Here's the latest example, from the Globe and Mail's Québec bureau:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ndp-is-quebecs-second-choic...
Issues Pages:
Regions:
NDP's Quebec strategy getting noticed in the media
Thu, 2011-04-07 13:43
#1
NDP's Quebec strategy getting noticed in the media
Tue, 2011-03-15 20:40
#2
By the way, Boom Boom, it looks like the NDP candidate in your area is in for some special attention from the central campaign. Mulcair seems very enthused about him.
Tue, 2011-03-15 22:04
#3
I don't think it's a coincidence that once the NDP's team of candidates began to take shape, then the NDP's numbers in Quebec started to increase.
This is looking like the best slate of Quebec candidates they've had since 1988. But this time, they already have the break-through in Outremont which gives the NDP a level of credibility even Ed Broadbent couldn't achieve.
So far, they have 30 candidates nominated, 10 of whom were candidates at least once before (some 2 or 3 times). And of the newcomers, such high-profile candidates as Nicole Turmel, Tyrone Benskin, Jonathan Genest-Jourdain, and Jeff Itcush give the NDP a much higher profile.
I can't wait to see who else puts their names forward!
Tue, 2011-03-15 22:11
#4
You'll have to wait until tomorrow night, I guess, because they've got 3 more announcements lined up, I hear.
Wed, 2011-03-16 17:25
#5
With the Conservatives and Liberals competing with each other over who can bribe Quebec City with the most money, can the NDP gain some ground by juxtapsing themselves against this?
Wed, 2011-03-16 18:13
#6
Article in La Presse about the NDP campaign in the outaouais region. The first step is bus shelter ads with Francois Boivin, Nycole Turmel, and Jack Layton featured, which are up now.
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/le-droit/actualites/gatineau-outaouais/201103/...
Wed, 2011-03-16 23:25
#7
It's not from La Presse - it's from Le Droit, which is an Outaouais regional paper.
Wed, 2011-03-16 23:27
#8
It takes awhile to get used to the fact that the Cyberpresse.ca website looks the same, regardless of which paper you're reading, I found at first.
Wed, 2011-03-16 23:33
#9
Boom Boom
By the way, Boom Boom, it looks like the NDP candidate in your area is in for some special attention from the central campaign. Mulcair seems very enthused about him.
Who is he? I've sent several emails to the NDP and not one reply. Still get their mail asking for donations, though.
Thu, 2011-03-17 00:00
#10
It's in the opening article. The Innu lawyer from Sept-Iles, Jonathan Genest-Jourdain. He was the band legal counsel for the Uashat Mani-Utenam, and the Chief attended the news conference announcing his candidacy, alongside Mulcair. Then he ran for city council in Sept-Iles.
The NDP is taking another route, lashing out at planned corporate tax cuts, but also trying to present a new face on sustainable development in the province.
NDP MP Thomas Mulcair said his party has been working with opponents of the ongoing exploration for shale gas in Quebec, and that its new candidate in Manicouagan, Jonathan Genest-Jourdain, was a key player in the fight against uranium development in the province's north.
Mr. Mulcair added that unlike the Bloc, the NDP not only expresses its opposition to the oil industry in the West, but can do something about it with MPs all over the country.
"The Bloc can only talk about the tar sands in Quebec," Mr. Mulcair said, comparing that party to a hockey team made up entirely of defencemen. "That's the difference with the NDP, which is a social-democratic, pan-Canadian party, with a strong track record that is attracting more and more people in Quebec."
Have you heard of this guy?
ETA: Here's the link to his candidate's announcement.
Thu, 2011-03-17 00:26
#11
Boom Boom
No, but I don't get around much, so I'm not the one to ask. The last NDP guy (Pierre Ducasse) had great credentials too, but he didn't make a dent in the BQ, Con, or Liberal votes here as far as I can tell. I think I'm the only person on the Lower North Shore that cast a vote for him (two elections ago, I think).
Thu, 2011-03-17 01:00
#12
Manicouagan is one riding that was a bit countercyclical for the NDP. In 2006 Pierre Ducasse got 13% of the vote there - one of the best NDP showings in Quebec in that election. In 2008 when the NDP vote across Quebec almost doubled - in Manicouagan in dropped to 5% because they just ran an NOB and had no campaign. With a high profile candidate who gets some attention from the central campaign - I wouldn't be surprised if the NDP gets about 20% and a solid second place to the BQ in that seat. Manicouagan is actually very similar to seats in northern Ontario and northern BC and Manitoba that tend to go solidly NDP.
Thu, 2011-03-17 01:08
#13
Boom Boom
If Randy Jones is the Liberal candidate again, then, yeah, the new NDP candidate might get second.... but far behind the BQ guy, is my guess. Randy Jones is really popular here on the Lower North Shore, but not elsewhere (Baie Comeau and Sept-Iles) as far as I can tell. I very much doubt our BQ guy is going to run much longer, so there may be an opening for that NDP guy.
Thu, 2011-03-17 01:14
#14
Boom Boom
Manicouagan is actually very similar to seats in northern Ontario and northern BC and Manitoba that tend to go solidly NDP.
Refresh my memory, please - who was the last NDP MP for Manicouagan?
Thu, 2011-03-17 02:08
#15
No, he means like Skeena, BC, the northern Saskatchewan seat, which we've won several times federally, and hold both sides of provincially, Churchill in Manitoba, the many northern Ontario seats, and even Labrador West provincially (though the MHA was an expense-wheeling fuckup). Not to mention Yukon, Western Arctic and Nunatsiaq/Nunavut each of which we've won at one time or another.
Manicouagan and Abitibi-Baie James-Nunavik-Eeyou would have some similar characteristics to those other seats (although clearly some substantial differences as well).
Thu, 2011-03-17 07:58
#16
Boom Boom
Well, if Manicoauagan was anything like those examples, it would have elected NDP MP,s right? 
I think this is an extremely conservative (small 'c') riding with a smattering of labour and enviromental (college) folks. If the Cons can find the right candidate, they likely could take this riding back. The BQ guy is quite conservative.
Thu, 2011-03-17 09:00
#17
I think the ONLY reason Manicouagan isn't as NDP as Timmins-James Bay or Skeena is the same reason working class ridings in the east end of Montreal aren't NDP - because vast numbers of "social democrat-minded" voters who would be natural parts of the NDP constituency are parked with the BQ which is seen as being "just like the NDP but more likely to win the riding". I doubt if people in Manicouagan are any more small "c" conservative than people in Churchill MB, it votes solidly PQ provincially and the ADQ has little presence there.
Thu, 2011-03-17 09:14
#18
Boom Boom
I see very little evidence of "social democrat-minded" voters in this riding. Where are you getting these ideas from?
Thu, 2011-03-17 09:27
#19
... I think the ONLY reason Manicouagan isn't as NDP as Timmins-James Bay or Skeena is the same reason working class ridings in the east end of Montreal aren't NDP - because vast numbers of "social democrat-minded" voters who would be natural parts of the NDP constituency are parked with the BQ ....
Exactly. But much more middle-class, ethnically mixed ridings like Outremont have led the way ... for crying out loud, Westmount looked to be in play for the NDP at one point 
Thu, 2011-03-17 09:36
#20
Boom Boom
You *do* know this is Mulroney's old riding, right?
Thu, 2011-03-17 11:35
#21
Boom Boom, when Stockholm was talking about social democratic voices who like the NDP but vote for the Bloc as the likely winner, I think he was looking straight at you, kiddo!
Thu, 2011-03-17 11:59
#22
By a long shot the Bloc has more strategic reasons to have an interest in both a Harper majority, and in continuing a Harper minority needing support after the election.
Chew that one well.
Thu, 2011-03-17 13:28
#23
Boom Boom
Yup - a Harper majority will fuel separation - I've been saying that for a long time. Glad others are picking it up.
Thu, 2011-03-17 13:30
#24
Boom Boom
Boom Boom, when Stockholm was talking about social democratic voices who like the NDP but vote for the Bloc as the likely winner, I think he was looking straight at you, kiddo!
Heh. I voted BQ last time out of pure spite - I wanted the Con candidate completely humiliated - and it worked!
Thu, 2011-03-17 13:59
#25
Yup - a Harper majority will fuel separation - I've been saying that for a long time. Glad others are picking it up.
It was only a few years ago that EVERYONE was saying that any kind of Harper government - majority, minority or what have you would be so toxic in Quebec that it would GUARANTEE that Quebec would separate from Canada. Instead we are 5 years into Harper being PM and support for sovereignty in Quebec is about as low as it has ever been. In fact commentators have been having a field day with the fact that no one ever thought it was possible for there to be a federal government that was so unpopular in Quebec and for it NOT to be correlated with any upsurge whatsoever in Quebec nationalist sentiments.
Thu, 2011-03-17 18:42
#26
But because Quebecers generally dislike the Conservatives
You could say the same thing about the Liberals as they are polling about the same as the Cons in Quebec, n'est pas?
Thu, 2011-03-17 18:49
#27
The conservatives don't rule with the Bloc or the NDP, they rule with the support of the liberals. They oppose the conservatives only when they are assured that the government won't fall. The Bloc has absolutely nothing to gain to maintain in power a government that acts against the interests of Québec: you can't prove Canada is bad for Québec by voting with them. They won't vote for a measure and then moan about it.
That's the liberal way.
Thu, 2011-03-17 18:54
#28
Yup!
Thu, 2011-03-17 18:59
#29
But because Quebecers generally dislike the Conservatives
You could say the same thing about the Liberals as they are polling about the same as the Cons in Quebec, n'est pas?
Quite true. Harper is toxic here (except in Québec city and Beauce), and Liberal rhymes with corruption, both federally and nationally. It's amazing that more don't realize that, with a federal government that switches between those two parties, there's no future for Québec.
Thu, 2011-03-17 19:01
#30
By a long shot the Bloc has more strategic reasons to have an interest in both a Harper majority, and in continuing a Harper minority needing support after the election.
Chew that one well.
Quebecers generally dislike the Conservatives, so it does make sense that a Conservative majority government with very little representaion from Quebec would play into the hands of the soverigntists because an alienated Quebec is more likely to support sovereignty.
But because Quebecers generally dislike the Conservatives, the BQ has to publicly oppose the Conservatives even if they secretly want the Conservatives to win a majority and create Quebec alienation. In the event their is another minority situation in Ottawa, the BQ will almost have to side against the Conservatives to maintain their popularity in Quebec. If the BQ becomes the Conservatives' unofficial partner in Ottawa, the BQ will suffer federally and the PQ will suffer provincially.
Thu, 2011-03-17 19:04
#31
But because Quebecers generally dislike the Conservatives
You could say the same thing about the Liberals as they are polling about the same as the Cons in Quebec, n'est pas?
I never said the Liberals weren't unpopular in Quebec.
NR, why are you so concerned with protecting the Conservatives?
Thu, 2011-03-17 19:22
#32
Ignatieff errs in arena pledge
Is Michael Ignatieff desperate or just a hopeless spendthrift? Whatever the answer, his willingness to build a new hockey arena in Quebec City with Canadian taxpayers' money reeks of political opportunism.
http://www.therecord.com/opinion/editorial/article/502780--ignatieff-err...
Thu, 2011-03-17 19:23
#33
Boom Boom
No one knows what the outcome of the next election will be, but if the BQ pick up a few seats... say they get 53 in total, and we have an alienating Harper majority, then I think it is entirely likely that support for Quebec separation will pick up.
Thu, 2011-03-17 19:24
#34
The conservatives don't rule with the Bloc or the NDP, they rule with the support of the liberals. They oppose the conservatives only when they are assured that the government won't fall.
Next week will tell us if that continues to be the case. Next week the Liberals will be put to the test; will they prop up the Conservatives or will they side with the NDP and BQ and bring down the Conservative government?
I'm beginning to think that the Liberals have discovered that it's in their partisan interest to always oppose Harper. The worst the Conservatives could do with a majority is weaken Canada's social programs and adopt even more neo-con foreign policy. I think the Liberals are willing to trade the weakening of Canada's social programs and foreign policy in exchange for the strengthening of their partisan position vis a vis the Conservatives by constantly opposing the Harper agenda. The Tweedldee-Tweedledum nature of Canada's political facade requires the Liberals and Conservatives to always publicly oppose each other. I think the Liberals are about to return to that role.
I think the only party in Ottawa that truly dreads a Conservative majority is the NDP because they are the ones who are most against the weakening of Canada's national social programs and foreign policy. They're the ones who least want Canada to enter Tea Party Land.
Thu, 2011-03-17 19:32
#35
No one knows what the outcome of the next election will be, but if the BQ pick up a few seats... say they get 53 in total, and we have an alienating Harper majority, then I think it is entirely likely that support for Quebec separation will pick up.
Replace Harper with Ignatieff (I know, won't happen) and it would still be true. It's what the government does, or doesn't do, that cause shift in sovereignty support, not change of government.
Thu, 2011-03-17 20:10
#36
Boom Boom
I have never anticipated there will be a change of government in the next election... I just said Harper will get more seats leading to a majority. I believe Quebec will revolt against an alienating Harper majority and separation is the obvious answer.
Thu, 2011-03-17 20:46
#37
Getting back to the topic of this thread...
Boom Boom, as a Quebec resident, do you feel the quality of the NDP candidates thus far can make a difference in the outcomes of some contests?
Thu, 2011-03-17 21:48
#38
Boom Boom
Definitely. Just not in this riding.
ETA: Don't get me wrong, though. I'm not suggesting that the BQ guy here is unbeatable, if the Libs, Cons, or NDP can put up a really, really formidable candidate, on the scale of a Mulroney.
Thu, 2011-03-17 22:05
#39
I was thinking about an answer to a few comments on this thread but Rue Frontenac's Marco Fortier latest column is a must read to gauge a very common mindset in my neck of the woods:
«Le Canada et le Québec ressemblent à un vieux couple qui fait chambre à part. Ils se croisent dans le corridor et partagent un repas de temps en temps, mais n’ont surtout pas envie d’une nouvelle lune de miel. Les élections fédérales imminentes, qui tiennent le Canada en haleine depuis des semaines, passent à peu près inaperçues chez nous. Les Québécois écoutent le bruit en provenance d’Ottawa et se disent : Who cares?»
Fortier stresses 3 main points:
- Duceppe and the Bloc québécois have proven in the last 2 decades their effectiveness at relaying the Quebec government agenda in Ottawa, whether the government is federalist or sovereigntist.
- The main federal parties (Liberal and conservative) are discredited and francophone Quebecers have long lost their appetite for the construction of the Canadian nation.
- Most people like Jack Layton but the NDP has no tradition here and no program to make a breakthrough in Quebec.
So, the unhappy couple will go on, with no group therapy or divorce on the horizon.
Thu, 2011-03-17 23:24
#40
Boom Boom
- Most people like Jack Layton but the NDP has no tradition here and no program to make a breakthrough in Quebec.
Excellent point.
Thu, 2011-03-17 23:34
#41
The NDP made a historic change of direction in 2006 when the convention adopted [url=http://www.francoiseboivin.com/en/sherbrooke.html]the Sherbrooke Declaration[/url] - a minimum condition for having credibility in Québec for the first time in its history. Unfortunately, it has never mentioned it since.
ETA: I should mitigate that last statement. Of course some NDP candidates in Québec have highlighted it from time to time. It helped Tom Mulcair win his byelection in 2007, most notably. But the party in ROC would like to pretend it doesn't exist, which inevitably hurts it here.
Thu, 2011-03-17 23:57
#42
Boom Boom
Never once heard it mentioned by Pierre Ducasse, U.
Fri, 2011-03-18 00:19
#43
To be fair, Pierre Ducasse was involved in drafting it, and his website is still one of the few places where you can actually find [url=http://www.pierreducasse.ca/IMG/pdf/Declaration_Sherbrooke_ENG_V2.pdf]the full text[/url]. But you're still right, Boom Boom, in that the party seemed to feel it had gone too far and needed to backtrack. Certainly the Declaration was diametrically opposed to Jack's about-face on the Clarity Act during the 2005-6 election campaign.
Fri, 2011-03-18 00:25
#44
It was talked about during the last byelections in Québec. Both Rochelau and Lapointe brought it up in interviews. That being said, there is still little awareness of the NPD's stand on these issues in much of Québec.
Fri, 2011-03-18 00:27
#45
These days I don't even hear the BQ talking much about Quebec's place (or lack thereof) in Canada. All i know is that they want federal money for a hockey arena. I'm not sure why the NDP should be held to a higher standard and be expected to campaign across Canada about arcane constitutional refoms that no one gives a shit about.
Fri, 2011-03-18 07:24
#46
You *do* know this is Mulroney's old riding, right?
Just because Manicouagan's Mulroney's old riding doesn't mean it's naturally, uh, "Albertan" (or Beaucien a la Maxime Bernier)
Fri, 2011-03-18 08:26
#47
These days I don't even hear the BQ talking much about Quebec's place (or lack thereof) in Canada. All i know is that they want federal money for a hockey arena. I'm not sure why the NDP should be held to a higher standard and be expected to campaign across Canada about arcane constitutional refoms that no one gives a shit about.
No one said they should be campaigning about it across Canada. What they absolutely must do, however, is give someone the impression that they believe it.
The BQ has nothing to prove to Quebeckers in terms of putting their interests first. The NDP has a much more difficult fence to straddle, and it's a lot later out of the starting gate.
Fri, 2011-03-18 09:56
#48
If you're expecting the NDP to say "we will always put Quebec's interests First - ahead of all other parts of Canada!" and to shout that from rooftops from St. John's to Victoria - I'm afraid you're in for a disappointment.
Fri, 2011-03-18 10:23
#49
You may be right Unionist in terms of who rightfully has more to prove.
As far as the optics go of voter choice goes, there is a category of people who because of sovereignty issues will never move from the Bloc, so they are not attainable or reachable for the NDP.
Then there is another much bigger slice for whom sovereignty is important, but just one among many issues that matter, and the priorities change. And among those people, I rather doubt that it matters right now that the NDP is not talking up the Sherbrooke declaration or its content.
Fri, 2011-03-18 10:29
#50
Quebecers are shrewd voters, and balancing rouge and bleu parties is an old old tactic;
and some of the worst relations between Quebec and Ottawa have occurred when governments of an ostensibly similar philosophy (ex. Trudeau/Bourassa Liberals) were in power at once
Harper makes little or no difference to the nationalist vote on the ground, and Quebec's fairly apolitical climate is not going to change because of him
Fri, 2011-03-18 11:10
#51
If you're expecting the NDP to say "we will always put Quebec's interests First - ahead of all other parts of Canada!" and to shout that from rooftops from St. John's to Victoria - I'm afraid you're in for a disappointment.
I'll make you an offer: I won't expect that (I never did, in fact). And you won't expect a huge NDP breakthrough in Québec. Deal?
I'll also mention this. Policy papers which are dusted off only to prove that we're taking the "right" position, but never put into practice, don't fool some of the people even some of the time. The NDP needs some creative ideas about how asymmetrical federalism should really work in practice. And that doesn't mean giving all provinces more powers.