Mulcair-led NDP (thread #12)

All this proves is that the Libs will stoop to ANYTHING, to keep power. Its ALL about the power.

How about Deabter, where are you? Still haunting these pages? How about hot shot? Why again should ANYONE vote Liberal? Huh?

http://www2.canada.com/windsorstar/news/story.html?id=720b6742-b58d-4faf...

57 billion dollars pillaged from EI in 2008. Yeah good like justifying your EI changes and the death of seasonal industies now Harper.

I'm with you bk - the problem with the quote also alluded to a false belief that our current NDP lack bench strength in business or diplomacy or whatever and thus isn't it great that we are attracting these elitist and sought after Canadians to strengthen our electorial attractiveness and add to our "ready to govern" meme.

Of course, it does not mean that was the intent of Mulcair quoted comments and that much is being read into this article but like you I don't want the johnny and jill come latelies to our party who think they deserve or merit safe seats. In fact, the strength of our MPs has been that they did have to work really really hard to get elected (well prior to the Orange Wave) and thus work really hard representing their constituencies and the NDP.

The last thing I want is someone who is it for themselves and thus when they get pissed when things aren't going their way take a hike across the floor.

 

 

bagkitty wrote:

Doug wrote:

This is an interesting teaser.

 

 

Polls suggesting the New Democratic Party is a contender to form government in 2015 allow the party to recruit star candidates, including well-known figures from the business community, according to Thomas Mulcair.

The NDP leader, whose leadership credentials were questioned recently after statements about the oilsands infuriated three western premiers, said he's been approached by "extraordinary" people interested in running for the party.

"They're already coming to us. The names would surprise you," Mulcair said in an exclusive interview. "We have extraordinary people who are talking to us now, people who share our values, share our goals, but who have never expressed the desire to go into politics."

 

[sound of gnashing teeth]

I so hate it when this kind of thing ("star" candidates) is brought up as a positive development. Frankly the prospect of "That's the type of people: senior business people, well-known names, and people with backgrounds in diplomacy, the highest government level. This is for us new territory and it's exciting." [direct quote from linked article] are not words that fill me with either excitement or enthusiasm. While I don't think having a high profile as, for an example, a "senior business person" should disqualify someone from being the party's standard bearer I also don't think it automatically qualifies them - all it does it indicate they have a certain degree of notoriety (often bearing little if any relationship to the agenda of the party), well that and raise questions as to what style of luggage they carry:

I also question the level of commitment such "stars" bring to any party. What role have they played in the development of policy for the party whose banner they are suddenly waving? How committed are they to respecting the decisions coming out of party conventions? Hell, how much loyalty to they exhibit to the party itself, and to the wishes of the constituents they are seeking to represent? I guess memories of David Emerson tend to come to the fore when I try to answer those questions.

The idea of parachuting candidates into "safe" ridings (mentioned in the article) also fails to generate any excitement or enthusiasm on my part. Had the NDP leadership race had a different outcome, I could understand the necessity of parachuting a leader into a safe riding (shades of Albertan Joe Clark representing the Nova Scotia riding of Kings-Hants circa 2000), but the circumstances that justify parachuting are few and far between, and I don't think "name recognition" is sufficient reason to pull the ripcord.

[/sound of gnashing teeth]

 

 

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Arthur Cramer wrote:

All this proves is that the Libs will stoop to ANYTHING, to keep power. Its ALL about the power.

How about Deabter, where are you? Still haunting these pages? How about hot shot? Why again should ANYONE vote Liberal? Huh?

 

maybe you should lay off the sauce Arthur.

 

I thought it was sick pookie.

Jacob Two-Two wrote:

It was supposed to define Mulcair and instead the whole thing went right over discussions about Mulcair and straight to honest musing about the viability of our resource extraction.

Thats an early declaration of victory, which I think goes well beyond being optimistic / hopeful.

There were going to be some of the chattering classes that liked what Mulcair said. Guaranteed. So nothing has been demonstrated now that we get the inevitable evidence of that.

The question is the overall effect. We dont know that yet. And we have very little to project from, when we have not seen the attack ads yet... which may not happen for months... like the Fall, or later still.

Pookie's comment is disgusting.

I have no problem with "star candidates" given that "star" typically means that they are high quality people with impressive qualifications to add to the party. Mulcair himself was touted as a "star candidate" when he first ran in Outremont. Here are some other people (going east to west) in the NDP caucus who have been described as "stars" - I leave up to those reading this post as to whether these people are as worthless as "madmax" seems to imply:

Ryan Cleary (talk radio host and journalist)

Robert Chisholm (former NS NDP leader)

Nycole Turmel (ex pres. of PSAC)

Francoise Boivin (ex-Liberal MP)

Romeo Saganash (you all know his story)

Mulcair

David Christopherson (ex-Ontario cabinet minister)

Peggy Nash (special exec. to the CAW)

Craig Scott (Rhodes scholar, well-known law professor)

Olivia Chow (city councillor and spouse of Jack layton)

Ginny Sims (former head of the BCTF)

these are just a few top of mind examples. I hope the NDP gets even more people running who have done great things in their careers before running for public office. The more stars the better. To me star candidates are another way of saying high quality candidates. In 2015 I hope that we get some leading economists and people who have been very successful from all walks of life who are brimming with ideas. I don't want the slate of NDP candidates in 2015 to be bunch of randomly selected mediocrities. I want to see a slate of highly qualified people who are seen as the next cabinet.

Obviously candidates would have to be vetted. Senior business leader is a pretty broad category. If a former CEO of an oil company wanted to run as an NDP candidate I would retch. But someone who worked with a reputable and socially responsible business, well, tell me more.

Also in regards to the house - no matter what his reaction, it's gotta be better than Rob Ford's reaction to people asking questions about his house ;-)

My main fear about star candidates is that they end up being opportunists who are simply joining the winning team.   

Closing for length.