Hill and Knowlton's Anne McGrath now special advisor to Jagmeet Singh

A Hill & Knowlton advisor is the perfect fit for the No Difference Party. If they were good enough for Big Tobacco, BCCI, the asbestos industry, selling the Gulf War and the Church of Scientology, they'll be perfect for selling fake No Difference Party 'progressive' neoliberalism/imperialism as 'socialism'.

Hill & Knowlton Strategies

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hill%2BKnowlton_Strategies

H&K Strategies Canada

https://hkstrategies.ca/en

"Our belief is that brands with a clear, authentic purpose, and performance strategies aligned to business objectives are most likely to succeed..."

 I hope that the implications of this are abundantly clear, especially to those wont to posture and pontificate about the inherent goodness of the NDP versus the visible tail and horns of other leaders. A Hill & Knowlton executive advising NDP leader Jagmeet Singh makes a nonsense of everything the NDP says it stands for.

You guys are being way to harsh on Anne McGrath. She is very well-positioned advising Singh on how to win elections, considering that she succeeded in her campaign to become an NDP MLA in Alberta this past spring.

Unionist wrote:

Aristotleded24 wrote:

You guys are being way to harsh on Anne McGrath. 

I do hope you're being sarcastic, A24, but not sure. This piece of shit should be nowhere near where progressive people gather. I have a long memory.

Yes, it was sarcasm. I thought more people would pick up on it by me referencing, in a sarcastic way, that she lost when she ran for election as an NDP MLA in Calgary this past spring.

Hill and Knowlton

http://www.nuclearspin.org/hill-and-knowlton/

"Working for oil giants, the nuclear industry and torturers, paving the way to war, a company without a moral rudder..."

Regardless of how people feel about Hill&Knowlton, McGrath seems to have been in the political bubble for so long that she doesn't understand what happens in the lives of everyday people. I think she should try and aim for elected office again, and if successful, really use that to learn the side of politics she has been away from for so long.

Left Turn wrote:

Aristotleded24 wrote:

Regardless of how people feel about Hill&Knowlton, McGrath seems to have been in the political bubble for so long that she doesn't understand what happens in the lives of everyday people. I think she should try and aim for elected office again, and if successful, really use that to learn the side of politics she has been away from for so long.

I would strongly urge the NDP to stop having anything to do with people like Anne McGrath. The future is eco-socialist, and people like Anne McGrath are anything but.

In any case, whenever she's run for any sort of position (except for her stint as President of the federal NDP) she has lost. I think that might partially explain why she is disconnected. Even as a lower level MLA, perhaps she would have a chance to interact more with average, everyday people, and that might change her perspective. She can do far less damage to the NDP organization as an MLA from Alberta than she can as a special advisor to the leader.

This is all very interesting.  I was very involved in the election campaign in my local riding.  I was thinking that I would encourage more indigenous people to support the NDP in future.  I was very disappointed by the silence of the NDP when the coup against Evo Morales was happening/happened.  Now I am considering if my time and energy would be better spent in other causes and endeavours. 

zazzo wrote:

This is all very interesting.  I was very involved in the election campaign in my local riding.  I was thinking that I would encourage more indigenous people to support the NDP in future.  I was very disappointed by the silence of the NDP when the coup against Evo Morales was happening/happened.  Now I am considering if my time and energy would be better spent in other causes and endeavours. 

I was also very disappointed to not hear Jagmeet speak clearly on the subject. It seems he has come out with a good statement on twitter but so far nothing on the main NDP site and no press release. I am wondering if he is in control of the party apparatus and who actually is pulling the strings.

The worsening situation in Bolivia is alarming. Instead of supporting the self-proclaimed interim President that has a history of attacking Indigenous people, Canada must condemn the anti-democratic actions that led to this coup and are still getting worse. 1/2

https://twitter.com/theJagmeetSingh/status/1195180832861937664?s=20

Honeywell's Aerospace Director joins H+K US Energy & Industrials Practice

https://www.hkstrategies.com/en/news-honeywells-aerospace-director-joins...

"Hill & Knowlton Strategies (H+K), one of the world's leading public relations firms has appointed Steve Brecken as Senior VP within H+K's Energy & Industries practice..."

'Technology solutions designed to protect and defend. When your mission relies on being ready for anything, you can rely on us...'

https://aerospace.honeywell.com/us/en/learn/challenges/mission-readiness

You can tell a lot about the leader's advisor by the companies they keep...

I am amazed how the NDP has become so hawkish and subservient without a good insider account being leaked of how this happened. How deep is the rot? Where are the main sources it is coming from and how has that pressure been applied? Has there been any internal pushback outside of  a couple of MPs and the grassroots membership organizing at conventions? Does anyone have any good accounts or links on how the Federal NDP became a party of war? I wasn't paying enough attention at the time to the Layton move to get the NDP to end opposition to NATO. In hindsight I think I saw Iraq as a litmus test and assumed that because he was on the anti-war side of that, he had some credibility.

laine lowe wrote:

Chretien was also on the anti-war side when it came to Iraq so that's not really saying much.

True. I probably had a higher opinion of Chretien than I should have too. In my defense I was younger and dumber.

But do you think Singh or Trudeau would campaign against the Iraq war if it was being launched today? I honestly doubt it.

I have to agree with Webgear on this. And I agree, melovesproles, I was pretty damn proud of Chretien for taking the strong stance against the Iraq war that he did. In fact, I would give him pretty decent marks when it came to foreign policy except for our involvement with Afghanistan.

The leadership of the NDP for as long as I can remember, has been and remains, populated by professionals; teachers, clergy, and lawyers. Of all the activists I have known, aside from a few members of the executives of the three unions I've belonged to, none of these people have ever been members of the working class but they sure think they know what is best for people who work for a living.  "Socialism is the opiate of the intellectual class." It was scrawled on a wall in Vancouver.

laine lowe wrote:

Chretien was also on the anti-war side when it came to Iraq so that's not really saying much.

Only for public consumption. He said no boots on the ground so we sent our navy and air force supply planes plus many officers from the integrated NATO commands.

Liberal's to this day will tell you we did not enter that war but it is bullshit propaganda.

melovesproles wrote:

I am amazed how the NDP has become so hawkish and subservient without a good insider account being leaked of how this happened. How deep is the rot? Where are the main sources it is coming from and how has that pressure been applied? Has there been any internal pushback outside of  a couple of MPs and the grassroots membership organizing at conventions? Does anyone have any good accounts or links on how the Federal NDP became a party of war? I wasn't paying enough attention at the time to the Layton move to get the NDP to end opposition to NATO. In hindsight I think I saw Iraq as a litmus test and assumed that because he was on the anti-war side of that, he had some credibility.

The CCF, the predecessor party to the NDP, was originally led by J.S. Woodsworth, an ardent pacifist. Under Woodsworth's leadership, the NDP initially opposed Canada's declaration of war against Germany in 1939. In 1940, Woodsworth stepped down as leader and was replaced by M.J. Coldwell. Under Coldwell's leadership, the CCF flipped its anti-war position and came out in support of the fight against Nazi Germany. In 1949, with Coldwell still leader, the CCF came out in support of NATO because Coldwell and the rest of the leadership didn't want to be accused of being too soft on Communism as the Cold War was ramping up.

In 1965, peace and anti-war activists succeeded in getting the NDP convention that year to pass a resolution to oppose Canada's involvement in NATO. The resolution included a 30-year sunset clause. The resolution lapsed in 1995, and the party's opposition to NATO, at least on paper, was not renewed.

The NDP opposed the Vietnam war, Pierre Trudeau's implementation of the War Measures act in Quebec during the FLQ crisis in 1970, the first gulf war, and the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq in 2001 and 2003.

Layton spoke at many anti-war rallies against the war in Iraq and against the Star Wars missile defence system proposed by George W. Bush (a revival of a previous Reagan era proposal). Layton stopped these speaking appearances after he got elected to Parliament in the 2004 election.

Back in the 90s and early 2000s, Svend Robinson was the NDP's foreign affairs critic. He was removed from this position in 2001 due to comments he made about Israel-Palestine after he returned from a fact-finding mission there. Alexa McDonough became the NDP's new Foreign Affairs Critic.

After the U.S., Canada and France backed the overthrow of Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide in February 2004, Alexa McDonough asked one good question about it in the House of Commons. Then the NDP was never heard from again on the issue.

The NDP opposed the U.S/NATO war in Afghanistan and opposed Canada's military mission in Afghanistan when it began in 2006. They called for converting the U.S./NATO war to a U.N led peacekeeping mission.

During the coalition negotiations in late 2008 to unseat the Harper government and replace it with a Liberal-NDP coalition backed by the Bloc (the Liberals and NDP did not have a majority between them), the NDP agreed to drop its opposition to Canada's military mission as a condition of getting Liberal buy-in for the coalition (it was Martin's Liberal government that arranged to send Canadian troops to Afghanistan in a combat role). The NDP have never looked back.

After Mulcair was elected in a by-election in 2007, he took on a key role in the party as the sole MP in a province where the NDP hoped it could make major gains. Mulcair is an ardent zionist, identifying himself as "a supporter of Israel in all situations". During Israel's 2008-2009 Cast Lead attack on Gaza, the NDP took the deplorable position of calling for restraint on both sides.

Then in June 2010, when Libby Davies, an ardent supporter of the Palestinian people who had spoken out on Palestine on multiple occasions, spoke at a Vancouver rally against Israel's attack on the Mavi Marmara/Gaza Freedom Flotilla (an attack which violated international law and resulted in the death of 10 activists aborad the Mavi Marmara) Libby Davies was silenced on Palestine because she did not deplore violence on both sides (there were no reports or evidence of violence on the part of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla activists). Libby Davies did not speak or write anything on Palestine for the remainder of her time as MP (she was likely threatened from expulsion from the NDP caucus if she did, at the behest of Mulcair, though no evidence exists that can confirm this).

Then in early spring 2011, every NDP MP except for Bill Siksay (former constituency assistant for Svend Robinson and Svend's replacement in Burnaby--Douglas after Svend stepped down in 2004), voted in favour of Canada's involvement in NATO's military mission in Libya (which included heavy bombing of the Libyan capital of Tripoli). Bill Siksay did not seek reelection in the June 2011 election, having already decided not to run again after being reprimanded for being the only NDP MP to defy the caucus "whip" and vote against Harper's "tough on crime" legislation.

melovesproles wrote:

queenmandy85 wrote:

The leadership of the NDP for as long as I can remember, has been and remains, populated by professionals; teachers, clergy, and lawyers. Of all the activists I have known, aside from a few members of the executives of the three unions I've belonged to, none of these people have ever been members of the working class but they sure think they know what is best for people who work for a living.  "Socialism is the opiate of the intellectual class." It was scrawled on a wall in Vancouver.

How are teachers not members of the working class? Are nurses also not part of the working class? I'm really interested in your non-ideological view of "class." Doesn't seem to be income based as workers in oil rigs get similar salaries. If you have to go into student debt to get your job, are you no longer working class? Or is "class" just whatever Global News says it is?

Agreed.  "Working class" can't mean nobody but straight white men working in factories or mills in 1885, or on assembly lines in Detroit or Windsor in 1965.

kropotkin1951 wrote:

Left Turn wrote:

Then in early spring 2011, every NDP MP except for Bill Siksay (former constituency assistant for Svend Robinson and Svend's replacement in Burnaby--Douglas after Svend stepped down in 2004), voted in favour of Canada's involvement in NATO's military mission in Libya (which included heavy bombing of the Libyan capital of Tripoli). Bill Siksay did not seek reelection in the June 2011 election -- The party likely refused to approve his nomination papers as a result of his vote against the Libya Mission.

Bill had already decided not to run in the 2011 election after having been demoted and abused by Saint Jack when he was the only MP to vote against the NDP "whipping" of the discriminatory "tough on crime" legislation that Harper introduced. Kennedy Stewart was nominated to run in his seat in February 2011, before the Libya votes.

Right you are, and I've changed my original post to reflect this.

Here we go...knew there had to be one.

Liberal Insider John Delacourt Joins Hill+Knowlton Strategies

https://hkstrategies.ca/en/liberal-insider-john-delacourt-joins-hillknow...

"Over the span of two decades John spent 12 years working on Parliament Hill for 3 Liberal governments..."

Isn't our Canadian participatory democracy a wondrous thing?

Well, one thing's for sure...Anne McGrath needs to be sacked immediately and there was never any good reason for the NDP to have anything to do with Hill & Knowlton.  

No "social democratic" political party should ever work with any entity that is also tied to parties to its right.

'We're Not a Movement, We're an Ad Campaign.'*

https://rabble.ca/comment/5698323#comment-5698323

*What H+K does best. From the same fascinating NDP Twitter:

'Anne McGrath is the National Director. This is mostly her doing...This happens because we've put neoliberals and marketing people in charge of a political movement. They see zero value in the grassroots. In fact, I believe they fear it..."

https://twitter.com/JessaMcLeanNDP/

'Ours not to question why...'  - Tennyson

ps better screen-grab the Twitter Feed. H+K has long powerful arms and I'm guessing it won't be here long.

Webgear wrote:

melovesproles wrote:

True. I probably had a higher opinion of Chretien than I should have too. In my defense I was younger and dumber.

 

But do you think Singh or Trudeau would campaign against the Iraq war if it was being launched today? I honestly doubt it.

They would under the right pretext and public opinion. Look at Libya. 

I feel like Libya supports my point that the NDP (and less surprisingly the Liberals) don't oppose American wars anymore.

I take your point about context though. If Trump started the war, Singh might have done a Tik-Tok about how it wasn't cool. I think it's safe to say if Biden (who was a big backer of the Iraq war) launched it, Singh and Trudeau would be talking a lot about "human rights" and "standing with our allies."

pietro_bcc wrote:

I just want all these habitual losers to be turfed from decision making positions in the party.

All Anne McGrath does is lose and lose and lose every single election, yet they keep bringing her back in. Talk about failing upwards. Lets get some former MPs who actually have a history of winning into the leadership positions. What has McGrath done to deserve her position?

Yep. Accountability is clearly not part of the NDP's culture.

Post election NDP grapples with what went wrong

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ndp-post-2021-federal-election-review-1...

"I'm disappointed we didn't elect more MPs and that we did not significantly increase the size of our caucas, because that was the goal, said Anne McGrath, the NDP's national director..."

Perhaps it's time for the NDP's National Director to return to Hill+Knowlton? Perhaps the NDP could try another PR firm?

Top PR Agencies You Should Absolutely Check Out
https://influencermarketinghub.com/top-pr-agencies/

Anne McGrath

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_McGrath

"Anne McGrath is National Director of the New Democratic Party of Canada.

'Four decades ago when I was a young student, I was a member of the Communist Party and I deeply regret that. It was a mistake and I'm very sorry...'

No expressed regrets about working for the global US-based PR giant Hill+Knowlton (or her repetitive losses for the NDP) apparently. In fact, her association with H+K goes completely unmentioned. Can't imagine why as it's obviously considered an asset by the NDP.