Cole Harbour, NS(CP)The CHSF by-election campaign hit a bit of a snag yesterday, as party leader John DeWolfe and deputy leader Chris Windeyer verbally sparred over the party's electoral alliance with Nova Scotia's New Democrats.
It all started during an otherwise uneventful press conference by Mr. Windeyer, the CHSF Foreign Affairs, Transportation, and Public Works Critic. When asked by reporters about the united front his party and the NDP show, Windeyer said he was "proud" to be a part of such an alliance, and that he saw it as "...neccesary to defeat those cowardly right-wing mother fuh's in the coalition government."
DeWolfe, however, quickly released a statement after the conference to all local media outlets, stating that as leader he wanted to "review the efficacy of our alliance with the NDP, which has really sucked at winning elections lately." This lead to rampant speculation that DeWolfe was siding with caucus member Dan Hicks, a well known opponent of the alliance, and might try to punish Windeyer and known Windeyer-loyalist Nic Carmicheal. On questionning by this reporter, DeWolfe said he was "very pleased with the job Chris did as deputy leader." When further questionned about his use of exclusively the past tense, DeWolfe got nervous and shouted "This interview is OVER!"
Government leader Dennis Richards, whose personal poll numbers have been somewhere in the Yeltsin range lately, sobered up long enough to deride the CHSF. "These clowns can't even keep their own house in order, why should anyone reward them with more seats in the Parliament." Richards then left to go vomit behind a bush.
No one can be sure what kind of impact this will have on the CHSF by-election campaigns, which to date have been cruising towards victory. For her part, Colby Centre candidate Jacquelyn Walters stated "It doesn't matter what's going on at the party office when you're running the kind of ground campaign I am." She went on to eat a vegimite sandwich before late afternoon canvassing along Nova Terrace.
