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New Democrat hopeful quits to support Harper
Thu, 2011-03-31 22:50
#1
radiorahim
New Democrat hopeful quits to support Harper
Thu, 2011-03-31 22:47
#2
radiorahim
An NDP candidate in Mississauga-Erindale who placed third in the 2008 election and was planning to try again has instead packed it in and is supporting the Conservatives.The New Democrats had to scramble to find a new candidate after Mustafa Rizvi indicated he was switching allegiances.
The rest of the story here
Thu, 2011-03-31 22:56
#3
RevolutionPlease
Wow! What in bloody hell is going on behind the scenes? Quit the NDP to support the Cons? I think there's a lot of subterfuge going on. The NDP needs blood oaths and purity tests! Yes, yes we do. What a crock.
Thu, 2011-03-31 23:08
#4
Boom Boom
Wow. 
ETA: Got this message when I posted: "We are sorry, but the spam filter on this site decided that your submission could be spam. Please fill in the CAPTCHA below to get your submission accepted"
This is getting old!
Thu, 2011-03-31 23:33
#5
Boom Boom
"New Democrat hopeful quits to support Harper" - is this country going to hell, or what? 
Thu, 2011-03-31 23:40
#6
RevolutionPlease
Angst, I tell you, angst. What are the reasons for these about-faces? It's not like any of the parties changed direction recently?
Something smells really bad here and for once I know it's not because I didn't clean my place.
Thu, 2011-03-31 23:40
#7
It's like that 2005 remake of War of the Worlds - the bloody things were under the ground all the while.
Fri, 2011-04-01 00:46
#8
It's still early. Provided nobody ELSE drops out, these stories will be dropped quickly enough.
Problem is, the MSM is starting to run the "it's turning into a two horse race" narrative.
Fri, 2011-04-01 00:49
#9
Lol. I guess the NDP is a big tent party after all. It houses Liberals and Tory voters. The funniest thing is, none of these defections would have occurred if the candidates in question had not perceived this race as a potential three-way split (with the NDP in the rear). They are just trying to tip the balance, one way or the other.
Frankly, if the NDP is at 20% and the other two parties are around a mean of 30/low 30s, there isn't all that much ground to cover until its truly anybody's game. The NDP hasn't seen this scenario since 1988.
Fri, 2011-04-01 00:53
#10
RevolutionPlease
Still disgusting if the NDP is trying to help a CON. I just might have to vote Green. They better have a good response to this. Ugh!
Fri, 2011-04-01 01:19
#11
April Fools?
Fri, 2011-04-01 01:50
#12
RevolutionPlease
Thanks for the LOL, Papul Bull, I wish...
Fri, 2011-04-01 01:53
#13
What the hell? I think I prefer the stupid Facebook comments that were the big NDP candidate screwup last time.
Fri, 2011-04-01 13:13
#14
This article from 2008 has a prophetic headline:
Fri, 2011-04-01 18:55
#15
Boom Boom
Haven't seen the story on the news, so maybe it's been forgotten.
Fri, 2011-04-01 18:58
#16
This article from 2008 has a prophetic headline:
"Prophetic" is right. It talks about the "Muslim vote". What racist scum these journalists are. Even the Prophet would have been pissed off.
Fri, 2011-04-01 22:43
#17
Still disgusting if the NDP is trying to help a CON. I just might have to vote Green. They better have a good response to this. Ugh!
I can sum this up in one word:
Egotism.
The guy tried first as an NDP and failed,
so he jumped over to the Cons where he figures he has the best chance of getting elected.
We know what he'll do if he loses:
Either quits politics and/or come next election he'll join/defect over to the party that looks like it will win in the riding in question.
Sat, 2011-04-02 02:13
#18
This article from 2008 has a prophetic headline:
His reason for crossing over is ridiculous. He had to do it because he's afraid Ignatieff will go back to Harvard? Sounds like a Con talking point.
This is one of the few vulnerable ridings the Cons have in this election. They only narrowly won it over the Liberal MP last time. Frankly, the best way to beat the Cons in Mississauga-Erindale is to vote Liberal, and the Cons know this.
That may be why, according to that article, this guy was suspected in 2008 of being a Conservative plant whose purpose it was to defeat Omar Alghabra.
Sat, 2011-04-02 07:09
#19
knownothing
There are goign to be a few who don't have the balls to stand up for socialism. Not everyone is as cool as Jack Layton!!!
Sat, 2011-04-02 10:01
#20
When NDP candidate, Ryan Dolby, quit to support the Liberals, Harper claimed that as proof that the Liberals and NDP were plotting a wreckless coalition. Now that an NDP candidate has joined forces with the Conservatives, Iggy will no doubt have proof that the Conservatives and NDP are hatching their own wreckless coalition. The only common denominator is that we New Democrats are "wreckless". Gilles must feel like chopped liver.
Sat, 2011-04-02 12:04
#21
Boom Boom
We are sorry, but the spam filter on this site decided that your submission could be spam. Please fill in the CAPTCHA below to get your submission accepted. 
Sat, 2011-04-02 13:16
#22
radiorahim
More than anything I think this shows the weakness of local NDP constitutency associations in the 905 suburban belt around Toronto.
If you have a constituency association with maybe at most half a dozen active members, literally anyone can win the party nomination. I don't for a nanosecond believe the "Conservative agent" spin.
That's the challenge for the NDP (and the left in general) i.e. to build a presence in the 905 belt where the population is largely ethnic and working class. It's an area where in general public transit sucks and you have to own a car to get around. Social and community services also suck when you run into hard times.
Sat, 2011-04-02 13:58
#23
I still it has to be a april fools joke the timing is too perfect plus if it was real the msm would be all over it.
Sat, 2011-04-02 21:56
#24
Still disgusting if the NDP is trying to help a CON. I just might have to vote Green. They better have a good response to this. Ugh!
I can sum this up in one word:
Egotism.
The guy tried first as an NDP and failed,
so he jumped over to the Cons where he figures he has the best chance of getting elected.
We know what he'll do if he loses:
Either quits politics and/or come next election he'll join/defect over to the party that looks like it will win in the riding in question.
LOL Referrence Bob Rae!
Sat, 2011-04-02 21:56
#25
More than anything I think this shows the weakness of local NDP constitutency associations in the 905 suburban belt around Toronto.
If you have a constituency association with maybe at most half a dozen active members, literally anyone can win the party nomination. I don't for a nanosecond believe the "Conservative agent" spin.
That's the challenge for the NDP (and the left in general) i.e. to build a presence in the 905 belt where the population is largely ethnic and working class. It's an area where in general public transit sucks and you have to own a car to get around. Social and community services also suck when you run into hard times.
An even more vivid demonstration of said weakness: the Vaughan byelection, where the NDP placeholder came across totally out of his element and sunk to sub-Audrey-McLaughlin-era depths.
And an added thing to consider: once upon a time, the 905 *did* have stronger constituency associations, they elected people to local councils etc (even in Mississauga). Sure, that was when things were less ethnoburban and still residually CCFish--then again, equivalent parts of Greater Vancouver are *still* NDP-viable, so...
IIRC in 2007 provincially, the Howard Hampton NDP did make a strong test-ground pitch for an ethnoburban strategy in this seat. Wasn't good for much over 10%; but, still, it remains worth pursuing--esp. given Layton's strength relative to Hampton.
Sat, 2011-04-02 21:58
#26
There are goign to be a few who don't have the balls to stand up for socialism. Not everyone is as cool as Jack Layton!!!
It's not about being cool or having balls. it's about being realistic and having brains. The country cannot support an NDP Government. DUH!!
Sat, 2011-04-02 22:29
#27
More than anything I think this shows the weakness of local NDP constitutency associations in the 905 suburban belt around Toronto.An even more vivid demonstration of said weakness: the Vaughan byelection, where the NDP placeholder came across totally out of his element and sunk to sub-Audrey-McLaughlin-era depths.If you have a constituency association with maybe at most half a dozen active members, literally anyone can win the party nomination. I don't for a nanosecond believe the "Conservative agent" spin.
That's the challenge for the NDP (and the left in general) i.e. to build a presence in the 905 belt where the population is largely ethnic and working class. It's an area where in general public transit sucks and you have to own a car to get around. Social and community services also suck when you run into hard times.
I think what happened in Vaughn is that people were so frightened by the thought of Julian Fantino being their MP that they all rushed to vote Liberal, which probably explained why the NDP barely registered. If it was just that the NDP did poorly in its ground game, you would have expected the Greens to do much better than they did. They actually did worse than the NDP.
Sat, 2021-11-27 16:44
#28
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Sun, 2011-05-15 16:31
#29
To the OP. It shoudn't be too surprising. I often have a hard time deciding between voting pro-immigration and pro-fre trade for example.
Sun, 2011-05-15 16:35
#30
Le T
To the OP. It shoudn't be too surprising. I often have a hard time deciding between voting pro-immigration and pro-fre trade for example.
Huh?
Sun, 2011-05-15 16:42
#31
To the OP. It shoudn't be too surprising. I often have a hard time deciding between voting pro-immigration and pro-fre trade for example.Huh?
Sometimes a person will hold views that cross party lines. The candidate in the OP may have agreed with the NDP on various ponts, but with the Conservatives on various other points. So his turning from the NDP to the Conservatives need not be explained according to some conspiracy theory. A Conservative could switch to the NDp for similar reasons. Think of, let's say, a pro-life socialist, or a pro-choice capitalist. We could think of all kinds of otehr combinations of views that could cause a person to have to choose between NDP and Conservative. So the OP really shoudn't be that surprising.