Belinda derby

Three weeks of feisty dissecting of the relationship between entertainment industry lobbyists and so-called piracy opponent Sam Bulte, MP for Parkdale-High Park, supplied new media enthusiasts with their very own stake upon which the Liberals are expected to fall. Compare that to the lack of blog buzz garnered by the mid-December effort by Angry in the Great White North blogger Steve Janke to smear the sibling of Belinda Stronach for his proprietorship of SheTips, which uses generic pin-up girls as conduits for online horse wagering. Looking for any hook to discredit she who betrayed Peter MacKay, the newly-neocon Maclean’s finally got around to covering the story in its pre-election issue, grasping for any lurid allegation that could stick to Andrew Stronach. The article attempts to make SheTips sound like a cross between a house of ill-repute, offshore money launderer and shameless besmircher of the Special Olympics – none of which would get even a passing glance if Newmarket-Aurora were a lock for the Conservatives. Not that the Canadian political scene couldn’t benefit from having its own billionaire hybrid of Ted Kennedy, Billy Carter and Roger Clinton, but this tale had no traction to start with. Less encouraging for those betting against Belinda would be Christina Blizzard handicapping in the Toronto Sun that Progressive Canadian candidate Dorian Baxter “could split the right-wing vote in this tight race”. Baxter, who is better known as Rev. Elvis Priestley, did receive more votes in 2004 than the margin separating Stronach from her Liberal then-opponent, and he continues to rail against MacKay’s sell-out to Stephen Harper’s agenda. Besides, for all the desperate measures recently taken to make a federal election seem remotely worthwhile to a population that’s always one click away from a more entertaining diversion, nobody has come up with a better gimmick than a pair of aviator shades, along with a gaudy jumpsuit and a couple of mutton chops.