By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON, ON June 14, 2011 – There is an awfully cocksure crowd calling the shots within the Burlington Provincial Progressive Conservative Association – they’re taking their time in setting a nomination date and the one declared candidate is beginning to chomp at the bit.
Brian Heagle who has been a candidate since January sent out a letter to everyone he had an email address for asking them to join him in his drive to win the seat for the provincial Progressive Conservatives. In his letter there are a couple of digs. “A candidate” declares Heagle, “must be committed, without hesitation” and given that no one has come forward seeking the nomination Heagle suggests that there really isn’t much in the way of commitment. That’s the kind of suggestion a good lawyer would put forward.
There was a time when the late John Boich was certain he had a winner in Brian Heagle but Brian wasn’t sure he could win as a Liberal and when Joyce Savoline, the sitting member, announced she was not going to run, Heagle changed his political stripes. In this photo, the Boich, on the far right, looks fondly at his protégé.
Something is holding up the decision to set a nomination date. If they are waiting for another candidate to come out of the blue – that would be a Tory blue – Heagle is suggesting there isn’t much commitment from a person who sits on the sidelines this long.
Are the provincial Progressive Conservatives so certain of their electoral base in Burlington that they can run with whoever comes along. The last thing a political party wants to do is take their members for granted.
The issue of course is that there is just a little too much red in the Heagle’s pedigree and the party would rather wait and see if someone a little more to their liking comes along.
That someone wasn’t Rene Papin nor was it Brad Reaume. Both withdrew as nominees and not because they felt Heagle was unbeatable. Papin because he was asked to withdraw and Reaume for reasons that aren’t clear to many people.
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