[. . . .] The pitch from Stronach and her campaign team is that she's a new face -- a breath of fresh air inserted into a musty political scene.

[. . . .] But, in part, Stronach is not that new. Her economic ideas -- lower taxes, more money for the military, more incentives to encourage productivity -- are well-worn, rolled out by every candidate in every Tory leadership race for the past two decades.

Her health care views (formal obeisance to medicare coupled with a call for more private sector involvement) echo the conventional wisdom of the modern right.

Only her support of same-sex marriage is bold -- at least for someone seeking the Conservative party crown.

[. . . .] And many from Mulroney's old Quebec machine, including veteran organizer Senator Pierre Claude Nolin, have signed on with Stronach.

[. . . .] it does mean she is not entirely baggage-free. Politics is a reciprocal game; favours granted must eventually be returned.

Or, as Mulroney used to put it, "Ya dance with the one that brung ya."

So who's bringing Belinda Stronach to this prom?

Number 1 on the list is her father, Frank, the flamboyant, eccentric, rags-to-riches auto parts billionaire who now divides most of his time between a castle in Austria, his family compound north of Toronto and an apartment in Switzerland (where he lives in order to avoid Canadian income tax).

[. . . .] "Frank cares a lot about public policy," says Ed Lumley, a former federal Liberal cabinet minister who now sits as a director on the boards of three Magna companies and who has known Belinda since she first became a director 16 years ago.

[. . . .] One notable exception occurred in 1988 when [Frank Stronach] broke with most of the Canadian business class to run for Parliament -- as a Liberal -- against free trade and Mulroney.

[. . . .] Stronach lost, mended fences with Mulroney's winning Conservatives and transformed Magna into a multinational -- to such an extent that today almost three-quarters of its employees are outside Canada.

He didn't give up his behind-the-scenes work.

In 1995, after returning in triumph to his native Austria, he threw himself into the midst of that country's political scene.

Defying critics, he associated with top members in the ultra-right Freedom party whose de facto head, Joerg Haider, an open admirer of Hitler's economic policies, has been roundly criticized throughout Europe and North America.

In 1998, Stronach hired Karl-Heinz Grasser, then a key figure in Haider's party, to do European public relations for Magna.

Eventually, Grasser returned to politics as Austria's finance minister, which led to more controversy when it became known that Grasser had been secretly negotiating with his old boss -- Stronach -- to sell Austria's state-owned steel company to Magna.

[. . . .] She says she was an early supporter of Reform party founder Preston Manning when he first fractured the old Progressive Conservatives in 1987.

Yet, she was never a member of the Reform party.

In fact, she was never a member of the old Progressive Conservative party, or the old Canadian Alliance party. She says she joined the new Conservative party only when she decided to try for its leadership.

[. . . .] Even her supporters become vague when asked how they came to know her.

"I must have met her before," says Val Meredith, a British Columbia Conservative MP who backs Stronach and who was one of the original Reformers. "I only got to know her later."

[. . . .] Former Ontario finance minister Janet Ecker is working for Stronach as a paid campaign adviser. [. . . .]

Why does Bill Davis support Stronach? Because he knows her from Magna International, where he served as a well-compensated company director for 18 years.

[. . . .] Why does Harris support her? . . . . he, too, is a Magna director.

Like all Magna directors, Harris will reap the standard, generous stipend. In his case, that means $60,000 (all figures U.S.) in retainers, plus $1,500 per meeting for just showing up, $2,000 a day in travel expenses and up to $3,000 a day for any additional services -- as well as stock options. However, no one would suggest that Harris is backing Stronach for the money. He's got his rich MPP's pension.

Rather, he, like fellow-directors Davis and Lumley, is among the few people in the country who know her in more than a superficial way.

[. . . .] Lumley wouldn't vote for her in a general election. He's a Liberal and an old high school chum of Prime Minister Paul Martin. But he wishes her luck.

[. . . .] Davis' endorsement, for example, did not carry with it all of the Davis-era Tories.

Many, including Hugh Segal, himself a former failed Tory leadership candidate, are supporting Clement.

[. . . .] Some former Harris aides support Stronach but many of the old revolutionaries, including strategists Tom Long and Leslie Noble, went with their old pal Clement.

Even Mulroney's not-quite endorsement was insufficient to bring all of his old team on side. Toronto lawyer Sam Wakim, often referred to as Mulroney's best friend, is backing Clement. [. . . .]

As for Nolin, who owes his Senate appointment to Mulroney, he insists that his decision to support Stronach was not influenced by his old boss. [. . . .]

In the end, Stronach has Magna. The tone of her platform echoes what company insiders call the Magna culture -- a kind of enlightened despotism featuring employee involvement, personal development, continual skill upgrading, rich rewards for owners and deference to authority.

[. . . .] So why does someone give up -- temporarily at least -- a job that pays $9 million a year to run for the leadership of an opposition party?

[. . . .] Still, if she wins this leadership race, it will mark the first time she's held a post where her father was not the ultimate boss.

As Lumley says: "Her dad's an accomplished individual. And that in itself is not always easy to work with."