For those pondering the tea leaves of federal politics,
the omens seemed clear.While Kenney kept his distance
from Harper’s scandal-tarnished brand, his riding
association books revealed a staggering $315,000 war chest,
far more than he needed to recapture his own safe seat,
yet ample enough to share with MPs whose
gratitude might come in handy during a race for the top job.
Certainly, no other candidate boasted comparable credentials
or such populist appeal.As the architect of a seven-year strategy
to woo ethnic voters away from the complacent Liberals, Kenney
was hailed as the rainmaker behind Harper’s long-coveted majority,
but he had also built up a database of immigrant loyalists
that his rivals could only envy.
After tagging along on one of his fifteen-hour days, watching him
shuttle among a dozen national and religious festivals, munching
his way to his nickname, Curry in a Hurry,the Toronto Star succumbed
to breathless hyperbole, comparing his wattage to Justin Bieber’s.
As recently as last January, Ottawa’s influential Hill Times profiled
him not as a minister but a “contender.”
read the whole scary saga of Mr. Kenney by Marci McDonald at THE WALRUS
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