Featur e
Strange Bedfellows
By Larry Archer
How a Liberal communications director came to love the Conservatives on his campaign—if not their beliefs
sharing little beyond a dedication to the same candidate, but—if the chemistry is right—depart as fast friends and fellow warriors. Such was my experience on the Rocco Rossi Toronto
T
mayoral campaign of 2010. Many Liberals like me were attracted to Rossi by his long time support of our party, his narrative as a self-made son of immigrants in a city of immigrants, his progressive stance on various cultural issues, a wide-ranging intellect and his friendly, authentic personality. As time went on however, I couldn’t help noticing the
growing number of Conservative supporters coming into the office. Needless to say, I was puzzled why so many conservatives were lining up behind someone I viewed as the almost ideal Liberal candidate. Had one of us not done our due diligence? Was their own Party in Toronto so weak that their only option was to support a Liberal candidate? Comforting as that last thought was to a Lib- eral, it vanished once I started asking these conservatives what brought them through the door. “I like his business background; he knows his way
around a budget; he hates debt; he’ll cut waste.” said one veteran Conservative organizer. “I read his Empire Club
46 Campaigns & Elections | Canadian Edition
oronto mayoral elections are strange affairs. Devoid of party politics, campaigns become quirky amal- gams of strange political bedfellows who sign on
speech and signed on immediately,” said another. “There’s nothing in there that a Conservative couldn’t support.” I winced, remembering my own minor role in helping Rocco prepare that speech, and began to wonder if this campaign was putting my Liberal soul in mortal danger. What I should have realized was that this fellow had just paid Rocco the highest compliment he could get as a To- ronto mayoral candidate -- he was running a campaign which appealed to both Liberals and Conservatives. He had found that elusive balance considered so necessary to winning the Chain of Office.
Thanks to these warriors, we continually overachieved against other camps with deeper pockets and more volunteers.
As the race unfolded, our Conservatives led the way in taking the campaign to the streets. Watching them do the grunt work, it became clear that fear of hard work was not the reason for their Party’s recent lack of provincial and federal success in Toronto.
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