Sept 17, 2008
It’s been only 7 days since Gary McHale became a certified Independent candidate in Haldimand Norfolk, but Diane Finley has already made it clear she sees him as a major threat to her ambitions of being re-elected.
After Haldimand Mayor Marie Trainer told the Simcoe Reformer that “McHale’s candidacy guarantees that the rest of the field would have to talk about Haldimand’s ongoing problems related to native land claims”, Finley confronted her in what I as a voter would interpret as an effort to silence one of very few legitimately objective voices.
It’s understandable that Finley was riled by the mayor’s comment however as she likely realized at that point that McHale will force her to answer for her complete failure as an MP to the people of Haldimand Norfolk. Indeed if I were Diane Finley I too would be terrified of Gary McHale as his platform of accountability will make her policy of lying to the people and then hiding from them quite difficult to maintain during an election.