The above quote is from Heather Reisman, head of Indigo Books, director of the Onex Corporation, member of the Canadian Establishment in good standing, and Liberal Party fundraiser.

Who has just joined the Conservatives, according to this story in the Globe and Mail:

Liberal power couple Heather Reisman and Gerry Schwartz have publicly broken with the Liberal Party line on the Middle East crisis and are turning to Prime Minister Stephen Harper because of his support of Israel.

In an e-mail to friends, Ms. Reisman applauded film producer Robert Lantos’s statement at a weekend rally that he would “hereby take off [his] life-long federal Liberal hat.”

“I [am] right there alongside Robert. . . . after a lifetime of being a Liberal, I have made the switch,” Ms. Reisman wrote. “Feels strange, but totally and unequivocally right.”

A recipient of the e-mail confirmed that Ms. Reisman, who was the Liberal Party of Canada’s policy chairwoman in the 1980s and who worked for Pierre Trudeau in his first election in 1965, had sent the e-mail to several friends, and that she has told others the same thing.

“She has told her friends in person and in e-mails that she is supporting the Conservatives under Stephen Harper this time,” a close friend said yesterday. “She thinks that his position on the Lebanon issue is the right one.”

The philanthropic business couple is reacting to Mr. Harper’s early support for Israel’s strong military response to the capture of its soldiers by Hezbollah forces crossing into Israel three weeks ago and the shelling of its northern territory.

How important is this? From a positioning viewpoint, it’s up there with the Emerson defection: a prominent Liberal has joined with “the enemy” because of a moral stance. There’s no real benefit to the Conservative Party financially speaking — the Accountablity Act precludes that — but if Ms. Reisman chooses to become active in the CPC infrastructure, her knowledge of fundraising activity could be invaluable.

It also gives credence to the theory that the Liberals’ neutrality position on the Middle East would alienate the Jewish vote. Both Reisman and Schwartz are prominent members of the Canadian Jewish community, and they’re as politically active as you can get. And there’s also the counter-theory that Harper’s pro-Israel stance would earn him points from the opposition because of its clarity. That it would lead to actual party switches may be looked at as wishful thinking at first, but the idea is suddenly credible.

Finally, this news is yet another straw on the camel’s back that is the Liberals’ annus horribilis. A lost election, coupled with a lacklustre performance in Opposition and a moribund leadership contest — while the good ship Liberal isn’t foundering, they haven’t been able to get things pumping.

Heather Reisman picked a good time to re-align herself. Intelligent Liberals should consider doing the same.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 4th, 2006 at 08:23 and is filed under Can Cons, Libranos, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.