All politicians indulge in a bit of ‘spin.’ But I could almost hear the gears racing and smell burning rubber, reading Guelph MPP Liz Sandals’ comments on the Kitchener-Waterloo and Vaughan byelections (Tribune, Sept. 11). She says it was “not a bad result” for the Liberals.
Well, let’s look at the facts. Premier Dalton McGuinty lured Elizabeth Witmer to resign her seat and take a plum government job, because K-W represented his best opportunity in Ontario to capture an opposition riding. To tilt the scales, he called the byelection for the week after Labour Day, so that the students at Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University would be busy moving in, and unlikely to vote. Despite all these calculations, the Liberal candidate was crushed.
Fewer than one voter in four was willing to give the premier the majority he covets, and the Tribune’s “About Town” interviews indicated that here in Guelph there is even less support for the government.
The K-W result was very clear: Catherine Fife and Andrea Horwath won; Dalton McGuinty lost.
David Josephy
Guelph