Belindamania is sweeping Quebec - well, lightly dusting it, anyway.
Recent polls suggest that support among Conservatives for party leadership candidate Belinda Stronach is strongest in this province.
In a survey conducted Feb. 3-19 by Ipsos-Reid for the Globe and Mail and CTV, 44 per cent of Conservative supporters in Quebec preferred Stronach for the party leadership.
Just a minute, there; look who commissioned the poll. Think about who the Globe and Mail and CTV would support. Things are not as bleak as they seem, perhaps.
Stephen Harper, leader of the former Canadian Alliance, had the support of 24 per cent, and Tony Clement, former Ontario Conservative cabinet minister, had 16 per cent.
Money and the power that comes with it through her father who ran for the Liberals wins again, it seems. No-one I have spoken to thus far has seen Belinda winning on broad substance, public presentation nor political ability. In fact, while most gave her plus points for staying in the game, they certainly do not see her as CEO of Canada's government. But then, it is Quebec where cara dura reigns supreme and her backers, including Brian Mulroney, apparently have enough cara dura to subvert the real ability of a Stephen Harper in the service of maintaining Red Tory--and nearly Liberal--control. Only in Quebec, you say? Let's hope so. NJC
