It Is Not The Time For Eddie To Be conservative

I have a different take on what happened in the federal election and how it impacts us in Windsor. Please note that I used the small "c" for "conservative" in the title line not meaning the Party

I do feel sympathy for the Mayor. Poor Eddie. He must feel like Hamlet now at the end of Act 1, Scene 5. “This time is out of joint, O cursed spite, that I was ever born to set it right.”

His plans and timetable are all out of whack now and a Conservative win does not help. Or does it? Can Eddie charm the new Government into helping Windsor—and him—out?

He has all of the responsibilities on his shoulders to get a border solution for Windsor and the Conservatives get elected. Could it be really worse than under the Liberals? Yes it can be. Windsor and the border will not be very high on their list of priorities. It sure wasn’t when Harper came to town!

The Conservatives will first have to make sure that their Western base is well looked after considering they feel ignored by the central Government. "The West has wanted in; The West is in now," the prime minister-designate said in his victory speech

Ironically, they will also have to cater to Quebec. The Bloc will maintain them in power as long as they get something. As their leader Gilles Duceppe said, "[he] wanted to remind Harper that the Bloc holds the balance of power."

Surprise, surprise, the Conservatives actually elected ten of their own MPs from Quebec. So they will get visions of being a true national power and will have to spend more money in La Belle Province for the next election.

The Conservatives did poorly in the large urban areas so to do better, they will have to focus more on the large urban cities and their real Big City Mayors. They need votes and seats there to make a breakthrough if they want a majority if the future. Mayor David Miller of Toronto said "I think by Torontonians and people in Vancouver and Montreal voting for their cities, it sends a strong message that cities needs need to be addressed if you're going to succeed electorally in the city."

Where does this leave Windsor and the border---invisible. We, of course, elected NDPers Brian Masse and Joe Comartin who did little for us before when the NDP held the balance of power. Now that the NDP is irrelevant again, then they can do nothing for us. Anyway, the Star informed us “NDP Leader Jack Layton met with The Star's editorial board during the campaign, he refused to guarantee that support for a new crossing would be the linchpin of any deal to prop up a minority government.”

Gord Henderson is trying hard to help Eddie by suggesting that he and Council kiss and make up with Jeff Watson who beat Susan Whelan by a surprisingly big majority . Gord slammed Watson in his columns when Watson issued press releases that the Mayor did not like (although Watson did prove to be correct). He understands that Jeff is the only Conservative around here although it is unlikely he will get a cabinet position. And the idea of hiring lobbyists…it did not help Eddie much with the Liberals did it? (Eddie had said as a candidate: “As mayor… Council and I will line the halls of Queens Park and Parliament Hill we will stand shoulder to shoulder with our MP’s and MPPs and remind them all everyday that they can not afford to ignore our city…… our region…… our importance.)

Now that we know (as do the Conservatives) that Eddie was approached to run for the Liberals federally and after turning down Ernie Eves in the last provincial elections to run as a PC, it will not help him for them to think he is a closet Liberal. After all, why should the Conservatives help a “Liberal” mayor. Eddie is going to have to do something dramatic if he wants Harper to even meet with him, border or no border.

Eddie needs a sacrifice. He should learn from Governor Granholm. Right after Kwame won the election in Detroit for Mayor, Dennis Archer who was her campaign chairman resigned. She needed Detroit to vote for her since she wanted to be re-elected as Governor and the last person she needed on her staff was a Hendrix supporter.

Eddie needs to act as ruthlessly as the Governor. He needs to take drastic action no matter what the consequences may appear to him to be locally. Eddie must do something right away to gain attention from Watson and his Conservative colleagues. They need a strong signal out of Windsor that Eddie wants to work with them.

Eddie knows what has to be done. The question is whether he has the nerve to do it.