Rob Ford, Mayor of Ontario

So as I alluded to yesterday, the Liberals have pulled an amazing sleight of hand whereby they have made every mayor in Ontario disappear except for Rob Ford. I mean, if Liberal strategists are telling journalists that people are scared about a Harper-Hudak-Ford trifecta, then that must mean that Rob Ford is the only mayor in all of Ontario.

Except that doesn't really work, because Oakville Mayor Rob Burton is described in this article as a bigtime Liberal supporter. There's also a Liberal MPP in Oakville. If we elect Conservative candidate Larry Scott (an excellent idea!), Oakville voters will have two Conservatives and one measly Liberal representing them.

Ditto for Vaughan, where ex-Liberal MP Maurizio Bevilacqua is mayor. Then there's London, where ex Liberal MP Joe Fontana is mayor. Then there's Ottawa, where first Bob Chiarelli was a Liberal mayor and then he became a Liberal MPP, and then Jim Watson was a Liberal MPP and then he became the Liberal Mayor. The Mayor of Kingston is Mark Gerretsen, and if that name sounds familiar, it's because his dad, John, is the Liberal MPP for Kingston and the Islands. Kingston's MP is Liberal Ted Hsu, which means that Liberals represent all three levels of government in Kingston, two from the same family. Beware the Hsu-Gerretsen-Gerretsen Triple Threat?

Out in Glengarry-Prescott-Russell, the Liberals just nominated the Mayor of North Glengarry as their candidate. The former mayor of West Lincoln is running as the Liberal candidate against Tim Hudak in Niagara West Glanbrook. West Grey Mayor Kevin Eccles is the Liberal candidate for Bruce Grey Owen Sound. In the likely event that all three of these people lose, they'll likely still be mayors. So apparently it's OK for Liberals to move from branch to branch of government without anyone raising the alarm over the same group of people running everything.

Hazel McCallion in Mississauga is a famous mayor with some Conservative leanings. But she has a long history of fighting with Harper and she didn't get along too well with Harris either. Are the Liberals really going to suggest that Hazel is, or will be, a puppet of a Tim Hudak government, or any government? Do they really want to go down that road?

So, in lots of places where Rob Ford is not Mayor, locals have nothing to fear from a cabal of conservatives taking over everything. That doesn't mean that we won't stomp the Liberals in the 416 too, of course, but it might show that the Liberals have given up hope everywhere outside the 416.

(P.S. I know I'm forgetting lots of places where Liberals rule the roost in our grand province. Sound off in the comments and expose these Liberal cabals!)