Federal Election Talk (7)

Sean In Ottawa wrote:

I will have to add that this kind of attitude can only be repaired when there is gender balance in those running in winnable ridings. The House of Commons is mostly still an old boys club and there needs to be some fresh air there. Only when we elect enough women to the House of Commons will we truly send a message that this garbage cannot be said. At the same time we will get better policy and better governance.

Winnable ridings is key because an awful lot of female candidates end up running in ridings where they have no hope of winning.  Surely that is by design so the parties can proclaim how many female candidates are running without having to worry that they will actually have to deal with them!  Don't expect it to change anytime soon.

Conservative candidate takes pains to obscure his Tamil background

More tasteless political opportunism among Conservative candidates...
Personally, I find it unpleasant yet unsurprising that a member of the racial group being vilified
by the ruling party in this particular electoral campaign is encouraged to run for that same party.
There must be a lot of pressure for the conservatives to show they're not racist, just classist.

Has this great anti-Harper election comic been posted yet?

It's at least a nice breather to read headlines like this, at this stage in the campaign:

 

Energized by polls, Layton swings for the fences in Quebec

 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/energized-b...

No it isn't but here it is again.

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/decision-canada/Feisty+Layton+makes+strong+pitch+left+centre+Bloc+territory/4613583/story.html

 

 

gyor wrote:

NorthReport wrote:

Another very good article for the NDP this time from BC

 

The French debate got noticed in BC, and if it got noticed in BC, it was noticed across the country.

 

Feisty Layton makes strong pitch in left-of-centre Bloc territory

With polls showing a new-found surge of Quebec support for Jack Layton, the NDP leader played an unusually big role in Wednesday's French-language debate.

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/decision-canada/Feisty+Layton+makes+str...

You link is broken

If you want the perfect synopsis of Ignatief's chances, check out the Bruce MacKinnon cartoon in today's Chronicle Herald.

In a word....

Priceless!

www.thechronicleherald.ca/brucemackinnon/mackinnon-cartoon-2011-04-14

 

This made me chuckle a bit:

Gone fishing....

excerpt:

Many candidates are out from dawn to dusk, knocking on doors and vying for your vote.

Not NDP candidate Jim Koppens.

Koppens is at a resort in the Caribbean. He booked the holiday a year ago for his family, and when the election popped up, well, he just didn't cancel it. So off he went.

The riding association president for Ajax-Pickering, Justin Arjoon, did his best to try and defend the choice to me. "He's a family man," said Arjoon. "Life comes before politics".

NorthReport wrote:

NDP launches ad targeting Ignatieff's voting record

 

It's fair game, but yeesh this probably helps the Cons more than the NDP.

A FB friend sends this:

 

Pamela Wallin was spotted in Saskatchewan last weekend, trying to garner support for Conservative backbench MP, Ray Boughen.

 

In the 2009-2010 fiscal year Senator Wallin cost taxpayers $404,641 in salary and expenses. (Public Accounts of Canada 2010)

 

See a Senator campaigning? Email [email protected] or tweet #sawasenator

I hope the NDP is getting some stacking the Senate ads to go after the Reformers now at the trough.  There are lots of quotes from Harper and some of those old Triple E Senate people. They are not just drawing a salary for doing nothing they are killing bills passed by our ELECTED  MP's.  Without even debating them.

That is a very strong message for the NDP in many parts of the prairies and rural BC especially in ridings where the race is between the Cons and NDP.

Anonymouse wrote:

Apparently Jack Layton is heading to Nfld and....PEI(!) over the weekend. It seems no stone will go unturned this election. From what I have heard the (PE) Island ND are starting to organise themselves again. They have a provincial election coming up soon too.

Better not read too much into the PEI part. It's a tradition-all leaders must set foot in every province & territory during a campaign. Even Preston Manning went there. If it was the 2nd or 3rd trip, that might mean something.

The NDP has zero chance of winning a seat in PEI but I wonder if Layton has ever been there during a campaign before. If Layton's BC surge is to be believed (why not?), then I think it is due to the three straight days he spent touring the province. BCers often feel left out and want lots of attention...Layton gave it to them. I expect he will be back in Edmonton before the end of the campaign. He went twice in 2008.

Thanks Brian that is really decent of you to write us all here! I know I really like reading what you write! thanks again buddy!

 

Brian Topp wrote:

With regard to the question above about why I haven't posted recently in the Globe: the folks at the Globe never censor or limit what I write about. My writing windows have simply been used up on other matters that are more urgent up to now. I do feel strongly that when you've accepted the fun and privilege of a couple of stints as the party's national campaign director, the single most important thing you owe your successors is to not be a burden on them. That view leads me to be a little more cautious than usual during an election campaign, since opposing warrooms and campaign journalists read everything with a critical eye. My decision, not the Globe's, who are very easy to work with.

______________________________________________________________________________________ Our kids live together and play together in their communities, let's have them learn together too!

Paulitical Junkie wrote:

NorthReport wrote:

NDP launches ad targeting Ignatieff's voting record

 

It's fair game, but yeesh this probably helps the Cons more than the NDP.

I don't like the ad at all.

It is personal when it does not need to be and focuses on an individual record.

A better ad would have been here are the measures passed that the Liberals voted for or refused to show up to vote agaist and roll them down the screen.

People don't care very much about the attendance record of a leader and may see excuses for it. But they do care about the policies that leader and his party supports or opposes-- how it affects them.

The NDP ad misses the mark and is going cute over the issues that matter.

Neither of the opposition parties with ads on the television has gone after the anti-democratic actions of the PM and the NDP have not gone strong enough on the policies brought in with the support of the Liberals. In that light this ad is a bit of pathetic fluff. A water pistol at a gunfight.

I don't mind attacking the Liberals but there are way better things to go for than this. Same thing with the Cons. The NDP campaign speeches are good but the ads are barely on message and rarely speaking to the most important things -- they must get better before e-day.

We should have these kind of rallies all over Canada!

Rally held to protest Conservative "ethnic costume" email

Quote:

About 50 protesters took place in a peaceful rally full of colourful costumes at the DoubleTree Hotel Thursday evening, in response to an email sent to the Canadian Arab Federation by the campaign team of an Etobicoke Conservative candidate.

The email asked members of the Arab community and other multicultural groups to attend a campaign event in the Dixon Road and 401 area with Conservative Leader Stephen Harper dressed in "ethnic costumes," on Thursday.

Protesters at the event left before the Prime Minister arrived, but throughout the dinner hour, they held signs with messages such as "ethnic prop" and "is this ethnic enough for ya?", while dressed in saris or traditional Afghan clothing. The men and women represented the Tamil, Chinese, Arab and even alien communities, while one person dressed as a native of Pandora, a fictional land made famous by Avatar.

"If people want to dress up in their cultural clothing, then that's fine. But you, manipulating the media, you manipulating public opinion to suit your political advantages, that's wrong. That's dishonest, that's not Canadian," said one man.

Meanwhile, Canadian-born LeAnne also decided to join the protesters, dressing in "my plaid shirt and my straw hat 'cause I come from potato farmers, so I thought I'd represent that today here as my ethnic costume".

Between this racist ethic costume crap and the breach of polling rules at the UoGuelph, Harper and his mob could be in serious trouble. Both have potential to go viral, and it appears they just may, or are.

JKR wrote:

Looks like there's more sh-t hitting the Conservative fan.

It only seems to improve Harper's numbers.

Brian Topp wrote:

With regard to the question above about why I haven't posted recently in the Globe: the folks at the Globe never censor or limit what I write about. My writing windows have simply been used up on other matters that are more urgent up to now. I do feel strongly that when you've accepted the fun and privilege of a couple of stints as the party's national campaign director, the single most important thing you owe your successors is to not be a burden on them. That view leads me to be a little more cautious than usual during an election campaign, since opposing warrooms and campaign journalists read everything with a critical eye. My decision, not the Globe's, who are very easy to work with.

Hi Brian love your writing. Not sure what a writing window is, but I think I can guess. I get that you don't want to be a Warren Kinsella.Still I miss your political insight and I think that the country does too. Hopefully we hear from you again before the end of the election. Especially on the issue of weather the ndp can win or not. We have too few progress voices in the media as it is.

Paulitical Junkie wrote:

NorthReport wrote:

NDP launches ad targeting Ignatieff's voting record

 

It's fair game, but yeesh this probably helps the Cons more than the NDP.

It does seem like the Liberals are the main target of the NDP right now.

The NDP's negative ads - unlike the Libservative ads - have all had a mischievous, tongue in cheek quality that mitigates the risks of negative ads.

Pulled up a post I made at the beginning of the campaign.  So far things are going according to form. I noted Chretien was in the news today.

 

"If this election is like the last few.  The Liberal Campaign will follow the following arc.

Big hopes will soon disapate as the campaign sputters.  Both the campaign themes and the leader will be lacklustre and unappealling.

At some point it will look like the party is ready for a free fall.  At this point old campaigners will come out of the woodwork to remind people of the Trudeau Pearson era.  Future leadership hopefuls will take this opportunity to show their loyalty by making headlines campaigning in far away ridings. 

The free fall will be averted and Liberal hope for reliving their past greatness will continue unabated.

Somewhere along this continuum a collapse will happen"

Brian Topp wrote:

With regard to the question above about why I haven't posted recently in the Globe: the folks at the Globe never censor or limit what I write about. My writing windows have simply been used up on other matters that are more urgent up to now. I do feel strongly that when you've accepted the fun and privilege of a couple of stints as the party's national campaign director, the single most important thing you owe your successors is to not be a burden on them. That view leads me to be a little more cautious than usual during an election campaign, since opposing warrooms and campaign journalists read everything with a critical eye. My decision, not the Globe's, who are very easy to work with.

Fair enough. But I hope you find something you can safely say. Always a pleasure.

Way I see it there is a coalition...between the Tories and Libs. They both voted for Afghanistan and corporate tax cuts...they both want the F35s the LIbs just want to tender them out

 

Jack should just stand up and say that there is a coalition but not between who we are being told

Are the Liberals going to be able to hold onto any seats before this is over?

 

Long Milliken's Liberal bastion, Kingston could go Tory this time

 

The Speaker is retiring, 22 years after beating Tory Flora MacDonald

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/Long+Milliken+Liberal+bastion+King...

It's great that the party is picking up steam in Quebec, but unless we can do something about our miserable numbers in Ontario, we'll have a tough time making any significant gains in our seat count.  Any thoughts on why we're faring so poorly in Canada's rust belt?