Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada Indian In The Cabinet by Jody Wilson-Reybould

Not much is said about Bill Blair and his value to the Liberal Cabinet. He spent 39 years as a cop, and was Toronto's chief of police for his last 10. Blair started his career walking a beat. Over the years, he worked undercover, in drug enforcement and investigated organized crime. His dad was a cop and his grandfather was a firefighter. He had regular dealings with the RCMP and the Ontario Provincial Police. He's connected, has a history, and is well liked by his constituents. Unless he makes a big mistake, he will only leave office feet first.

What was it about Bill Blair that got the Liberals attention? It wasn't his looks. And most liberal minded people don't like cops. His draw was where he lived and worked - in vote rich Ontario.

Blair knows how the police run. He was in charge of a department with a one billion dollar a year operating budget. But that really wasn't what makes him appealing to Liberal insiders. He knows the city. Of the 338 federal ridings in Canada, 121 are in Ontario. That's over a third of the total number of seats in the country. Just in Toronto and the GTA, there are 57 ridings - 17% of total number in a tiny area of approximately 7100 sq. km. If you factor in the ridings immediately outside the GTA, it's over 100. That's a lot of seats! And it's obvious that politicians from every party are interested in controlling that real estate.

Blair knows where the rich and the poor live. He knows where the immigrants hang out, work and vote. He knows where the crimes occur. As a cop, he dealt with all of this daily. Because the area is so vote rich, and his insider knowledge is vast, he's the local expert. Blair helps get those votes. He's 67, so he could be around for a while.

Working in Toronto as a cop doesn't necessarily make a person anti-gun, but Blair is. His biggest liability as a politician is that he only knows Toronto. He doesn't understand anything outside of the place where he was born. He doesn't understand the rest of Ontario, much less the other provinces and territories. That kind of narrow focus makes him dangerous to anyone living outside of the GTA.


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