LIBERAL CHALLENGE Federal Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff officially introduced former provincial MPP Marie Bountrogianni as the Liberal flagbearer for Hamilton Mountain.

 

Bountrogianni the next Copps: Ignatieff

 

January 18, 2011

Marie Bountrogianni is being tasked with creating the next Liberal dynasty in Hamilton in the tradition of John Munro and Sheila Copps.

Federal Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff compared the former MPP and Ontario cabinet minister to the two Liberal stalwarts when he formally announced Monday afternoon Bountrogianni will be running for the party in Hamilton Mountain.

“We are announcing a star candidate,” he told more than 200 people packed into a room at the Carpenters Union Hall on Stone Church Road East.
“Hamilton has such a great Liberal tradition ... I got a memory that involves John Munro and I think of Sheila Copps. I think of all the great leaders that have served the community of Hamilton and we have another one who is about to step up.”

Hamilton Mountain has been held since 2006 by New Democrat Chris Charlton. Ignatieff noted the two women also faced off in two provincial elections, in 1999 and 2003.
“This is a woman who has the distinction of beating Chris Charlton a couple of times and she is going to do it again,” he said to applause and cheers.

Ignatieff is the midst of an 11-day tour of the 20 “most winnable” ridings the Liberals believe they can win in the next election.

Bountrogianni, who will leave her job as president of the Royal Ontario Museum at the end of January, said she was humbled by the comparison with Munro and Copps. Munro held the old riding of Hamilton East from 1962-1984 and Copps represented it from 1984-2004. Both served as federal cabinet ministers and Copps also served as deputy prime minister under Jean Chretien.
“It's humbling,” she said. “We do have some excellent Liberal provincial members here ... but we do have a void at the federal level in this city.
“Again, it's nothing personal against any of our Members of Parliament, but protesting is not enough to solve the problems.”

She said, during the recent Pan Am Stadium debate, municipal and provincial politicians were engaged in the debate, but that did not seem to be the case with the city's federal politicians.

The city's three urban ridings are held by the NDP while the two suburban ridings are held by the Conservatives.
“I have actually felt a sense of urgency over the last few months,” Bountrogianni said. “I think the Pan Am stadium debate spurred it ... Where were those voices? It's not actually about saying we will match funds. It's about actually trying to solve the problems. It's about mediating. Where were they?”
Charlton was unfazed by Bountrogianni's formal entry on to the Hamilton Mountain scene and questioned if was she indeed a successor to Munro and Copps. She noted she faced “a star” Liberal candidate, then city councillor and radio broadcaster Bill Kelly, in the 2006 election.
“I won the election,” Charlton said. “I never take anything for granted. I'm going to continue to work as hard as I have. At the end of the day, I'm confident that Hamiltonians appreciate hard work on their behalf.”

Charlton said “fought hard” to secure funding for a stadium from the federal Conservative government.
She said the issue of where to locate the stadium, which has engrossed the city for months, was “a local decision and that is why city council has been seized by that decision.”

The Conservative candidate in Hamilton Mountain is former Ward 7 Councillor Terry Anderson.
Ignatieff's visit to Hamilton follows one to Welland riding by Prime Minister Stephen Harper two weeks ago.

Federal NDP leader Jack Layton is expected to be in Hamilton Jan. 29 for a rally with locked out U.S. Steel steelworkers.

The Liberal party is also holding a nomination meeting for Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale Jan. 22 at St. Mary's Catholic High School. Seeking the nomination are former city and Flamborough councillor Dave Braden, former Ancaster councillor Bryan Kerman and business executive Anne Tennier.

Ignatieff told the gathering he did not know when an election will be called.
“I'm not seeking an election here,” he said. “But, I've got a job as leader of this party to frame up the choices when an election does come. Let's be sure what this thing is about. Are we better off than we were five years ago? I think the answer to that question is No.”

Ignatieff dismissed the latest attack advertisements unveiled by the Conservatives, which suggest Harper has a steady hand on the government and that Ignatieff will form a coalition government with the other Opposition parties as his predecessor Stéphane Dion attempted to do in 2008.
“I'm here to form a Liberal government with great people like Marie Bountrogianni,” he said. “It's a Liberal government we want to give to the people of Canada.”

He and the crowd laughed when a reporter asked about the ad's implication he was seeking to return to Harvard. “There's the response,” he said. “People are laughing at this stuff. What Canadians want in the next election is a fair fight on principle?”

 

ΠΗΓΗ / SOURCE: TheSpec