NDP leadership thread - part 1 of many

Sunday.

They just showed Rockburn covering the 2003 leadership race. Was it ever amazing! Layton looks like such a genius now. Everything he was saying came true and will come true.

Boy he really gave er didn't he?

Although I wished someone would have thanked Harper personally for this honour, knowing how hard it must be for them to sit through this.

Sunday.

The funeral coverage will hopefully have been seen by the entire country, and the inspiring words of Stephen Lewis - and others - have the potential to make this start of a historic movement for progressive change. I sincerely hope the NDP seizes the opportunity.

Page was great, I thought. He was a little shaky in certain parts but there were some parts that he sang just amazingly. That's such a beautiful song that's had so many great renditions. Obviously the original Leonard Cohen version but I love Jeff Buckley's version and I thought that KD Lang nailed it when she sang it at the opening ceremonies of the Olympics.

Peter Tabuns- Could run for NDP federally in Layton's riding, he's currently an mpp in Toronto Danforth. Former City councillor and head of Greenpeace Canada. Backed by Ed Broadbent in ondp's leadership election. Not sure if he speaks French.

Brian Topp- A true moderate, a brilliant stratagist, and fluently bilingual. Doesn't hold a seat in the house. Biggest problem is being a David Lewis. No matter how brillant he is, I worry over the formation of a waffle that nearly crushed the NDP last time. That is if Brian Topp is well known for silencing radical opinions(I may be mixing him with Brad) I'm not sure how charismatic he is. Union background is great for progressives, but will be used against him by the cons.

Stephen Lewis- brilliant in English, but not known for speaking French. If he could only speak the way he does in English in French. Charisma is the #1 trait im looking for in a leader. Hes a bit old(I think a while back when he ran for leadership he was considered young)

Gary Doer- Too centre to hold party together, not known for French, but a nice popularity rating in Mantioba and widely respected there. Reportedly doesn't want to run. Would make a great deputy/finance minister in order to quell fear spread by the tories.

Libby Davies- Smart and a true progressive, but too left to appeal to all of Canada and lack of French.

Thomas Mulcair- Brilliant, Intelligent, highly capable of building on Quebec. Would help increase membership in QC. Problem? He's the opposite of Jack. He has a short fuse that could burst at any minute. Fluently Bilingual. Leans centre and fights with the more left leaning wing. He fights as opposed to negociate as I've heard.

Mike or Sarah Layton- Many political parties have great linages, aside of their eulogies (which were good), they are a bit young.

Anne Mcgrath- Chief of Staff to Jack Layton, I believe she is fluently bilingual. Only problem is that she ran as a communist canidate in Alberta which the media will have a field day with.

What do you guys think about Karl Belanger? I think he's fluently bilingual.

Peter Julian- fluently Bilingual, progressive. Executive Director of Council of Canadians(I'm not sure what he did there/ what he approved there, it may come back to haunt him if the tories dig something up about him campaigning against something that never happened but anyways I think its great that he was there). United Church of Canada member.

Paul Dewar - Very modern, doesn't run into controversy. That being said, some activists on the far left may try to stir some shit up. Bilingual. Tv friendly, but he looks very very timid.

What about Charlie Angus? It'd be nice to see a rural leader. Some other mps include...
Don Davies?
Bruce Hyer? Ecologist, small buisness owner. No idea if he speaks french.
Matthew Kellway - New mp in east york but he is an economist.
Jack Harris- former ndp nfld leader. Smart, progressive. Unknown if he is bilingual
Jamie Nicholls I think is bilingual, from QC
Dennis Bevington- I think he's bilingual, a buisnessman. From NWT
Is linda Duncan bilingual?
John Rafferty- (another buisness owner)
Kennedy Stewart (phd in economics, from london school of economics)
Guy Caron(Qc) - economist, worked in unions, council of canadians.

The reason I'm bringing up economists/buisness owners is because the tories will try to paint the NDP as fiscally incapable(which we all know is false, the NDP is the best at balancing budgets, and we all know about the strength of the Nordic Model in Scandinavia)

What my requirements are->
1. Charisma
2.Progressive yet pragmatic aka the social ideals of the CCF mixed with the economic pragmatism of today's modern social democratic parties.
3. fluently Bilingual
4. Able to control factions
5. Ability to grow party membership and reach out to all canadian social democrats to join in. Make us a big progressive tent party.
6. strategic focus

Here’s an interesting possibility: Guy Caron, Quebec Caucus Chair

Unlike some we could name, he has done nothing in the last week to make himself visible. I have no information as to whether he might run. Would he just support Mulcair, or (if he runs), Brian Topp?

I can see some Quebec caucus members feeling Quebec should not tie its star to one man only. Another Quebec candidate could have many merits. Caron is the logical person for that role.
Guy Caron was born May 13, 1968 in Rimouski. He worked with radio stations CKLE and CKMN-FM, and with the newspapers Progrès-Écho and Rimouskois, while studying science at the Cégep de Rimouski. Caron got a Bachelor's degree in communications from the University of Ottawa in 1992, and served two terms as president of their student federation. He was president of the Canadian Federation of Students in 1994-5.

He worked for the Canadian Race Relations Foundation. He worked for the Council of Canadians where he was a media relations officer, then the Campaigner on Canada-U.S. Relations, and then the Healthcare Campaigner. He is the author of Crossing the Line: A Citizens’ Inquiry on Canada-U.S. Relations. He also got a Master's degree in economics from Université du Québec à Montréal in 2001.

He then joined CEP (Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union) as a researcher and economist, most recently as Director of Special Projects.

Caron ran in Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques in three federal elections (2004, 2006 & 2008) unsuccessfully before being elected in 2011.

He lives in Gatineau with his wife Valerie Stansfield and their son Dominic born in February 2009.

Caron must be perfectly bilingual. He sounds perfectly open and optimistic in French:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FXNinmUY8k

Does anyone have any English video of him?

He has a two-year-old son. If the last election had been two years ago, would he even have run? How would he and his wife feel about family priorities and a leadership bid?

But as Jack said:

Interesting suggestion, Wilf. Does he have "it"? Some MP's are great politicians with great resumes but whether they have the gravitas to be leader and seen by voters as a potential Prime Minister is another question.

Indeed. I'd love to see Peter Julian run, but that question might be asked about him; I'm unsure of the answer at this early point.

As for Caron, did you watch that video? What do you think?

I read that he has set up a Rimouski residence; He, Valerie and Dominic will live there whenever they can, he said. This in turn will depend on Valerie's job; she has a contract, he said.

I'm a bit confused - didn't Layton himself suggest January for the leadership convention? If so, that's four months away. Is this debate going to on that long?

I wonder if the performance of NDP members in the House will be under intense scrutiny when Parliament resumes with the purpose being to see obvious candidates who really stand out - we already know who they are from previous House sittings and elections, but there could be outstanding candidates especially from the new Quebec contingent as well. The party has to work with what it has, but, darn, I wish Pierre Ducasse was one of those new Quebec MPs! He would be a natural.

Please note that the votes of Saskatchewan NDPers were what put Jack over the top on the first ballot in 2003, even though he was criticized by some as being a Toronto candidate or too slick and urban.  A candidate who is willing to do what Jack did in the run up to the leadership vote, which was to go around the country and meet the NDP members in different regions, listening to their concerns, should be able to win the same support.  In fact, if he or she can't win support from the different regions, then that would be a demonstrable weakness which would cause legitimate questions about that person.

How is Olivia Chow's french?

Think about it!

The widow of Jack Layton, who's name would resonate with Quebec voters in 2015.  (Shades of Cory Aquino in the Phillipines?)

A 'visible minority' leader, in a country that is rapidly becoming more and more culturally diversified in it's population.

A female politician, with parliamentary experience.

Olivia would be my first choice!

Thomas Mulcair is my top choice.  What I don't know is whether he is a good leader of people.

The whole thing about Brian Topp bothers me.  Topp has been writing for G&M I believe, and I'm sure the media people know him.  But the average voter does not know him.  Why then is the media crowning him as one of the "top contenders"?   He has never been tested as a candidate (and with apology to ACTRA members I don't count your internal votes as "elections".)

Boom Boom & the grey: Layton didn't suggest a particular time, but rather as soon as possible in the new year.

He wrote "I recommend the party hold a leadership vote as early as possible in the New Year, on approximately the same timelines as in 2003." That was January 25, 2003.

Good summary of the case for Mulcair. Is he in fact a lapsed Liberal, federally? I don't know what party he voted for in 2004, but I have always read that he was not active in any federal party. Does anyone know? A search of political donation records would be helpful. As for his image being forceful (as was Jack) but not as sunny, I think he is a very capable performer who could turn on his sunny side as effectively as his irascible side, if he wanted to.

You might have added one more point. What's the rush? January is in fact the earliest possible date, due to political donation limits. In fact campaign organizers will have trouble collecting money, since many people will need to give pledges or post-dated cheques for January 1 if they gave their limit in 2010. We have, after all, three years. The Liberals are waiting for contenders to emerge. Was Jack saying, in effect, "Mulcair's ready, Charlie Angus is hot, and if anyone else wants to run they can jump in fast. Let's go."

FYI donations to leadership campaigns are NOT tax receipt able and have nothing to do with the limits on federal political donations. You can donate as much as you want to a leadership candidate but you get no rebate.

Given your list I would suggest Bob Rae as the new NDP leader.  He might just be pragmatic enough to know it is his only chance at the brass ring he has been chasing.  He has always promoted the concept of a big progressive tent party.

Strategically, I am leaning towards Mulcair as well. I think he would sell a gazillion memberships in Quebec and the NDP would be entrenched there forever. I think the new leader has to come from Quebec. That is where we need to build out of. Sure Mulcair is scary and that is a good thing. We don't want someone trying to be JACK2.0. The only knock on Mulcair will be his bin Laden comments (which I thought was awesome!) but I don't think a little suspicion of the Americans is such bad thing for a modern Canadian PM. He is super-charismatic, brilliant, perfectly bilingual.

But I don't know much about him. I think his stances require serious scrutiny. No one can accuse him of being a seperatist. Keep Libby Davies Deputy leader to balance out the left-right east-west balance.

The big question is whether he can appeal to the west. The media will be all over us about Quebec, so who knows?

None of my opinions are set in stone at this point, and I hope there is an active campaign that allows a full exploration of a wide range of possible candidates.

If there is one name less often floated by pundits I would like to see actively explored right now, it would be Charlie Angus. He brings a very interesting package - represents a rural northern riding, but his history as a musician in Toronto also offers a more urban appeal. At 48, he would present a youthful energetic contrast to the other party leaders. I'm under the impression that he is fluently bilingual - and that his upbringing in a bilingual northern Ontario town means that it a very natural comfortable bilingualism, not the kind of classroom French that we sometimes see in national political figures .

He has been quite impressive in his work as critic on digital issues and now on ethics. He's done some great work on aboriginal issues. He's been an MP since 2004, so he's not an untested newbie. He's smart, good in the media, and can give a decent speech. He has solid ties to labour (representing a pretty heavily unionized area and growing up in a northern mining town). My sense is that he may be the kind of leader who could span the various tendencies within the party - labour, environmentalists, cultural progressives, urban, rural, youth, Québec, ROC, etc and that he could campaign credibly in every part of the country.

Not being an Ottawa or party insider, I'm not familiar with what his potential drawbacks may be, but I've been impressed with what I see.

I like the suggestions from people here of both Roméo Saganash and Guy Caron. Their biggest drawbacks seem to be that they are both first term MPs, and that limited experience would be a drawback.

I've seen Caron in action a little bit over the years, and think he could have what it takes - while not extremely charismatic, he is earnest and serious without being a boring wonk, he is very comfortable and effective in both languages, and he has good group leadership and consensus building skills.

My familiarity with Saganash is much more limited, restricted to media coverage of his activities over the years. He is truly impressive and has great potential for leadership - if not as party leader now, certainly in a high profile senior critic/cabinet role. The one area where I think he would need to work is to reign in some of what comes across as a free-wheeling, casual style and come across as more focused and more like a potential PM. (And yes, I fully understand that he DOES have a record of serious accomplishments as the results of his focus and hard work, and that there are cultural issues about dress and leadership styles that play into this - I am simply trying to imagine how he would play in a national campaign). But he is clearly charismatic, has a great story, is extremely smart, meets the linguistic test, and would present a bold exciting image to the country.

There are lots of other names that should be considered - Peggy Nash is bilingual, has great labour ties, and clearly has the policy and political chops to do this. At 60, she is about at the upper age limit I'd like to see in a new leader. I've been impressed with Hélène Laverdière and wonder if she has leadership potential. Peter Julian clearly is interested and interesting, and a bilingual BC leader with significant history in Québec has lots of political potential. His identification with social movements and the generic "left" might not thrill some of the more traditional labour and Prairie base of the party, but he might have the skills to overcome those issues.

Finally, I have my doubts about either Thomas Mulcair or Brian Topp that make me seriously wonder if they are the right candidate at the right time.

Mulcair's was my MP until a move last month, and there is a lot I like about him. Yet I have serious qualms about making someone leader who joined the party 4 years ago, who considered an offer to run for the Conservatives instead, and who was part of Charest's government. My first preference in terms of party leader would be to see someone who is more steeped in the history and core beliefs of the NDP, and I have yet to be convinced that Mulcair gets that part of the deal -- and as a result, I am fearful about exactly how much he would be willing to trade off in exchange for what he perceives as a shot at power.  Is Mulcair a socialist, a social democrat, a progressive, or even a small l liberal? He can be a little mercurial in his behaviours and my sense is that he isn't great at inclusive leadership and building consensus - much more of a "my way or the highway" kind of guy. And he is known to commit the kind of gaffe that could be damaging in opposition or in a campaign. That all said, the guy is a skilled political operative and he may have the package that would be needed to carry the party forward.

My experience of Brian Topp is more limited -- I knew him back at McGill 30+ years ago, and other than a few interactions with him working on the Phil Edmonston campaign 20 years ago, haven't seen him in person since. Like others, I wonder if he could successfully make the transition from back room strategist to party leader, and it isn't clear to me what his core political values or policy positions are. That said, he is clearly someone with a life-long commitment to the NDP, a very smart political strategist, and his history of campaign work in different parts of the country is a real plus. My visceral reaction to the idea of party insiders attempting to install another unelected insider as leader is partially balanced by the fact that clearly he had the complete trust of Jack, and that no one can question Brian's political smarts or his NDP bona fides.

At least in the early stages of the campaign, I hope that we see a wide open consideration of the real pool of talent that the party has, and that a full range of potential candidates are seriously looked at, lots of names I haven't mentioned -- including folks from outside of current MPs, women, visible minorities, younger candidates, and folks across a full geographic and ideological range.  I hope that honest examination of leadership options takes place before the party coalesces around a single candidate or a couple of candidates.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/TheNovaScotian/1260538.html

" My bet is Mr. Mulcair, as his televisual personality often portrays, has no interest in anything that doesn't benefit Thomas Mulcair. NDP support of a budget means a longer wait for Mr. Mulcair to have a title shot. Patience doesn't seem to be his strong suit. "(Tim Powers, G and M, March 2011) That's my perception of Thomas Mulcair too. Pompous, abrasive, self-aggrandizing, 'socialist' or social democrat in name only but not in his heart imo, divisive of cultures (Quebec vs the west) and genders.

Let's hope the NDP can do better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF4EhSVCHHQ

I wondered about that myself but I'm told that his French actually not all that good.

Never in public?  I could have sworn that I watched her appear on Tout le monde en parle with Jack.  That said, I agree that her comfort level in French is low. 

BTW: I know an MP who fits the bill in many ways - at least in terms of being a good person to have in the race - Nikki Ashton. She speaks five languages fluently (her French is actually quite impeccable), she is 29, a woman (obviously), from a remote riding in Manitoba with a very large FN population. I don't know that I see her as a winner - but she would make a good addition to the field.

It is a great quality for a finance minister, but it seems like she is super vague sometimes and too avoiding of the issues

How's aboput Michaelle Jean?

I was trying to respond to Boom Boom's statement, but Babble cut off my response and I couldn't fix it from that computer.  What I wanted to say was that Jack's letter suggested similar timelines to the 2003 race - which started 6 June 2002 and ended 23 January 2003, a span of about seven and a half months.  Following those timelines would result in an April leadership selection.

I am leaning toward Mulcair as well. Someone mentioned they're not sure if he has what we need right now. Right now? I'm thinking about the next election in four years.

I've heard he can be on occasion a bit standoffish in person. But as a friend pointed out, so were many leaders such as Trudeau. I think Trudeau won once or twice :)

Ok, I stand corrected. The point i was trying to make though is that limits on donations to leadership campaigns have no connection to the limits on party political donations. Its a whole separate thing - in otherwords even if I had already donated my maximum $1,100 to the NDP in 2011 - I would still be free to give as much as $1,100 to any candidate...

I'm a bit confused by the lifetime limit - that seems a bit crazy. Does that mean that if I were to hypothetically make a $1,000 donation to Mulcair's leadership campaign - that would mean that for the rest of my life I would only be allowed to donate $100 to any individual running to lead any party???

Michaelle Jean would be really great, although I worry about the "sovereigntist" attack that was made on her as she came in to the office of the Governor General. I liked Peggy Nash as Industry critic, thought she was very effective, but have been underwhelmed by her performance as Finance critic. Nash is the strongest female MP for leader, IMV, although I feel like she lacks in the charisma department despite excellent French and high competence. Megan Leslie has charm, smarts, and French; yet I find her very easy to ignore (like Alexa McDonough) because she is too nice and not assertive enough. I hate to say it, but I believe she could improve her performance as an MP by learning to throw a few more elbows. One female MP I really like that is unlikely to get mention is Carol Hughes. She has excellent French, has competence and charisma, a union background like Peggy Nash, and a rare skill at mainstreeting (she is good at going up and talking to people, of all types). That being said, Carol Hughes has not held/been given any serious responsibilities, so I don't consider her a contender. Maybe her weakness is a lack of ambition!

Helene Laverdiere is a wonderful person who I had the pleasure of meeting. I don't have an issue with her English. Her weakness is that she is a rookie in parliament and all her expertise is in foreign plicy as a former diplomat. She could make a wonderful minister of Foreign Affairs someday - but I don't get the impression that she has the necessary grounding in domestic economic and social policy etc....

A couple of things:

* People can give a maximum of $1100 during the leadership contest, either all to one candidate, or split amongst one or more candidates, and this is a separate ceiling from the ceiling to national parties, and the one to local ridings and/or candidates. The total of an individual's contributions to all the leadership candidates in a contest - over the entire length of that contest, including after the vote itself - cannot total more than $1100. But, for example, people who gave the maximum of $1100 to Michael Ignatieff during the 2006 leadership contest, were still able to give a total of $1100 to candidates for the next leadership contest as well. Remember this was a vehicle that Rocco Rossi was trying to use to raise double the money, by getting people to give to Ignatieff's campaign before the May convention, as well as to the party, and then Ignatieff's leadership campaign would transfer it to the party?

* I don't know who I would pick to run the party at this stage, but one thing I do know is that I want a lot of high quality candidates from across the country, and from a variety of backgrounds, to hear from and learn more about. I want to hear a lot more from Tom Mulcair, and if that CP story is right and if he does decide he wants to run, I want to hear a lot more from Brian Topp. I also want to be surprised by the names and stories of other potential candidates, and I can imagine how interesting and worthwhile the discussion about our way forward will be.

* What the party needs now is to demonstrate the calibre of its bench strength, take the opportunity to consolidate the Quebec gains by selling memberships and building the party infrastructure there, finding the next frontiers for building, and leading a widespread debate and discussion about what the first term of an NDP government would look like.

* We have to resist the tendency to refight the last election. Getting over the top to form government this time means more than simply consolidating Quebec, it means growing in Ontario, and picking off the next tier of seats in western Canada. Remember that it will be fought on new boundaries, and in a different stage of the cycle of a large number of provincial governments.

* In particular, out west one of the keys to building the social democratic movement will be to welcome aboriginal peoples into it, the way Jack has just done with Quebec. Here's a group with a booming birthrate, whose values closely mirror social democratic values. I would like to see at least one first nations or inuit or metis candidate in the race, and if that's not Romeo Saganash (or even if it is, because there's no ceiling on it), Lewis Cardinal who is now chair of the Aboriginal Commission looks to me like the closest thing to a native Jack Layton in terms of his organizational and communication skills, vision, strategic sense and ability to connect with people. One thing I do know is that if aboriginal people, particularly in western Canada and some parts of Ontario, were voting in the same proportions as non-aboriginal people, suddenly a whole new tier of seats comes into play for us.

* Mulcair has been nothing but gracious anytime I've met him, though admittedly those have only been brief encounters; and as everyone has said, his intellect is evident in all he says. I have seen flashes of anger on television, some righteous (remember the early case of his gay constituent who was about to be deported back to a situation where his life would be in grave danger) and some other very partisan swipes. But I saw a different side of him the day he visited the casket in the foyer of the House of Commons this past Wednesday: as sincere and passionate a look of grief as I've ever seen, where he barely held back the tears, and gratefully accepted a hug of comfort from Libby Davies. It made me want to learn more about this complex man. By the same token, while he's understandably spent a lot of time in Quebec recently, he will have to introduce himself to the party in the rest of Canada to a much greater extent.

* I have long wanted to see someone of Brian Topp's intelligence and strategic sense in Parliament, but to this point I've thought of him as too reserved to be interested in a public leadership role. Partly that may be because his role to now has been in the backrooms, where discretion is a big part of the job requirement. The challenge for Brian would be to allow people to get to know him better, in order to win their confidence in his vision of the future. What I was particularly struck by most recently in the very graceful way he handled the enormously difficult job he was just handled, was the way he described what he had learned from Jack. He said that Jack spoke to men of the importance of love, and how they needed to show more of that in their life's work and their relationships not only with women but other men. It left me feeling that he could yet grow into that inspirational part of the job, because his qualifications for the other aspects are pretty exhaustive.

* The party leader is the key party strategist. Leaders without that quality take their parties down in flames (see: Dion, Stephane; Ignatieff, Michael; Day, Stockwell; Clark, Joe; etc., etc.). So to me that is the sine qua non. We can't replace Jack with a replica of Jack, but we need to keep that one key qualification in mind. I think I'll know the right combination of the other skills when I see and hear it after a good leadership campaign, and I want to have a good slate of candidates to hear from and consider.

I put my faith in the NDP and its supporters to pick the best leader for the party. They have a pretty good track record so far.

Here's who I'd like to see run, from the pre-2011 MPs:

Peggy Nash

Charlie Angus (I was assuming he was pretty much bilingual, but that may not be the case)

Megan Leslie (I heard she is bilingual, but I'm not so sure)  

In some respects it would be better if Nycole Turmel stayed on longer as interim leader to allow more time to see the new members of the caucus at work.

And, you can bet I'll be grading them in part on how they handle that debate and competition too. This better not get nasty and personal, or I'll be very very grouchy.

Really? I love Bill. Though I suspect next to Jack pretty much everyone who is not that perky could look grouchy.

Wow. I hadn't thought of that, but I like it. I'm sure there'd be a lot of ruffled feathers about the unseemliness of such a recent GG entering partisan politics, but I say let 'em ruffle. Hers would be an exciting candidacy and she would make, IMO, a wonderful choice.

For the time being, however, I'm rooting for a Mulcair victory, even though I agree with just about everything said about him both pro and con. I think we'll need a scrapper to see us through the next few years of Harper. Someone Canadians needn't love, as with Jack, but whom they'll come to respect (and Conservatives fear). Right now, of the likely candidates who can consolidate Quebec and bridge to the rest of Canada, I don't see anyone better.

Still, if Jean wants it, I'd be delighted to jump on that bandwagon.

Though re: Jean, she hasn't served the first full year yet of her four-year appointment as UN special envy to Haiti, so I'd say there's a very low probablity of her entering the race. A more reasonable hope may be her recruitment as a candidate in the next election.

That article is from Quebecor. I'd ignore it knownothing

Well, KN, who are the potential leadership candidates from Saskatchewan? Could we see Ryan Meili make a federal run? Nettie Wiebe? Any other names occur to you?

I think Quebecor owns sun news.

I prefer we don't get a "radical" leader. I'm looking for someone progressive, pragmatic, and someone who can lead us to victory and not to self-destruction    Be sure to click on the link and read about it. That caused the UK labour party to lose the election and spiral right into the hands of Blair. I'd rather avoid that all together and elect someone with the values of Broadbent and Layton.

That vote never went through. And it merely represented a change of means if it did, I recall a promise of improving social and economic equality. Personally I use social democracy/democratic socialism as the same, just as they use it in Scandinavia.

I agree with you on crown corps and that they should be expanded if economically viable. But I've always viewed the dogma of "conservative socialism" and "third way" as the same. One says nationalize, nationalize, nationalize, and the result is stagnation. The other says free market, deregulation, privatize; and the result is a recession like in the U.K. because of a lack of regulations. Ed Miliband was elected over his more third way brother David Miliband in the UK and Ed admits that the labour party fell into a dogma that the market would just be fine if left laissez faire. You have blairites actually admiting now that they made the NHS(their public healthcare) too competitive. Tommy Douglas once nationalized things that he later regretted on doing, and later admitted that goverment can't do everything. The market can't do everything either. Co-ops/local goverment also can't do everything. Whats needed is a pragmatic combination.

Some would disagree with you on the difference between Social Democracy and Democratic Socialism and whether nationalization is the only route to economic democracy. In any case, we need to be clear about what we stand for, regardless of what label we or others use to describe us. It is increasingly obvious that capitalism is itself a recipe for social disintegration and environmental deterioration, if not human extinction. Pragmatism has many facets, but needs to be related to long term vision.

What evidence do you have that Mulcair would push for a merger?

The convention voted not to slam the door in the Liberals' faces. This was very intelligent, since the Angus Reid poll on April 28 and 29, 2011, after the Liberals had slipped to third place in the polls, asked how voters would feel about various scenarios. On “The Conservatives win more seats than any other single party, but the Liberals and the NDP have more combined seats than the Conservatives. The Liberals and the NDP form a coalition government” they found 82% of Liberal voters liked it. Of all voters planning to vote Liberal, only 13% said they would never consider voting NDP.

I love today's Liberal voters, or at least 87% of them. The blue Liberals have increasingly gone; although they may still be in control of the party machinery, so a merger is likely not on.

It was in 2003, too. Why do you think Jack beat Blaikie on the first ballot? When critics asked how a Toronto guy could ever become Prime Minister, Jack kept answering "I'm not from Toronto, I'm from Montreal." He knew French; if his fluency needed polishing, that was obviously going to be easy for him.

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