First officially out of the gate - and right back in it again - was Calgary lawyer Jim Prentice, an also-ran in last spring's Progressive Conservative Party leadership race who lost to Peter Mackay. Mackay also formally announced he wouldn't seek the top job once former Canadian Alliance leader Stephen Harper announced he was in.
Party activists who find Stephen Harper about as dynamic as Stephen Wright on Valium could hardly have had their pulses racing by the announced candidacy of Tony Clement. The former Tory Ontario Health Minister comes across as a kindly, harmless accountant and speaks with about as much passion as one addressing at a CGA conference on the intricacies of tax law.
This week, the newly minted Conservative Party of Canada has finally three declared candidates for the party leadership with the entrance of Ontario auto parts magnate Belinda Stronach.
Stronach, president and CEO of one of North America's most successful auto parts corporations, Magna International, is stirring up interest in the race to lead this sort of new party. Unfortunately, she's attracting attention for all the wrong reasons.
It's nothing new to consider political reporting to be shallow, with media often drawing focus to nearly anything about a candidate except the issues. With Ms. Stronach, the focusing is easy as one of the first descriptions nearly always modifying her proper noun is 'attractive' or even 'beautiful.'
Let's leave aside for the moment the electorate's tastes in physical beauty. In fact, let's leave it aside for the entire leadership race and beyond.
As much as we like to believe that Canada is a progressive, forward thinking nation, somehow our media - this includes female writers, by the way - resort to discussing fashion, youth and general aesthetics the moment a woman enters the political arena.
To date, few have written of Prime Minister Martin's, Stephen Harper's or Jack Layton's looks or fashion sense (though if pressed, most would no doubt remind Mr. Layton that moustache is early 1990's RCMP). Why then does the media persist in describing Belinda Stronach as young, slim and beautiful. To wit:
The Toronto Star says she is "pretty." Don Martin in the National Post felt it necessary to describe her high fashion and black heels. Bruce Cheadle in The Toronto Sun referred to her as the "poster girl package" of Canadian conservatism.
