HUNTSVILLE, Ont. – Star Progressive Conservative candidate Lewis MacKenzie figured it was the best compliment he had received during weeks of campaigning.
On a street in Huntsville, in rural riding north of Toronto where he is trying his hand at elected politics for the first time, MacKenzie met a woman who vowed not to vote for him.
“I hope you don’t win,” she said one afternoon last week. “If you get into that game, they’ll just screw you.”
MacKenzie laughed and then dined out on the exchange the rest of the afternoon, recounting it to other voters who chuckled and wished him well.
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MacKenzie, a retired major general who became a celebrity when he led United Nations troops into besieged Sarajevo, strides through a Huntsville mall and down a main street like a visiting celebrity.
He has lived there for two years since retiring from the forces. An advance team announces his arrival. Voters push forward to shake his hand.
Slim and handsome, dressed casually, low-key and friendly, MacKenzie seems to be a natural politician. He shares anecdotes, talks about his passion for race car driving and tells stories about his military career.
It is easy to imagine why the Liberals asked him to run for them in 1993 and why both the Conservatives and the Reform party courted him this year.
He says he chose the Conservatives because he believes Jean Charest is the best national leader. He quietly tells voters he does not think Jean ChrŽtien is up to the job of preserving the Canadian federation.
Must beat incumbent
He is traveling a few days to carry the PC message nationally but MacKenzie’s immediate job is to defeat incumbent Andy Mitchell, a small-town banker who won the Parry Sound-Muskoka riding for the Liberals in 1993 after decades of Conservative representation.
It is the heartland of toryism; cottage country that stretches from the urban orbit st north of Toronto to the rugged terrain of northern Ontario at its uppermost tip.
Between those extremes is the shore of Georgian Bay, vacationland which has produced former Conservative premier Frank Miller, current Ontario treasurer Ernie Eves and a host of other Conservative luminaries.
The Liberals won the seat largely because Reform and Conservative votes split.
