Questions for Libby Davies about her support for Brian Topp

My post from the other thread -

And again, why should any candidate answer questions posed by annoyomous posters with no responsibility for their questions?  If babblers want to ask questions of NDP leadership candidates they simply have to become members, (for those who aren't) and attend a meeting or send the questions directly to candidates.  If rabble wants to do something host a meeting, connect with that meeting online, but make people responsible for their questions.  You are asking candidates for a party leadership to be responsible to people who may or may not have the best interests of the NDP at heart, or may even be partisans for a different party.  The process is ripe for abuse.

And that leaves out the bizzareness of asking Libby Davies to respond to questions about Brian Topp's campaign. 

Here's a case where a few people got together and decided what they thought might work ... but forgot to ask the actual participants whether any of us agreed. I guess people will vote with their feet/keyboards.

Obviously if no one wants to ask a senior left-leaning NDP MP about her thoughts on the leadership race which has already spawned 20+ discussion threads on this site, then they needn't participate. To me, this sounds like a great opportunity you won't find elsewhere.

I must admit I'm a bit confounded at the "if you want to ask questions of NDPers, join the party" argument: isn't that why, in fact, we have media at all? I don't even know what "make people responsible for their questions" means. At any rate, the questions (but not follow-up comments and responses) will be vetted.

How can you possibly be confounded? 

This is not an open race.  Only members of the NDP have a say in who they pick as leader.  If you are concerned about that choice you need join the party to participate in that selection process, or declare your own candidacy, or convince someone you like to run. 

If you want to sandbag candidates with annoymous posters, who may in fact be partisans for other parties, you can wait until after the internal selection is made when the choice (ie electoral vote) is then open to all voters.  Right now that is not the case, so if you want to participate in the selection of the leader of the NDP you should be part of the process- so either take out a party membership, or email candidates directly, or go to a meeting.  Frankly at this point, while it might be interesting speculation and fun to watch, it is nobody's business but NDP members because only they get a say - like it or not.  If you want to be a direct participant the way to do that is clear.  It is called being a member of the NDP.  If a person goes to a meeting, sends a direct email to a candidate or posts with their names that is fine, but doing it annoymously on an internet forum means no one is taking responsibility for the questions or the intent behind them.  Pretending it will be all roses and sunshine is terribly naive.  This is simply a bad idea and I would advise all candidates to not participate in what will quickly become gotcha politics.

wage zombie wrote:

Catchfire wrote:

I must admit I'm a bit confounded at the "if you want to ask questions of NDPers, join the party" argument: isn't that why, in fact, we have media at all? I don't even know what "make people responsible for their questions" means.

It's because some people don't really understand what the power of the internet is about.

Oh that's it.  I bow to your superior knowledge and intellect.

Also, I wonder why all the NDP candidates have agreed to be interviewed by various media outlets if there's no point since "they're not members."

May I suggest you submit the question to all of the candidates who have agreed to answer questions "Why are you bothering to address people who may not even, in their heart of hearts, be NDP members?" And we'll see if we can get you an answer.

In the meantime, consider your objections noted, and let's move this thread to pool potential questions for Libby Davies on her thoughts on the leadership race, why she chose not to run, what it means not to have a clear member from the party's left wing in the race, and why she is endorsing Brian Topp.

If Libby wants to participate in this exercise, that's fine with me.

Received by email from Sam Boskey in Montreal wrote:

I knew Brian somewhat years ago when he was still in Montreal, putting out a feisty little magazine on municipal politics, Open City, which covered my gang back then. But I lost track of him afterwards. 

If Libby  feels that he would make a better leader.. I would be interested in why. And is it for the same reasons others are backing him or not?

I'd like to ask Libby what she has to say to the leftier folk in the NDP who, despite her lack of French, were counting on her to represent their views in the leadership race, and now might feel left without a home in the debate. 

I'm rather surprised that there's such fuss about hosting a chat with Ms. Davies. Personally, I think she probably has a lot of insight into both the nature of leadership races (having witnessed quite a few) and how the party's internal dynamics are going right now.

I read with interest today's coverage of the forthcoming Mulcair bid in the Globe and Mail, and I certainly think it's a bold but necessary promise he's made that we need to expand the party base, and bring in new voters. Certainly our share of the popular vote needs to increase if we want to form government.

However, that also means bringing people who are not the most obvious ideological supporters of the NDP - people who have previously voted Liberal, Green, Bloc and even Conservative. So my question is how can we expand our support base without sacrificing our values - those things which made longtime supporters come to the party? I don't want a watered down Liberal party.

And for you, coming from the left of the party, what are key NDP values that you hope a future leader wouldn't compromise on?

Personally, I am deeply concermed by income inequality - the pervasiveness of poverty in our urban centres, but also in communities like the First Nations reserves. I am horrified that homelessness and poverty persist in a country as rich as Canada. I want a Canada that spends less money on military missions and I was unhappy to see NDP support for the NATO bombing campaign in Libya. I felt that these issues are some key areas the NDP has historically been different from the Liberals, and I don't want to see us lose ground here. 

Are there any red lines for you - policy shifts to the centre that you couldn't support, or that you worry the NDP might cross in a bid to get more centrist support?

Thanks for that post, LeftBank!

Caissa: I don't see what questions you're referring to re: #16 and #21. Are those numbers correct?

As for your question about other candidates' supporters, there are no current plans for that, although we're aware of the problem of havng a declared supporter come aboard along with other leadership candidates. Our response is that Libby Davies is the deputy leader of the NDP party, was expected (and asked) by many to run for leader and opted not to, and whose subsequent decision to endorse Topp has raised questions many would like resolved. So, aside from her high standing in the party, these questions may not be asked of other candidates' MP supporters.

I like your questions Theleftbank however the problem I see with them is that they are impossible to answer in less than a good 5 to 10 page essay. Setting out the values can be a power point presentation but without flesh on the bones they will be merely broad generalities.

While I hope that Libby will engage at a substantive level I am not sure if I even want her to be spending a lot of her time writing long philosophical pieces for a political chat room.  The candidates however are campaigning so this might prove to be a very effective forum for them to get their opinions out to the membership.  

Northern Shoveler wrote:

I like your questions Theleftbank however the problem I see with them is that they are impossible to answer in less than a good 5 to 10 page essay. Setting out the values can be a power point presentation but without flesh on the bones they will be merely broad generalities.

So for heaven's sake, please post your own questions. I'm totally dumbfounded that after 20+ posts, most of you still haven't put forward a question to Ms. Davies. I'm sure Rabble will soon invite many other MPs or endorsers to weigh in on this race that will be going until March 2012!!

Do you feel that the media's picture of Brian Topp is missing a few pieces? If so, tell us about your personal experience with Brian Topp and any/all interesting stories/views about him that helped make your decision.

I would like to know what Ms. Davies thinks about Brian Topps' ability to appeal to non NDPers.  Does he have the public speaking ability to inspire people in an election campaign?  He seems to have a rather low key persona. 

I would like to know whether Libby Davies thinks Brian Topp has a sufficient appreciation for the importance of the party's demonstrating solidarity with the struggles and campaigns of the social and activist movements, and the importance of carrying their concerns to the floor of the House of Commons. Will we see Brian Topp's name, for example, along with Libby Davies's name, among the lists of high-profile endorsers of grasssroots campaigns on the wars, the environment, the Occupy Canada movement, aboriginal rights, women's rights, and other civil liberties issues? Or will he continue in the recent tradition of Jack Layton, whose endorsation has not appeared in activist campaigns for the past several years? 

Thanks for these two questions, Spector and singlestar--they're good ones--but we've already submitted the questions to Libby so she'll have time to prepare worthy responses. Save your queries, though--and see if she'll answer them as follow-up questions to the ones we have time for.

The conversation will start in a few minutes on this thread: http://rabble.ca/babble/canadian-politics/today-libby-davies-answers-que...

It will work just like a normal babble thread (mostly). I'll post the questions one at a time and Libby will answer. babblers will be able to join the conversation in that thread, and Libby will try to respond as best she can and as time permits. No new software is necessary! See you there shortly!

Longtime NDP radical. Libby helped with morale at Vancouver Convention as we struggled to get a resolution supporting Safe Injection sites and updating NDP drug policy -- against strong behind-the-scenes opposition from Brian Topp, Olivia Chow, and other Party Powers. Dismayed to see Libby's endorsement of Topp.

Question for Libby: who do you think will take over the behind-the-scenes pull to the Right after Brian Topp is crowned leader? After a merger with the Liberals, is she comfortable knowing that another political party will spring up to her Left, which will both split the vote and ruin dreams of a two-party system? Second follow-up: is Proportional Representation now dead as a platform within the NDP? Sorry for the late questions. I've been busy creating real (direct) democracy in St. James Park in Toronto; too busy to pay attention in a timely fashion to what the dinosaurs are doing. Sorry we lost you, Libby. I was going to support you, as I supported Svend. As for him, I would have given you my all, and then some.

Those question marks are out of place at the end of all those statements of position in post39.

Libby is here and the discussion is up and running! Be sure to check out this thread now!

KenS wrote:

Those question marks are out of place at the end of all those statements of position in post39.

No shit, Einstein. I'm angry. I just learned that my favourite non-rookie in the House just sold out to Darth Vader. Next time that happens, I'll be sure to use proper framing and exclamation points. Or maybe I'll just leave the party.

You can always come back later.

Then leave again.

Thats a description, not a suggection. Many of us have travelled that well worn path.

There's no choice for me now that the BQ are almost history. I used to alternate between BQ and NDP depending on circumstances. Plus, the NDP - as Nycole Turmel said on P&P - is the only party to propose a wage cap on CEOs. I'd like the party to go further, and propose taxing the sh*t out of the rich and corporations, instead of giving these scum tax break after tax break.