Jack Reimer blames Huey's Jets promise for his demise in Southdale.
"I told the people at the door, I said, there's no way I would be part of any government that's going to give public funding to a professional hockey team to get them back in here," CBC reports Reimer saying.
"Definitely, it couldn't have come from someone that's been around politics for years and can sense — there's a certain sense and a certain smell that you can put with certain things," he added.
He is also quoted in other media claiming the first time he heard of the Jets promise was down at the MTS Centre where he had been summoned.
So, on the phone that fateful May 7 morning, Jack is commanded to the MTS Centre. Jack complies, apparently unaware of what the announcement was.
Jack arrives and is told to put on a white Jets jersey. Jack complies, still apparently unaware of what the announcement was.
Hugh makes announcement to bring back the Jets. Jack cheers enthusiastically along with the rest of the candidates, as you could clearly see in the TV coverage. He apparently still does not understand what the announcement is, as he would never countenance government involvement in bringing back the Jets.
Jack hits the doorstep. He meets voter outrage. He THEN finally understands what the announcement was all about.
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Huey and supporters have circled the wagons pretty fast around his leadership. Here's his spin, recounting how he could not get election-ready within a full year:
"There were limits to how much change I could inflict on the party," CBC quotes him as saying this morning.
Inflict?
Well, we guess we'll see how much change the party famous for back stabbing may be inflicting on Huey in the next while.
However, we actually hope Huey sticks around, surviving the inevitable slings and arrows of outrageous Tory fortune.
If he is given the chance, will he improve over the next four years? Quite possibly.
Will he be a formidable foe, though? Quite unlikely.
He is arrogant, self-satisfied and cannot shake his backroom-boy approach to the job.
More importantly, let's not forget the PCs would need to gain 10 seats now -- that's right, TEN seats -- in order to form a bare majority in the house.
And most of those seats they would need to take from the NDP are in Winnipeg. So which ones are they?
Every Winnipeg seat they targetted in this election, including ones gained by the NDP in 2003, were won by team Doer with an even greater plurality than the previous outing.
Fast forward four years from now with Erin Selby and Sharon Blady working their constituencies hard, following the example set by the 2003 "Southern Belles", transforming steals from the PCs into solid NDP seats.
Realistically, it will take a heck of a lot for the PCs to win in 2011.
We look forward to the prospect of a four-peat.