King Arthur Movie Tristan

I have met and like Gary Goodyear but I do not suggest I have been to Chez Goodyear on a Saturday night for cigars and sherry. On a couple of occasions I have met him in official capacity, and lets face it, he's a good politician which means he presents well. That said I am pleased for Gary Goodyear who today was appointed Minister of State for Science and Technology, an appointment I think is overdue.

During Minister Goodyear's first term as an MP, over the period of the Paul Martin Government, he was the head of the Conservative Party Ontario Caucus. After Stephen Harper's 2006 increase in pay grade, I thought it possible that Goodyear would be rewarded for his work with the Ontario Caucus with a key to the cabinet bathroom. It was not to be, which makes this appointment, in my opinion, overdue. Goodyear has been a loyal party man during his time as an MP, and an opportunity to show his executive mettle is warranted.

Congratulations Minister Goodyear.

Everybody should know by now it will be a Conservative victory, probably an increased minority. As of this writing the seat count is:

Conservative 144
Liberal 74
Bloc 50
Laytonians 38
Greens 0
Non Green Independents 2

Here in Cambridge, Conservative MP Gary Goodyear was returned to Parliament with a large increase in support. Goodyear had won in 2006 by almost 6,000 votes over Liberal Janko Peric. This election Goodyear ran away with a 12,000 vote victory over Liberal newcomer Gord Zeilstra.

Meanwhile in Kitchener Centre we can report that annoying Liberal Karen Redman is losing to Conservative Stephen Woodworth, albeit only by a few hundred votes. That one is going to be close, but if the results hold it should make a certain Kitchener blogger we know very happy.

Meanwhile, ladies and gentleman, Prime Minister Stephen Harper:

As indicated by the last couple of posts, and possibly the next one, I wandered over to the neighbouring community of Guelph last night to hear the Prime Minister speak at a function for Guelph candidate Gloria Kovach. Guelph will be the site of the next federal by-election (along with a Quebec riding, I believe), a by-election that must be announced by Oct 10 - a lifetime for this government. Gloria Kovach is the Conservative candidate in that by-election, as well as being somebody I know, however informally, from outside politics. She in fact, used to work with Lady Hespeler.

Last nights event started off with the run through the usual cabal of protesters heckling the people entering the event. God bless their sincerity, it was a cold wet night to be standing outside being ignored for a couple of hours, but they kept with it.

Inside the hall, my MP Gary Goodyear kicked things off with a warm up speech that was, in my father-in-laws words, as entertaining as it was empty. But really, nobody was there to hear what Gary Goodyear had to say, so he got the meaningless lines and a chance to poke fun at the Liberals.

Next up was Gloria Kovach herself, who said little other than to introduce herself, thank everybody for their support, and introduce Prime Minister Harper. The two introductory speeches didn't take ten minutes of the evening I am sure.

Then came the Prime Minister. He gave a fairly long speech, in the neighbourhood of half-an-hour I would estimate, and covered a lot of ground. He took a few jabs at Stephane Dion, particularly good was when he outlined all the times Dion swore he was taking down the government. But mostly he talked of the governments accomplishments, and what the Conservatives would like to do moving forward, including more crime legislation and senate reform. I thought the best line of the night was the most important (paraphrasing a little): in the by-elections Monday we did something very unusual for a governing party, we took a seat away from the opposition.

Overall it was a good effective speech for a partisan crowd. He hit all the right buttons, said most of the things a conservative crowd wanted to hear, and got an agreeable reaction. The night concluded with an opportunity to shake the PMs hand and get a picture with him. A nice opportunity, in which as I indicated earlier, I asked him where his wife was (I was hoping for a picture with her, actually). It resulted in a small, pleasant conversation about the kids schooling. I'll tell you I had a far better chat with him (if 30 seconds = a chat) than if I'd asked him about tax policy or the Quebec question. If I ever get a chance to meet him again, I'm asking about Ben's hockey