NDP leadership 56

I don't get why Chisholm ran in the first place.  It's obvious that you can't learn a 2nd language in the course of a few months campaign.  It kind of makes him look a little silly to enter and then drop out.  Reminds me of some of the Republican Presidential candidates.

 

Chisholm has a wealth of experience and smarts.  On every other criteria but language he certainly deserved to be in the race if he wanted to be.  It may simply be the pressure to have an eastern candidate was so strong he felt he had little choice after a few others stepped back and under-estimated how over-ridingly important that single criteria was.  It should have been obvious, but given his clear strengths in other areas he may have thought it would balance out.  Memebers clearly sent him the message it was far more important than he thought and to his enormous credit Chisholm heard the message and did the right thing.  

I think Chisholm showed real leadership today, and if there had been more time on language training for him you can see how he could have been a very crediable leadership contender if we hadn't had to have this race so soon.

Some campaigns certainly DON'T seem to have momentum. If it's not too early to say that, then I don't think it's too early to say that some do. Of course things like endorsements and reviews of the candidates' debate performances only mean so much (and it would be great to see a poll of the membership instead), but based on the information we have available to us I think the conclusions I've drawn are quite fair.

The conclusions Capstick has drawn seem wildly off. As for the debates, Cullen, Ashton and Nash were all mentioned by at least a few commentators as having done well in the first debate, but (as I wrote) Mulcair was mentioned by every commentator (or very close to it). Saying that one candidate "won" the debate is too simplistic, but when one particular candidate keeps getting singled out as one of the best performers that's a big, big positive.

I would argue Topp has nearly as impressive credentials in these regards as Nash, Dewar has about the same level of experience and--as a former cabinet minister and Quebec Lieutenant during the Orange Wave--I would argue Mulcair has significantly more.

But even if you disagree, those are all qualities we knew about when the race began. What's helping Peggy Nash RIGHT NOW is a very different question. And what is helping her right now seems to be that two of the other candidates she's up against seem to have significant problems with their own campaigns (Dewar's lack of ability in French and Topp's lack of experience/ability as a candidate). Nash's resume is well known. There's no reason to believe that is helping relative to the position she was in when she entered the race. And her campaign simply doesn't seem to be doing much. Few significant endorsements. No huge events that I've heard of. Not a particularly active tour. No attention grabbing policy announcements. No compeling messaging that I've seen. That's not to say we won't see more from her campaign later on. And none of the campaigns have been super active. But that doesn't change the fact that it appears that the perception her campaign is gaining ground is based mostly on the fact that two of her rivals seem to have lost ground.

An Active Government for a Fair Economy

by Peggy Nash MP, Parkdale-High Park; NDP leadership candidate.

To foster innovation, productivity, and a green economy, markets need to be pushed and challenged by our government.
I will start with a real plan to create good jobs across the country, which will form the core of how we start rebuilding our economy so more Canadians benefit.
A strategy to create value-added jobs, where we not only harvest our country's vast natural resources, but also focus on keeping the processing sector in Canada, will mean we're not exporting jobs along with our raw materials. The resulting value-added jobs will demand high skills, and will bring Canadian workers high pay. This will also mean that companies will create research and development centres close by in order to support workplace innovation and productivity, thereby reviving local economies and creating opportunities for local suppliers and businesses.
Our manufacturing sector needs to be strengthened. After years of erosion that devastated whole communities, we can use government investment to establish manufacturing revitalization and new energy technologies that will generate quality, innovative jobs.
We also need to reshape government policy to create a greener economy. We can achieve that by ending subsidies to the oil sands and using those savings to help diversify our energy sector and support provinces and municipalities with infrastructure renewal and other investments.
But to realize this dream of a strengthened, green economy with quality jobs, we need real action and real leadership. Our party's challenge between now and the next election will be to connect the fair-mindedness that is found across our country with concrete government action - to connect the passion for a better, greener world, and the need to turn our economy around, with the political will to get us there.

Peggy Nash nets NDP's 'top endorsement' as Layton's finance critic

Largely overlooked so far, NDP leadership hopeful Peggy Nash goes deep in a wide-ranging VO exclusive interview.

David P. Ball Posted: Dec 11th, 2011

She's been dubbed a "practical radical" - and even the "Iron Lady of the Left."
 
But Toronto's Peggy Nash - an emerging top contender in the quest to succeed Jack Layton as leader of Canada's New Democratic Party (NDP) - is no Thatcher. Her hope: to become Canada's "first-ever female social democratic Prime Minister.

"I believe in this leadership campaign, if we're going to talk about economic justice, we've also got to talk about social justice and human rights," she told the crowd. "We have to fight for human rights -- we have to defend the rights of everyone in society."

And though the media seem to have already called the race as a two-way run between Brian Topp and Thomas Mulcair, many are looking to the party's finance critic as an intriguing third option - someone who might bridge Topp's progressive views and his closeness to Jack Layton, with Mulcair's charismatic (though mercurial) personality and government experience.

In a political sphere where women are still categorized as either too tough (Thatcher, Hillary Clinton, Angela Merkel) or too soft to lead, Nash earned her strong image not only from going "toe-to-toe" with finance minister Jim Flaherty and then-industry minister Jim Prentice. In her years before becoming a member of Parliament in 2006, Nash was a chief negotiator with the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union - the first woman even to negotiate a major deal with the automotive industry - the 2005 Ford Canada pact.
 
If that doesn't take steely resolve, try dealing with irate airport travellers. In a former life, Nash was an airline ticket agent. She speaks French, English and Spanish fluently. In the House of Commons, she's put forward bills for a $10 national minimum wage, honorary citizenship for the Dalai Lama and - making Canadian history - blocked a Canadian company's takeover by a U.S. arms manufacturer.

"I led the charge," she said of the successful effort to stop the sale of MacDonald, Dettwiler & Associates (MDA), maker of the Canadarm, to a U.S. munitions manufacturer. "It was the first time in the history of our Competition Act.

"Once we examined (the deal), it became obvious even to the Minister (of Industry Jim Prentice) that it was not in Canada's interest. I've also shown as finance critic I can go toe-to-toe with (Finance Minister) Jim Flaherty with gusto and effectiveness."

Nash said that bridging her passion for social justice with knowledge of economics is a key to her campaign. And, with economic inequality at an all-time high in Canada, she insisted Canadians need to hear more clearly the NDP's economic vision.
 
"We should never be afraid of talking about economic issues," she said. "We are the party that wants to reduce inequality and create good quality jobs with decent incomes, and you can only do that if you have strong social programs and strong environmental policy - they all go together.
 
"Most people work really hard for their money and they want to make sure that the NDP understands that - which we do - and that we respect the tax dollars they send to Ottawa ... The average person says, 'Wait a minute - that's my money. I want to know that you value how hard I worked for that.' I think that in the next election, that's our challenge - to demonstrate that that's our approach."

Nash wants economy to be NDP's strong suit
Toronto MP says she has the qualities to be the next NDP leader
By Meagan Fitzpatrick, CBC News
Posted: Dec 14, 2011 1:03 PM ET
Last Updated: Dec 14, 2011 5:51 PM ET

 

The NDP can do a better job managing the economy than the Conservatives, according to Peggy Nash, who is running for the leadership of her party and is out to prove her claim.

Nash acknowledges the NDP has a reputation for being focused on social issues and weak on economic ones, but the Toronto MP says she can help change public perception by encouraging her party to shine on the finance file.

"In the next federal election, we have to be able to convince Canadians that we are the best party to manage the economy and to provide the kind of good stable jobs that people are looking for," Nash said in a recent interview in her Ottawa office.

"In the past, sometimes the NDP had shied away from addressing economic issues. In my view, it is the central issue and ought to be our strength," she said. Social democratic governments in Canada, and around the world, have solid records on reducing inequality and creating economic stability, she said.

 

She and Layton had talked about the need for the NDP to focus more on the economy, Nash said, and it was a specific strategy they began working on before he died in August.

Seven things we learned from the first NDP leadership debate

John Ivison  Dec 4, 2011 - 6:34 PM ET | Last Updated: Dec 5, 2011 10:23 AM ET

 

This contest is a sea of troubles for corporate Canada but by far the most worrisome outcome would be a Peggy Nash win. Ms. Nash claims that the countries that have truly succeeded "haven't handed over all decision-making power to corporations." By the sound of her plan, under a Nash government those decisions would be made by the unions, which she considers to be an extension of the party, and the government. Ms. Nash put in a solid performance and nobody should be at all surprised if she ends up winning next March.

Mr. Mulcair has been much maligned as someone who would, as Lloyd George said of Churchill, make a drum out of the skin of his own mother in order to sound his own praises. But during the debate, he was the epitome of collegiality and good humour. He makes a reasonable case that he is the candidate most able to take the party to the next level by reaching out beyond its traditional base. But first he has to persuade the traditional base to vote for him. The number of votes available in his home province suggest this will be tough.

Opinion: Peggy Nash the candidate to watch in NDP leadership race

 

By Barbara Yaffe, Vancouver Sun December 13, 2011

 

Keep your eye on Peggy Nash. In a crowded field of New Democratic Party leadership candidates, she stands out.

It is partly because she's smart and as she herself says, has "skin like a rhinoceros." But it's also because she exudes a calm moderation that would serve her well in reaching out to voters who aren't NDPers.

 

Fluent in French, Nash uses the noun une rassembleuse to describe her ability to bring people together. Having her political base in Toronto, where she's MP for Parkdale-High Park, won't be a disadvantage in building on the party's Quebec support, she insists. "I haven't heard Quebecers say the next leader has to be from Quebec. I have heard them say they expect the next leader to be bilingual and open to Quebec's culture and institutions."

The 60-year-old former NDP party president, who began her working life as an Air Canada ticket agent, eventually became a Canadian Auto Workers' labour negotiator who has "sat across the table from some of the CEOs of our largest companies," she said.

In a political career that began just five years ago, she has been the party's critic for industry, then finance.

Nash is endorsed by four NDP MPs, two from B.C. (Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca MP Randall Garrison and Victoria MP Denise Savoie) and by former NDP leader Alexa McDonough.

 

Asked about her prospects in the current race - might she sneak up the middle as a compromise candidate between Topp and Mulcair at the leadership convention next March? - Nash says: "I have heard people say that it's certainly a possibility, but it's too early to predict."

Kennedy was NOT bilingual.  His french is on par with Dewar at best and was often completely cringable.

Stephen Harper's French a few years ago was considered to be on the level of Dewar's and he now has a majority government.

Still waiting for that Niki Ashton video, of course, to show us how it's really done ;-)

kinch wrote:

Party won't hand over membership info to pollsters. 

Is that because they just don't want to, or because they can't?