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I'm not too concerned about Peggy Nash having trouble winning her seat. She ran against two high profile Liberal candidates and beat them both on the second try. Another MP that needed two tries to win (in an easier riding) was Jack Layton, and we know how that worked out.
Wow, that's a little harsh, and not like you LTU. Didn't Grant Robertson appreciate it when carpetbaggers from Toronto and Hamilton came to campaign with him (Layton and Horwath)?
The point has been made that one of the things the leadership candidates had to do was get out and campaign in the provincial elections, (a) because the leadership campaigns had to be contributing to that effort, not detracting from it, and (b) because it would give people a chance to see them in action as campaigners, and (c) to help them learn about the many corners of the country.
The best canvassing involves listening, which is something the leadership candidates should be doing lots of.
I guess I wasn't clear. I am just suggesting that how you handle these things is important. (And of course the major difference is that Layton and Horwath were already leaders). I don't know. I am just speculating that if someone actually showed up at my door in that situation it might not help the local candidate and could even hurt them. That doesn't mean there isn't lots a leadership candidate couldn't do to help, such as bring attention to the NDP and fire up the volunteers. And of course they would be criticized for not showing up too. I just don't think I would send them out door knocking. Maybe I am reading it wrong and that isn't how some people would feel, but having spent a lot of time in Saskatoon and Regina that's what my gut says the reaction would be. And as I said maybe I am totally wrong. Certianly wasn't meaning to be harsh.
Actually he unfavourably compared Tommy to Claude and while doing so used the most vile of right wing talking points about Tommy.
The eugenics movement is blight on our political history. The movement was tied into the temperance movement and the suffragette movement and supported by people on both the left and right. For Tommy it was not one of his central themes and he abandoned it unlike some of other progressive icons. I have been known to ask my union brothers and sisters to rethink their use of Nellie's famous quote because she was a not just a suffragette but a prominent and unrepentant eugenist and when I think of the howls it is of marginalized women being sterilized by the laws she so proudly supported.
Never retreat, never explain, never apologize--get the thing done and let them howl.
http://www2.canada.com/calgaryherald/columnists/story.html?id=83a35fb4-6080-4d10-823e-01836b4d3ddb
LTU, I knew that someone from the area had invited Dewar to come (and not necessarily someone who was supporting him).
I agree there are plenty of ways to screw that up, don't get me wrong. But Paul did the rounds as an itinerant organizer for the party across the country back in the day, so I expect his sensibilities would be pretty good in that situation. Romeo Saganash was campaigning for Danielle Chartier in Saskatoon yesterday, according to his Twitter feed, and up in Meadow Lake today. I assume those locations were chosen advisedly and in local consultation as well. Niki Ashton was invited in to Regina by the SasK YNDers, and a lot of her campaign organization seems to be based there.
So, I'm assuming this has all been well-handled. I expect we'll hear soon enough if it wasn't, that's for sure!
Danielle's riding is Riversdale and self identified FN's people make up over 40% of the riding. I doubt if they will view Romeo as a "carpet bagger." Meadow Lake is also a community with a large FN and Metis population.
Obviously it is to Romeo's advantage to get himself into exactly these kinds of ridings to get a good base of memberships from his natural constiuency. His profile in the FN's community across the country makes it a win win situation for the local NDP candidates.
are you for real? first off, the "vile right-wing talking point" about tommy douglas - if such a thing exists today - is that he was a communist. second, i was making exactly the point that aristotle suggested. anyway, azana's point was to further suggest that mulcair isn't a dipper and that he's probably not that left-wing. but the ryan mentorship reference seems pretty clearly to honor ryan's unimpeachable ethics, his personal and professional valorization of intellectual rigor, his view of a principled government, his devout catholicism (surprise: like mulcair), his similiar background to mulcair, and the man's role in both quebec society and the plq. i.e. a 'mentor'. an approach to politics more than a program. all of which, of course, azana knows and is - once again - deliberately mischaracterizing. uh, hence the douglas homophobe/eugenics reference.
I'm not familiar with Desrochers. Where is this online poll?
I've seen that "online poll" on Facebook. I think "Eloise Lara Desrochers" is a write-in candidate. It's not a poll commissioned by anyone except someone on Facebook as far as I can see.
Hmm. Strangely I agree with flight from kamakura. I wasn't offended by her/his comment about Tommy Douglas, who, along with most of you, I hold in the highest regard and thank for an incredible health care system that we have to now fight to protect. You can't hold everyone completely responsible for what they have said in the past, or for all of the actions and beliefs held by the people they claim for their mentors.As I mentioned above - people change.
However, I disagree with FFK on a few points. He/she gives me much more credit than I deserve. I believe I'm more ignorant than FFK assumes. My memory of Claude Ryan was from my time in the student movement in the 1980s. While (as I mentioned above) I understand that he was not as bad as many in the Quebec Liberals, it was Ryan, as Minister of Education, who was the target of much student organizing when he unfroze and raised tuitions. My reaction to reading Mulcair's statement naming Ryan as his mentor was surprise, based on my previous experience fighting tuition increases. While I'm ignorant of much, I can't forget some of the battles I fought in the past, which certainly colour my opinions.
Also, FFK mischaracterises my opinion. I don't think that Mulcair "isn't a dipper." I even said, in post #7 above, "I've been somewhat reassured by some of the things Mulcair has said in parliament. I don't think he's in the wrong party. I just worry about where, if elected leader, he will lead us."
Within the legitimate spectrum of NDP opinion, I worry about where Mulcair falls. This worry is based on his long-term comfort in the Charest Liberals and citing Claude Ryan as his mentor (much better Ryan than Bourassa).
As I said above, "It's not about the fact that he was a Liberal. People change. It's about what his politics are now. Did they change? How? Or, since he still cites Ryan as his mentor, does Mulcair believe his politics (except for environmental issues) are consistent with both the Charest Liberals and the NDP."
KenS responded in post #15 that he doesn't think Mulcair will answer questions like these. If Ken is correct, I find it unfortunate.
in searching around the internet, the only person with that name who pops up is a student activist at a CEGEP in Victoriaville Québec - she was named earlier this year by the Québec Minister of Education to the Comité consultatif sur l'accessibilité financière aux études (the Advisory Committee on the Financial Accessibility of Education).
Someone with the same name and who also appears similar to her picture shows up on line as a pianist/musician who appears to go by the stage name "élo" and who says that student rights and the environment are her strongest concerns.
I haven't seen anything suggesting that she is running for NPD leader, or that she has any NPD ties. Neither her Facebook nor Myspace profiles mention anything about running for the NPD (and neither does the one music focused interview I saw). Perhaps the votes for her were either a form of student activism organised by other Québec students, or a joke done by her friends? Or perhaps for someone else with the same name?
I don't know where this poll was posted online - if we knew that, it might help figure out the connect to the mysterious Desrochers.
I think what you omitted makes this a mis-representation of what I said.
I said that defensive narratives- which this explanation of Mulcair you want would definitely be- are ALWAYS a mugs game in politics. You always lose once you let yourself be drawn down that road.
Sorry. I didn't mean to imply anything about your post. I just wanted state that you already posted a reply and provide the reference.
Éloïse Lara Desrochers, présidente de l'Association générale des étudiants et étudiantes du Cégep de Victoriaville.
Her riding is represented by a Bloc MP, André Bellavance.
Would this be an on-line poll at her CEGEP?
No, it's a Facebook poll. I think it was started by CTV Question Period, but they only put Mulcair and Topp's names into it, and a lot of people got angry about that. It looks like Nash's people have made a real push on that one. Dewar's people made on a push on the online CBC poll the week before.
I don't think he made that - or any other "point." He repeated an oft-used slander of the Canadian right, who frequently play this bullshit "Douglas the eugenicist" card - when the only Canadian government ever to formally institute eugenics as government policy was the right wing Social Credit goverment of Alberta. There is no point of comparison between the legitimate (though in my view, niggling) questions about Mulcair's past views and this pot of steaming shite.
That's excellent news for Saganash both because his nline presence has been limited to date and because Audra Williams is quite brilliant.
Gaian, if that's what you honestly believe, then I don't believe you understand what I've said.
Don't take it personal Azana he is just like that.
Love is better than anger, hope is better ...
Gaian, I'm getting tired of watching you target babblers who disagree with you. Being pointlessly argumentative isn't reasonable discourse, and it lowers the tone of debate. If you can't disagree with a measure of grace, without belittling, you will be taking a vacation from babble.
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Politics/20111025/mulcair-lays-out-agenda-for-...
Answers are starting to come. I found this article very informative. I'm very glad Mulcair is begining to address these questions.
And thanks for your comments, Rebecca West, Northern Shoveler and Ottawa Observer.
Have spent the last hour reading through/catching up on leadership threads - what a disappointment to read all the negative slants against young and female candidates. The only thing holding them back is not their abilities, but rather the perception that young and female are not the characteristics of a leader. There's a reason why we lack female and youth representatives - and it's because of these attitudes.
The fact is, the NDP needs candidates like Niki Ashton, Megan Leslie and Rathinka Sitsabaiesan to run. Without them we look like a bunch of old, white men. Young and female candidates significantly help the NDP appeal to a wider base - which is exactly what a leadership race is all about.
Rather than shunning these potential candidates out of the race before they've even entered - we should be welcoming them with open arms - encouraging them to run, to speak and to sign up as many new members as they can. If we want the Canadian electorate to engage in our leadership race and consider us relevant to their own personal lives, than we must offer a candidate selection that is both reflective of and speaks to diversity.
Now Romeo and Peggy are tied both 104. WAY TO GO ROMEO! =D
um. I understand the "white" part but how do you define old?
Nathan Cullen is 39
Paul Dewar is 48
Romeo Saganash is 49
Martin Singh is ??
Brian Topp is 51
Thomas Mulcair is 56
Which candidates are "old" and which are "new" (or young)... ;-)