Marcel Beaubien knows more than a bit about politics. The former mayor of Petrolia had two terms as MPP for what was then known as Lambton-Kent-Middlesex -- until his Progressive Conservatives were turfed from office a year ago by Ontario voters.
In June, Beaubien ran in the federal riding of Sarnia-Lambton under the banner of the new Conservative party. He failed to dislodge Liberal Roger Gallaway, but it wasn't for lack of trying.
Now, Beaubien's name has come up in the current race to lead the Ontario Progressive Conservatives. Not as a candidate, mind you, but as an endorser.
"I hate leadership campaigns," Beaubien says. "The three candidates are all good people."
The three are John Tory, Jim Flaherty and Frank Klees. And two of them are going to lose.
In the dying days of the provincial campaign that ends with next Saturday's vote in Toronto, interesting squabbles have erupted.
One involves Beaubien.
Klees, the MPP from Oak Ridges, north of Toronto, has a list of PC supporters backing his campaign posted on his website.
At the top of the list of "former MPPs" appears the name Marcel Beaubien. An asterisk draws the reader to the bottom of the list, where this notation appears: "Mr. Beaubien's support for Frank is confirmed, yet team Flaherty continues to post his name as a supporter, despite requests by Mr. Beaubien to remove it."
Contacted about this dispute about his allegiance, Beaubien was succinct: "I'm supporting both of them."
And he can. Party members will vote on one ballot that asks their preference as leader -- in order.
Beaubien sat in the Ontario legislature with both Flaherty, the MPP from Whitby, and with Klees. In the last PC government, Flaherty was finance minister and Klees was minister of transportation. Tory has never held elected office.
Beaubien says his first preference is Klees, Flaherty his second.
But did Beaubien, as the Klees website says, contact Flaherty and ask his campaign not to use his name in its list of endorsements?
"No," replies Beaubien. "No doubt there is some confusion."
But he's obviously pleased with his sudden popularity.
It's not just Beaubien. The candidates are looking for all the friends they can find as the race winds down.
How else could you possibly explain some unexpected assertions coming from Tory and Klees this past week?
Tory, widely seen as a "red" Tory, has a generally progressive streak on social issues. But he took a sharp turn to the right when he said he'd reinstate the lifetime ban on those who commit welfare fraud. The old Common Sense Revolution of premier Mike Harris imposed that ban, which has since been rescinded by the McGuinty Liberals.
At the same time, Klees, generally seen as being on the right side of the political spectrum for his willingness to consider a two-tier health system, said he couldn't believe his ears.
Klees told The Free Press during a Lambeth barbecue Thursday: "I
don't think this is John. This marks the unravelling of a campaign that was a house of cards."
For his part, Klees said welfare benefits should be adjusted to deal with high rents as warranted on a regional basis, because the "one-size- fits-all" approach is too harsh.
It looked like Tory and Klees were reaching out to pick up each other's supporters. Meanwhile, Flaherty wants to bring back the Common Sense Revolution to undo the damage to Ontario he says Dalton McGuinty's Liberals are doing.
He said it's clear Tory, who once trashed the Common Sense Revolution, is now "cuddling up to it."
Yet Klees, who was part of that same revolution, said he'd hate to see it return: "The Common Sense Revolution was for 1995. It's a different world now, it's a different province."
Meanwhile, an Ipsos-Reid poll commissioned by the Globe and Mail, shows popular support for the Tories is slightly ahead of the ruling Liberals even before a new Tory leader is chosen. PC support stood at 35 per cent, while the Liberals were at 32 per cent.
The result was downplayed by Sid Noel, a political scientist at Kings University College, University of Western Ontario.
"Such a poll has very little to tell us about an election that won't be conducted for another three years," Noel says. "I don't think we can attach too much importance to it."
As for the PC leadership battle, Noel doubts many Ontarians could even name the three contenders. "It's hard to get much interest in a leadership race for a party that's out of office and years away from an election," he says.
But for those who are watching, there are some intriguing little battles going on.
It's politics, after all.