Turner stages comeback bid
HALTON REGION Tory running in Liberal riding Incumbent changed sides
Former Tory revenue minister Garth Turner is making a comeback bid in Halton riding, where a major battle is shaping up with Liberal incumbent Gary Carr.
Halton is one of three ridings contained in the Region of Halton, all held by Liberals; the others are Oakville and Burlington.
Turner was in cabinet under the short- lived Kim Campbell government in 1993, after an unsuccessful leadership bid when Brian Mulroney stepped down.
Turner held the former Haltonriding from 1988 to 1993, when he was defeated.
Turner, 56, was nominated following a hotly contested, fourcandidate race this past May.
Carr was a former Tory MPP and Speaker of the Ontario Legislature who had a falling out with then- premier Ernie Eves before leaving the party and joining the federal Liberals just before the 2004 election.
Turner labelled Carr “ an arrogant flip- flopper,” and a “ politician of convenience . . . Gary has not really impressed a lot of people. His conversion from Conservative to Liberal raised a lot of eyebrows. . . . He is a vulnerable opponent.”
Carr’s response: “ He called the former prime minister ( Jean Chrétien) a meathead. He has a bit of a reputation for personal attacks and we’re not going to engage in personal attacks. Having said that, he has a record to run on and it’s a record . . . of economic mismanagement.” With a booming TV production company and a column running in newspapers across the country, why is Turner making a comeback bid?
“ I’m concerned about the Liberal spending spree and that we’re starting to drift economically. I’ve always been interested into getting back into public life. I would have done it ( in 2004), but my business affairs were really too complicated. I worked hard over the past year to make sure my businesses are looking after themselves to allow me the chance to do this.”
Turner said the election will be fought more on economic issues than the Liberal sponsorship scandal. The billions in spending promises made by the Liberals will be inflationary and spike mortgage rates, and that’s a big issue in his predominantly middleclass riding, he said.
“ About 40- 60 per cent of the homeowners here have adjustable rate mortgages and they’ve experienced two rate hikes recently, with more to come.” On top of that, the escalating cost of gasoline, home heating fuel and high income taxes is killing the middle class, he said.
“ People don’t understand that when the government’s running such a budgetary surplus why there is no room for mitigation of the tax load,” said Turner, noting Tory policies offer relief. The riding contains the town of Milton and parts of urban Oakville and Burlington, and includes rural areas. In 2004, Carr defeated Conservative Dean Martin, by 48.4 per cent to 38.4 per cent, a 5,658- vote gap. Asked if he can withstand a possible voter backlash from the sponsorship scandal, Carr replied: “ There’s a dramatic backlash against ( Conservative Leader) Stephen Harper. This Conservative party is nothing more than the Reform party. . . . The interesting thing is Garth Turner ran for the Conservatives against the Reform party and now he is the Reform party.”
Carr, 50, pointed to his government’s record of keeping promises. “ In the last election, Paul Martin and I made about half a dozen promises to the people of this riding and in less than two years we have fulfilled all of those commitments, including funding for cities, more child care spaces and $100 million to help Ford build a new flex plant ( in Oakville) to preserve jobs.” The gas tax and GST rebates have added millions of dollars to the coffers of Halton Region and the local municipalities, he said. The riding is experiencing strong economic growth, a low jobless rate (around 3.5 per cent) and a high standard of living, he said. Average family income in the riding is $ 103,600. The New Democrats have never been a threat in any Halton riding and at best can play the role of spoiler by siphoning off votes from disgruntled Liberals.
Retired lawyer Anwar Naqvi is running for the NDP, as he did in 2004, when he captured 8.2 per cent of the vote.