration. Insisting that there were “no plans, no
offers, (and) no deals” Mannone said “Mr.
Takhar (as the next premier of the province will be) working hard to create
jobs, be fiscally prudent, help small business and protect the most vulnerable
people of Ontario”
The degree
of Takhar’s success which has come as a complete surprise to the political and
media establishments could lead to another round of hostile reaction from the Toronto
Star. Star columnist Martin Regg-Cohn
has penned two extremely negative opinions of Takhar without subjecting the other
mainstream leadership candidates to the same degree of scrutiny.
The Toronto
Star’s repeated attacks on Takhar caused concern even among rival
campaigns. A senior strategist in the campaign
of a leading candidate complained that there was a strong hint of racism in the
Toronto Star’s repeated negative focus on Takhar who immigrated to Canada from
India in 1974.
An insider
with another campaign worried that unwarranted attacks such as those directed at
Takhar by the Toronto Star could result in non-white Canadians shying away from
participating in the political process.
This fear may not be warranted, however, as many delegates from diverse
backgrounds were in fact elected at the delegate selection meetings held this
past weekend.
Viresh Fernando is a
Toronto based lawyer, writer and political junkieStarBuzz, Toronto
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