In my post about having Garth Turner express his support for the Dion-May deal on Central Nova by stepping aside in favour of a Green Party candidate endorsed by the Liberal Party, I noted that the people in an audience addressed by Turner in Dresden also liked Stephane Dion's move.
Well, if his constituents are on board...oops.
And that's where I made my mistake.
It turns out Dresden is not in Turner's riding. Honestly, I didn't even think to check the map. I just assumed that some opposition MP who isn't even trusted to have a shadow cabinet position would be giving speeches just to constituents, and wouldn't be a big draw in other ridings.
I was wrong, and I admit that.
The mistake was helpfully pointed out to me by none other than Garth Turner:
DEAR IDIOT
Regarding your comment that people in my riding support the May-Dion deal, per my latest blog, I was speaking of an audience in Desden [sic], Ont. Yeah, 300 km away. Can I send you a map? Sheesh.
Garth
Hon Garth Turner PC, MP, Halton
(905) 693-0166 Riding | Cell (905) 399-5114
86 Main Street, Milton ON L9T 1N3
House of Commons, Ottawa K1A 0A6| (613) 996-7046
daily news: www.garth.ca | daily blog: www.garth.ca/weblog/
email me: garth@garth.ca
I've checked around, and the AOL address seems to have been associated with Garth Turner in the past.
Idiot? It's what passes for political discourse in the 21st century, I suppose.
So I wrote back:
Maps aside, are your constituents supportive of your position on the May-Dion deal? Would they support having the Liberal candidate step aside and having a Green Party candidate enjoy the endorsement of the Liberal Party? For the good of the environment, of course.
To which I got this response:
Beats me. Ask them.
Hon Garth Turner PC, MP, Halton
(905) 693-0166 Riding | Cell (905) 399-5114
86 Main Street, Milton ON L9T 1N3
House of Commons, Ottawa K1A 0A6| (613) 996-7046
daily news: www.garth.ca | daily blog: www.garth.ca/weblog/
email me: garth@garth.ca
I've reproduced the entire email because I found it amusing that someone would write "Beats me. Ask them," about the opinion held by constituents on a major political issue, and then append all that verbiage related to being the member of parliament for that riding.
I'll come back to this later, but at the time it struck me as so funny that I just had to write back one more time, and tease him just a little bit:
Really got your finger on the pulse of your constituency, eh? So, are you really Garth Turner? Quick test: What critic's position do you hold in Stephane Dion's shadow cabinet?
Answer is, of course, no position, which I already knew, and which is why I got sloppy about checking where Dresden was in the first place.
See, it all ties together.
The response?Ministry of idiot bloggers.
Hon Garth Turner PC, MP, Halton
(905) 693-0166 Riding | Cell (905) 399-5114
86 Main Street, Milton ON L9T 1N3
House of Commons, Ottawa K1A 0A6| (613) 996-7046
daily news: www.garth.ca | daily blog: www.garth.ca/weblog/
email me: garth@garth.ca
I considered a schoolyard taunt like "Takes one to know one", but instead I decided to ask him something that has been bugging me for some time. Belinda Stronach crosses the floor, and becomes a senior cabinet minister. What about Garth?
A position of trust and responsibility for a former cabinet minister. Seriously, I have no doubt Stephane Dion will offer you Belinda Stronach's critic's position. I mean, you are an experienced businessman and finance expert, so giving you her Competitiveness and New Economy folder makes sense. When do you think your value to the Liberal Party is going to be publicly recognized? Which comes back to the whole question of not offering up your riding as another gift to the Greens.
I've always wondered why a neophyte like Omar Alghabra would get a important shadow cabinet post, and a veteran like you are giving speeches...where was that? Dresden?
To all my readers in Dresden, I apologize ahead of time. I am using your town to suggest something minor and even insignificant. Sorry, but I was making a point.
Omar Alghabra has no experience in government at any level, having won his seat for the first time in the 2006 election, and is the shadow cabinet critic for citizenship and immigration. Garth Turner has served as an MP since 1988, and was Minister of National Revenue in Kim Cambell's cabinet.
Garth hasn't responded, and I don't expect him to.
The whole exchange is rather silly, and I would have dismissed it but for one bit:
Steve Janke, Idiot Blogger: Maps aside, are your constituents supportive of your position on the May-Dion deal? Would they support having the Liberal candidate step aside and having a Green Party candidate enjoy the endorsement of the Liberal Party? For the good of the environment, of course.
Garth Turner, MP: Beats me. Ask them.
That strikes me as a rather cavalier thing to say as the member of parliament. He didn't say, "Beats me, but I plan to ask my constituents next week," or something along those lines. He just didn't seem to care what they thought. I would think that Stephane Dion would be interested on how people across the country are reacting to his agreement with the Green Party, and the feedback from Liberal MPs would be a major element of that analysis, along with polls and media tracking.
But for the riding of Halton, the Liberal MP is not really plugged into what the constituents are thinking, and I can't shake the feeling that he doesn't think it matters.
Makes me wonder where Stephane Dion is going to go for information that will help the Liberals hold on to Halton in the next election.
I guess Garth Turner has some time to come up with a better answer before Stephane Dion asks him the same thing I did. I just hope Garth doesn't slip up and call Stephane Dion an idiot.
In the mean time, I think I've got a new addition to my Quotes page. Garth Turner was nasty to me. That puts me in fine company.
