BYE-BYE
BELINDA?
is heading back to private practice
Incalculable
impoverishment of our national political discourse looms as rumours spread that
Belinda
Stronach
is planning to hang up her stilettos and sit out the next
election.
Relegated
to the cheap seats near the Bloc Quebecois caucus and almost never afforded the
opportunity to even ask a question in the House, La Stronach appears to be
suffering acute limelight withdrawal, and her prospects for a return to centre
stage under Stephane
Dion
seem dim indeed.
It's
all such a comedown from her gaudy and presumptuous arrival on the scene, in
risible contention for the Tory leadership. When life in opposition offered too
little face time, Belinda made her dramatic defection to the Liberals (and
curb-kicking of
Peter Mackay)
in return for a ministerial limo and unlimited ink. She was a
star.
Ever
since the Liberal convention, however. Belinda's been strictly C-list, nattering
on about mosquito nets for kids in far-off lands, garnering levels of media
attention usually reserved for plain girls. Can a head-shaving be far
behind?
If
Belinda does take a pass on re-election in Newmarket-Aurora, she'd put a smile
on face of another mug, Martha
Findlay.
Findlay,
having been steamrolled by Tory Belinda in the '04 election, then shunted aside
by the party in favour of Liberal Belinda, and then seen her leadership campaign
inevitably relegated to the back pages by Horizontal Belinda's adventure
with
Tie Domi,
has had quite enough Belinda, merci.
Martha,
of course was the first to throw her support and delegates to Stephane Dion,
chauffeuring him to the convention centre aboard her campaign
shortbus.
The
following Monday, Dion wrapped up his first day on the job at Hy's, dining with
none other than Martha Findlay.
The
next day, the Liberals announced their new seating plan, and there was Belinda
bumped from the front bench and off far to the side, with Tom
Wappel,
the Grit's one-man lunatic fringe, as a benchmate. Oh, the
humanity!
(With
files from Frank Magazine.)
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