John McCallum’s secret shame (II)

Chris Selley considers John McCallum’s car-related confusion.

That a Volkswagen- or Audi- or Subaru-driving politician might hesitate for even a split second when asked his automotive preference before answering truthfully, or declaring it none of anyone’s business, tells you just about everything you need to know about his chosen profession.

To be fair, it also probably tells you a fair bit about Windsor, a place where the most popular bumper sticker reads: “Out of a job yet? Keep buying foreign.” You could make the case that Windsor has long enjoyed a strange relationship with the rest of the country, but in the present circumstance—the highest unemployment of any Canadian city, still profoundly dependent on an industry the rest of the country couldn’t care less about—it is a particularly unique, and disenfranchised, place.

And I say this as someone who regularly returns there and is presently agonizing over the Windsor Spitfires’ playoff run.