Till It's Over

"I'm in this race because I have strong views about what the Liberal party needs and what Canada needs. That's the Canada I want to build, that's why I'm running, and that's why I'm running until Liberals make their final choice."
Martha Hall Findlay

"The race is only starting. We have many, many milestones ahead of us. People are still looking at the debates, and most of them haven't really made up their minds."
Martin Cauchon

"It's not over till it's over. It's not over until the last ballot is counted."
David Bertschi

The man who looked as though he was capable of giving the 'popular' favourite in the race to become the new leader of the Liberal Party of Canada a run for his money, is a rational man with a scientific, mathematical mind. He ran a good campaign to acquaint the public with the potential he exemplified as a leader. He is, after all, a middle-aged man who has accomplished much with his life. An engineer by profession, a notable inventor, he looked down on Earth from outer space, as an astronaut. He headed the Canadian Space Agency. And, ultimately, became a Parliamentarian, and currently was vying for his party leadership.

His single most obvious failing that is now obvious is that he hasn't got the courage of his convictions. He is personally convinced, as are many others, that he would make not only a credible but an excellent leader of one of Canada's oldest political parties. And his human and political and intellectual attributes would make him a worthy adversary to the current governing Prime Minister of Canada. Lacking sufficient faith in himself, he regretfully withdrew from the leadership race.

Leaving the field wide open to permit the credulous and the shallow who adore celebrity, to proceed with the direction they were headed toward, but now with his distinct personal permission; the crowning of Justin Trudeau. A man who shamelessly trades on his name, and his foppish appearance, his facility in handling the generation that he is assured will bring him to the helm of the party his father once headed.

Marc Garneau decided he would weigh the possibilities open to him; whether he would feel satisfactorily justified in continuing his bid for the leadership of the Liberal party, or whether the auguries simply did not present the figures that he felt would offer him hope of winning that bid. He engaged in some internal polling, he explained, of 6,000 Liberal members and 'supporters', a new category of limited allegiance to the Liberals playing a 21st Century electoral game. Discovering from his calculations and the numbers that surfaced that all his efforts would come to naught.

And, logically enough, on the strength of that determination, felt it more reasonable to opt out than to remain in what he would henceforth only be able to consider a farce. Not that the entire situation didn't resemble a farce from beginning to end. The leadership contest appeared, in fact, to anyone capable of stomaching it long enough to make sense of it, a popularity contest. Nice people, capable people, involved in travelling and advertising their abilities and potentials, to be vetted by prospective voters and supporters, and engaging in polite debates.

"As far as I can see, it's a fait accompli", Marc Garneau explained to reporters. It certainly appears so. He may be quite correct, that it is "mathematically" unrealistic for him to expect to win a contest that an ostensibly air-headed, handsome young scion of a famous tradition and an infamous name and reputation had only to appear, to win with votes to spare. But, said Joyce Murray, the contender who stood third in the 'mathematical' ratings, "It's not a fait accompli. The game is long."

She's game to continue. It's truly a pity that Marc Garneau allowed himself to become so dispirited by what appeared to him to be the inevitable that he preferred to suffer the ignominy of bowing out rather than soldiering on, because, actually, no one knows what fortune and future hold. He leaves us chagrined with the thought that Justin Trudeau will prevail and be foisted upon a disbelieving public.

"He was the guy with the right stuff at the wrong time. I think Marc would make a fabulous leader of the party, and ultimately prime minister. But it came down to numbers", said one of the three sitting Liberal MPs who gave his support to Mr. Garneau, John McKay. It is nothing short of tragic to read those lines uttered by Marc Garneau: "...I will support the leader, and that leader will be Justin Trudeau."

More, it is utterly galling to read that Mr. Garneau claimed: "I'm very comfortable with (Trudeau's_ principles and values and morals." And then, to cap it off Trudeau wrote in his Twitter account: "Thank you@MarcGarneau for your support and for a lifetime of service to Canadians. Lots of work still to do, together!"

Damnation!