Playing with fire is never an easy decision to make
Polarizing figures pose campaign dilemma for all three major parties
On Wednesday, ex-Toronto mayor Rob Ford came out with the somewhat surprising news that — only days before Election Day — Conservative Leader Stephen Harper would be joining him for a Saturday campaign rally.
“We’re going to show ’em what a real rally is about,” said Ford’s brother Doug, in a Wednesday interview with CP24.
By all indications, Harper is not a fan of Toronto’s most well-known political dynasty.
Admitted crack users are typically kept as far as possible from Tory campaign events.
And the Ford’s boisterous goodol’-boy style clashes with the Harper image of sober, responsible leadership.
But Harper’s unusual decision reflects a conundrum faced by anybody who has ever run a campaign for the Prime Minister’s Office: What to do when polarizing figures try to endorse you.
It’s a situation that faced NDP Leader Tom Mulcair one month ago, when a raft of prominent NDP supporters backed the Leap Manifesto, a radical plan to overthrow capitalism.
Mulcair said only that the “welcomes debate” when questioned about the plan.
The Liberals, meanwhile, have deftly tamped down an outspoken cadre of pro-Trudeau marijuana activists.
When pot crusader Marc Emery was freed from a U.S. prison in mid2014, he vowed to immediately embark on an all-out cross-Canada crusade in support of Justin Trudeau.
“The star power we could bring to the campaign alongside Trudeau, that’s powerful in an election when nothing else seems to get out the vote,” said Marc’s wife Jodie Emery in comments to the National Post at the time.
But Liberals put the kibosh on Jodie’s race for the Liberal nomination in Vancouver East and the couple has been conspicuously quiet since the writ dropped.
Earlier this week, during an appearance on the Quebec talk show Tout le monde en parle, Justin Trudeau looked decidedly uncomfortable when the hosts played “Stoners for Justin,” a satirical hip-hop song endorsing the Liberal leader.
“We’ll have to wait and see if those guys vote next Monday, if they remember,” said Trudeau, making a quip on the notoriously short memories of heavy marijuana users.
Harper has usually been quite prudent about staying well away from the polarizing fringes of the conservative movement.
In nine years as prime minister, he’s effectively ignored the antiabortion lobby, steered clear of religious gatherings and declined interviews with the right wing press.
Despite Republican entreaties from south of the border, Harper has consistently turned down offers to speak at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. And so it was with Rob Ford. Four years ago, Harper appeared at a Ford barbecue just after the Conservatives’ 2011 majority win and lauded the Fords for cleaning up the city’s “left-wing mess.”
But as Toronto City Hall was soon beset by the Jacob’s Ladder of Fordian scandals, the Conservative leader kept a careful distance.
Now, with the promised votes of Ford Nation hanging in the balance, Harper has said he won’t judge.
Failing electoral success next week, though, the Fords have promised to pick up the torch.
“Doug said if it’s a minority government, Harper’s going to step down. He wants to run for leadership,” Rob Ford told Bloomberg News in August.