Social PCs a ‘threat’ to the party, defeated Marin says
André Marin went into the byelection in Ottawa-Vanier on Thursday expecting to win. The party’s internal numbers showed a close race.
As it turned out, the Liberals won with a hefty 19-point margin in the polls, though the PCs did show their best results in the riding in 50 years.
Speaking after the loss, Marin was blunt in his outlook for the party. He declared that social conservatives need to be put “in their place” by PC leader Patrick Brown, as they constitute “a threat to the party.”
“If they start calling some of the shots, I think you’ll see a very fast erosion in the popularity of the Progressive Conservative party,” Marin said.
The comments carry particular weight given the other byelection that took place on Thursday in Niagara-West Glanbrook. That’s where 19-year-old university student Sam Oosterhoff swiped the nomination from PC party president Rick Dykstra. Oosterhoff, who won the byelection easily in the safe PC riding, is an avowedly pro-life candidate backed by the anti-sex-ed movement.
Marin also addressed a miniscandal during the campaign that the Liberals took full advantage of: A tweet sent out by PC party staff that included his campaign manager declaring her support for Donald Trump. The tweet was hastily deleted, but the Liberals mailed a screenshot of it to homes in the riding.
“In this byelection, it’s time to send a message,” the bilingual Liberal mail-out said. “We are a progressive, inclusive community. And what happened in the U.S. will not happen here.”
Marin said he didn’t even know the tweet had been posted before it was deleted.
“I’m the most anti-Trump person you can possibly find,” Marin said. “I think that scared a lot of people, unfortunately.”
Here are extended sections of Marin’s remarks on Thursday night, after his byelection loss.
Asked if he’ll run again for the party:
“I’ve got some thinking to do ... I believe in the PC brand. I believe in Patrick Brown. I believe that steering the party to the middle is the way to do it. He’s going to have a challenge on his hands to keep the so-cons in their place. Harper managed to do very well, and I think Patrick Brown will do very well. But I think it’s a threat to the party. Because if they start calling some of the shots, I think you’ll see a very fast erosion in the popularity of the Progressive Conservative party.”
Asked about the deleted Trump tweet:
“There was a very unfortunate tweet from one of the campaign staff about admiring Trump. I think that was a huge misstep. But what can you do? You’re running a big campaign. You can’t control everybody on every step of the way, nor should you want to control them. But I’m the most anti-Trump person you can possibly find.” Asked about the overall results: “The Progressive Conservative party had zero base in this riding. We had to build from scratch. To end with 27 or 28 per cent ... it’s a base we didn’t have, so we started from scratch. The media knew it, we knew it. Of course I’m disappointed. The results do not concur with our internal polling. And, as I understand it, the Liberals’ polling either.
“I expected to win tonight. So I’m disappointed.”