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Topp was interviewed during the convention and he repeated that he had been in the NDP 30 years, had been the chief strategist in NDP victories, was a confidante of Jack Layton, said with Mulcair we'd get two Liberal parties, was endorsed by Layton's mother (and I think by Tommy Douglas's daughter), and had Broadbent take shots against Mulcair live on air. Despite all of that, and everyone free to vote as they wished, and Mulcair running a mostly quiet campaign, Mulcair beat Topp on every ballot.
Topp had everything going for him, including the best credentials possible but still could not beat Mulcair.
It's over folks, tiime to move on and help Tom stop Harper from doing too much more damage to the Canadian people's goals and aspirations.
just wanted to say a big thank you to our mods who did an amazin' job under near to impossible conditions. Good on you. And than you to all the people who stood tall and voiced their concerns that we were going to lose our progressive values within the NDP. It was a legitimate concern, still is, and it will be our job to ensure that that does not happen under the new management. My hope is that by forming government we can reverse some of the things that have taken place and create a much fairer and healthier society for all Canadians.
This wasn't a left/right vote. Mulcair had many senior figures from the party's left and labour in his camp, just as Topp had many establishment centrists and Blairites. I'm on the left and self-identify as a socialist, and I supported Mulcair. Topp decided that he could win by pandering to the left he'd sought to marginalize as a strategist, and he was right; that was his only path to victory. And he succeeded in saddling Mulcair with wanting to move the party to the right, which is what Topp had himself accomplished under Layton.
Yeah - let's buy the Mods some beer!!!
And Topp would have won on that final ballot if he had a seat in Parliament. Mulcair would have won earlier had he courted the NDP base.
You're right Josh
If Harper had his way we would be going back to the Charles Dickens era where there was absolutely zero support for the average person let alone the less privileged people in society.
If they were able to storm La Bastille in France, and the gap continues to grow between the rich and the poor in Canada, we should be able to do the same thing in Canada, figuratively speaking.
Tom's campaign didn't need to attack anyone.
Another campaign did it for him.
That's not a bad thing, I call that cunning. Better to sacrifice and utilize your worthless pawns than risk your queen eh?
Who do you think made Mulcair our next leader?
Read the article in the 'peg free press. I think Mulcair's campaign mgr, by telling him to be a lover, and not a fighter, otherwise he would not take the job, had a lot to do with it. and hopefully Tom now sees the wisdom and the benefits of this approach.
Thanks for saying it. I think all recognize that Tom Mulcair will be a capable NDP leader, will hold Quebec and give the NDP a real shot at replacing the Harper regime, all things his proponents correctly pointed out.
The two most unhappy people this morning have to be Stephen Harper and Bob Rae. It looks good on them.
The fact that Mulcair had a seat and that Topp didn't, and all the difficulties the party would have had if Topp had won (i.e. who steps down, how long will Harper delay calling the by-election, what if Topp loses?).
absolutely, wouldn't Harper have LOVED the NDP to nominate someone identifiably a "professor" and a "talker", Iggy like, not someone whose entire brand is that of a fighter and parliamentary scrapper...
go get him, Tom
that's why, not who. The simple fact is the majority of NDP members voting supported Mulcair. Suck it up, get over it and lets get on with the job of defeating Harper. That is the goal isn't it? Isn't it?
LOL
Some NDP members are more basic than other. Who is a true NDP member? Who is not?
Interesting caucus dynamics.
Nathan Cullen did better than expected, better than Peggy Nash. Does this give him more weight? Or is he still an outlier?
Topp got more votes than expected. Does this give his backers -- Libby Davies, Françoise Boivin, Alexandre Boulerice, Jean Crowder, Yvon Godin, Chris Charlton, four other women, three other men -- more weight?
Or is this all irrelevant? Are all MPs equal? Are some more equal than others?
Josh, the problem is much deeper than Mulcair. The NDP doesn't give a shit. Pull out your microscope, please, and find me the powerful fightback message of the federal party against the recent attacks on unions by Harper:
NDP press releases
NDP statements
And when you're done searching, have a look at what Thomas Walkom said in the article you linked to:
Why was that? Why did they say not a word? Were they embarrassed that by defending workers' rights, someone might stand up and say: "What about every single NDP government in history - didn't they do the same as the Harper government is doing now, only in lite fashion?"
The problem is much deeper than Mulcair, josh. And it doesn't need a special Spot-the-Differences-Between-the-Candidates ™ microscope to diagnose it.
By choosing Mulcair and his quiet campaign over Topp's juggernaut, I think the party has said where it wants to go.
Cheers to Paul Dewar. One of the hardest working MPs in the NDP.
Cheers to Martin Singh. A powerful symbol that professionals can have a conscience. Hope to add him to Parliament very soon.
Cheers to Niki Ashton. She took courageous stances at every turn, including issues like Israel, generic drugs, and full on legalization of cannabis.
Cheers to Peggy Nash. Always engaging with activists around my city. Someone who believes in a participatory model of democracy.
Cheers to Nathan Cullen. He always stuck his neck out to defend other candidates. He embodies the word "unity" at every step.
Cheers to Brian Topp. Who reminded us to stay committed to social democracy. And, in the end, he reached out to his rival in a classy move. Hope he becomes an MP, perhaps in Quebec?
Cheers to to Thomas Mulcair. The NDP's new standard bearer. Who showed humility and wisdom in victory. He understands growing our party starts by consolidating the great team that brought us this far.
Tomorrow we get to work.
Well said!
A preview of how the Conservatives will try to attack Mulcair:
Don't get mad. Get even.
That MP Moore guy was on Question Period, and tried to defend that early attack on Mulcair, but just ended up sounding like an idiot. I wish 2015 wasn't so far away - we're ready to win now!
It's going to be three painful years until 2015. But the NDP has been climbing steadily around the country, in spite of a small drop in Quebec. If you add a small Quebec bump for Mulcair to the gains from our "Turmelmania" phase... we might see a lead in the polls by April!
I'm serious. It's mathematically very possible.
NDP says it knows IP addresses it has linked to cyber-attack