Well this whole endorsement issue has really blown up. For those of you just joining us he's what's taken place over the past few days.
About 2 weeks ago a letter went out from the campaign team of Dr. Kellie Leitch who's seeking the Conservative nomination for Simcoe-Grey. In this letter was several endorsements from key Conservatives across the riding. One of the endorsements came from the Mayor was Wasaga Beach, and the Warden of Simcoe County, Cal Patterson. The text of his endorsement has since been taken down from Dr. Leitch's campaign website.
On Monday morning Cal was on the local radio station 97.7 the beach where he denounced the whole endorsement issue.
Here's a link to the radio broadcast http://www.bayshorebroadcasting.ca/talkshow.php?TalkShowID=5
While Cal denounces his endorsement will Wasaga Beach member of Council, Nina Bifolchi denounce her endorsement?
Kellie’s straight forward, no nonsense approach to issues make her an ideal Conservative Candidate. Kellie’s commitment, personal experiences and accomplishments make her a clear choice to represent Simcoe Grey as our Member of Parliament.
Nina Bifolchi
Councillor, Town of Wasaga Beach
How about Rick Lloyd, the Deputy Mayor of Collingwood.
“Kellie is passionate, practical, and highly effective. She will make sure that the issues that matter in Simcoe-Grey are heard and acted on in Ottawa.”
Rick Lloyd
Deputy Mayor of Collingwood
While their are several other local members of council who have used their titles to offer support for Dr. Leitch, I still stand behind my previous comments on this matter that no siitting member of any local council should endorse any Provincial or Federal candidate. Jim Wilson our MPP who's a Conservative would never openly endorse another candidate, and why does he not endorse a candidate? well not speaking for Mr. Wilson I'm sure it's because he does not want to come across as partisan, because if his pick does not win the nomination and/or the election he will have to work with the person who did win. I'm sure they won't want to work with him because of his endorsement.
Now back to Patterson and my theory on what took place here. Unless you've been living in a cave, everyone knows that Cal is the poster child for the Conservative movement in Simcoe Grey. He's stood in for Helena Guergis at a debate in the 2008 election. He attends most if not all Conservative events in our riding. Now I think he was approached by Dr. Leitch some time ago and asked for his support, which he agreed. She also most lilely said can I quote you to other Conservative supporters and Cal most likely agreed to this as well. If he did offer his support which is quite clear then why would she not use his support to help her raise money, and get other local Conservatives to support her bid. If you listen to the radio broadcast, Cal even admitted that he did support her until the this whole issue blew up in his face.
Cal claims that when he received the letter which was bulked mailed to Dr. Leitch's supporters on January 11th, he e-mailed her and flipped out claiming that he never approved the endorsement. Today is the 24th of January and why did it take until today when his was confronted on the radio station and on several local blogs did he withdraw his endorsement? I bet that if this matter never made it to the media he never would have flipped out like he claims he did.
Dr. Leitch is a very smart lady and I'm sure she has a very strong campaign team in place, and I doubt it very much that Cal Patterson never approved the endorsement. Like I said before I think he did approve the endorsement, then when things went south for him he lays the blame back at Dr. Leitch, and she agreed to take the heat for Cal on his endorsement. The last thing Patterson needs as Warden of Simcoe is to go into meetings at Queens Park with Liberal Ministers and asking them for support for the 16 communities that make up Simcoe Grey. While Provincal and Federal politics are quite different, the fact that a person who holds the highest office in Simcoe County openly supports the Conservative party will not sit well with the Provincial Liberal government.
Let's hope for the sake of all the communities that make up Simcoe Grey that Patterson has learned a lesson and keep his nose out of Federal and for that matter Provincial politics.
Until next time!
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