The Liberals should do something for Canadians that they never bothered to do in the 12 years that they held power last. They should give the country a break--end the leadership race and simply declare a winner. Even though it is early in the spring-summer-fall race to succeed Paul Martin, a natural winner has emerged. End the silliness and be done with it.
With eleven candidates in the race, the leadership contest is about as exciting as the first round of the NHL playoffs with seemingly more people in the race than out of it. Unfortunately, unlike the quest for Lord Stanley's Cup, the Liberal leadership will never naturally progress down to two candidates, and the excitement of finding out which of the two ends up with the prize.
Even at this early stage of the race, a natural Liberal Party leader has emerged. The party should just stop and hold one of its infamous coronations. The person who should be the next leader of the Liberal Party and the next prime minister-in-waiting is the truest of the True Grits--Joe Volpe, a.k.a. Pizza Joe, and now a.k.a. apo Joe.
Under Canada's current election law, donations to leadership candidates from corporations are prohibited while monies that can be given by "individuals" are limited to $5,400. Volpe received a total of $108,000 from 20 individuals who were either executives of apotex Inc., a major drug company, or members of their families. The family members who contributed to Pizza Joe's campaign consisted not only of adults but children, including 11-year-old twins. Volpe became incensed when NDP MP Pat Martin suggested that the donations amounted to fraud and threatened to launch an action for slander.
Volpe is no doubt correct that accepting donations from children is perfectly legal. In his denials that there was anything even morally wrong with pre-pubescent children giving him thousands of dollars to help him become the next leader of the Liberal Party, Volpe showed that he is the one and only natural successor to Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin.
There is a misconception out there that the Liberal Party fell from power because of the sleaze and corruption that surrounded the "end justifies the means" sponsorship scandal. Of all of the candidates, Pizza Joe knows that this is not true. The Liberal Party of Canada fell from grace because they picked their last leader on the basis that it was his turn to govern. Paul Martin Jr. was the heir apparent to Chrétien's throne so long that no one bothered to really take a look at Paul the man. Had they paid any attention to the guy whose right to govern stemmed from who his father was, they would have realized that he had no substance and was bound to go down as one of if not, the worst, prime ministers in Canada's history. If Jean Chrétien had hung around it would be the Conservatives who would be searching for a new leader. The Liberal Party is synonymous with sleaze and who better to lead the party than someone who can finance his run for the throne from pre-teens.
It's true that Volpe did decide to return the donations to the mouths of babes from which they came. He did so for the same reason that Richard Nixon gave up his presidency in 1974. Nixon stonewalled and ignored his opponents who clamored for him to quit. Nixon only packed it in when his friends went to him and told him it was over. Volpe undoubtedly had his "Sheila Copps' bank machine moment" when Liberal-loving Jim Travers wrote a column in the Liberal-loving Toronto Star entitled "Volpe should quit Liberal race".
Volpe is the one candidate who understands the Liberal Party and the only one who is capable of leading it. The candidates who are running on the promise of creating a "new" Liberal Party, most notably Carolyn - Canada's 21st century version of Wacky Bennett - are simply spouting unrealistic nonsense. If Canadians truly wanted a "new" party, the House of Commons would be brimming over with Green Party MPs. Volpe is the one leadership candidate who truly exemplifies and understands the party. Volpe deserves the leadership and more importantly, the Liberal Party of Canada deserves Joe Volpe.
and for all those Canadians who are moaning and whining about the lack of government controlled subsidized daycare spaces, they will be quite pleased with apo Joe's Canada. after all what could be better than to have large groups of potential Liberal Party-donating toddlers all in one place?
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