HALTON, Dec 14, 2000 (LSN.ca) – There have been rumours of collusion on the part of Liberal and Tory federal candidates in Ontario to keep the Canadian Alliance from winning. This gained credibility recently as Halton, Ontario PC candidate Tom Kilmer was caught by CBC cameras congratulating the Liberal winner. Kilmer congratulated Liberal MP Julian Reid saying “Hey, bud we did it. We kept the bastards (from winning).” Later in an interview Kilmer was unrepentant for his crude language and confirmed he was referring to beating the Alliance. “I said it and I meant it. I just find the Alliance so offensive. I’m glad we kept them out,” he said in an interview which appeared in the December 8 Georgetown Independent.
Although Kilmer claimed there was no collusion with his Liberal opponent, the comments suggest otherwise. Indeed, in many of the 25 Ontario ridings where the added number of votes of the Tories and the Alliance exceeded the Liberals, the PC candidates were well aware that their role would basically be to ensure victory for the Liberal candidates. LifeSite sources within various campaigns across Ontario confirmed that some PC candidates going into the race new full well that they had no chance of winning but surely would knock out the Alliance, thus keeping the Liberals in power.