Labrador By-Election

It's an interesting analysis, but fails to raise the question of whether a "cheater" (as mentioned in the article) can be re-elected in that riding. Maybe Conservatives in Labrador are embarrassed by Penashue, who knows.

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The former Liberal MP for Labrador Todd Russell only needs to be an MP for another 22 days and he qualifies for a lifelong pension. He probably wants to run in the byelection just to get in his 22 days so he can then goof off for the rest of his term.

Already the former NL Liberal leader Yvonne Jones says she wants the federal Liberal nomination in Labrador...its worth noting that right now the NL Libs have 6 seats and the NDP has 5...if the she runs federally, she has to quit provincially and if the NDP (now riding very high at 39% across NL) were to win the byelection in her provincial seat, the NDP would instantly become official opposition in St. John's!!

Of course he has nothing to offer the Inuit of Labador as an MP. After all what would he know anyways about the riding and its people.

Quote:

Russell was born in William's Harbour, Labrador. He is of Inuit descent and was the president of Nunatukavut until his by-election win. He was educated at Memorial University in St. John's.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Russell

Conservative MP Penashue had to resign - I don't recall Liberal MP Todd Russell ever had to resign. It's no surprise that an NDP supporter wants to throw mud at Todd Russell. He's been critical of the Muskrat Falls development, by the way - one reason progressives should embrace him.

Let's see what the Liberal Party position is on various developments - last i hear Justin is 100% pro-oil sands and pro-Keystone.

I don't know if Russell was a good MP or a lazy one...if he was any good, how did he manage to lose to Penashue in the first place? Its worth noting though that he only needs 22 measly days to get his pension. Maybe that is what he should base his campaign on "I just need 22 more days as an MP and i get a pension for the rest of my life. Please HELP ME!"

I think its a leftwing talking point to show how Senators and MPs and other very highly paid elites are like pigs at the trough with their multiple six digit salaries and pensions - while the same people keep voting to cut pensions, EI and benefits for everyone else.

Stockholm wrote:

I think its a leftwing talking point to show how Senators and MPs and other very highly paid elites are like pigs at the trough with their multiple six digit salaries and pensions - while the same people keep voting to cut pensions, EI and benefits for everyone else.

Very highly paid elite.  I guess as soon as you join the Liberal party and run as a candidate you become part of that elite or are you complaining about his salary as a Inuit official?

Right wing talking points being presented by NDP supporters is still just right wing shit.  Go ahead do the Fraser Institutes job for them by framing the issues in that manner, I know they love it.

kropotkin1951 wrote:

Right wing talking points being presented by NDP supporters is still just right wing shit.  Go ahead do the Fraser Institutes job for them by framing the issues in that manner, I know they love it.

A stopped clock is right twice a day, and if you don't think there is much public anger over what politicians make, then I think you need to get out a bit more. I think the situation is actually the reverse, in that people are legitimately angry with the benefits that politicians receive, and it was the right-wingers who capitalized on this legitimate anger for political benefits. It's that old populist dynamic, the powerful interests versus the ordinary people that is doing it, the same thing that used to work for the NDP, only the NDP defined powerful interests differently.

That said, if the people of Labrador choose to re-elect this MP knowing what Stockholm pointed out, then that is their decision to make.

Arthur Cramer wrote:

I don't care how great he is, he offended the hell out of me simply because I KNEW he was going to run again. he should have just admitted it.

He currently has a good job as the elected President of the Nunatukavut but you KNOW for sure what he intends to do. Your bias are on full display one more time.  Being an MP is maybe a better job but does he have to resign his present position?  Since you know I guess you must have factored that into your opinion. So what happens if he chooses to run and loses does he get his elected position in Nunatukavut back or is this an all or nothing gamble? His term as President does not end until 2016 and maybe just maybe he might be actually weighing his options. 

However if he does run in the by election I am sure his political opponents will decry him for quitting his elected position after only one year in office. No I guess you are right there is nothing for him to consider he is just lying when he says he is still making a decision.

http://www.nunatukavut.ca/home/presidents_biography.htm

Yeah, OK, so we are going to fight about this huh? Look, all I said was I heard him yesterday. All he had to do was deny it. He's thinking about it, and I say he's running. If you don't like how I chose to hear what he said with my own tow ears, that is fine, and I really have no issue at all with that. But, the bottom line is that is my opinion based on what I heard, K. I have been around the horn as have many of us, and I am pretty sure I can tell a snow job when I hear one. You think whatever you want. I also get your points about who this man is and his accomplishments You are welcome to view this as you chose. But so am I; no more, no less. That is all I am saying. There is nothing else to what I wrote. You ought to know by now I call it exactly as I see it. I will also apologize when I am wrong and have done it on this board before. This time around, there's nothing for which I feel the need to apologize.

So Stock are all MP's of aboriginal descent just lazy assholes or only ones that are not NDP?

Once appointed to the Senate EVERYONE becomes a "lazy asshole" because they are guaranteed a lifetime $150k job with absolutely no obligation to do any work, Harper has already appointed a non-Aboriginal jackass named Fabian Manning not once but TWICE to the senate after he was rejected by voters in Avalon...and he has quickly sunk without a trace in the Senate alongside people like Mike Duffy. Based on the Manning precedent, it seems like a done deal that Penashue will get a lifetime Senate appointment if he loses and he will never work another day in his life...just like everyone else in the senate

Yippee! that means she'll resign her seat in the House of assembly and the NDP can win the byelection and take over as official opposition in Newfoundland!

It will be interesting to see whether Todd Russell runs against Yvonne Jones and whether we get a contested nomination for Labrador.

Penashue just quit yesterday, so while Yvonne Jones was first out of the gate today and did interviews on Newfoundland t.v., Russell is taking a few days to talk over with his family & colleagues at NunatuKavut on whether to make a return to federal politics.

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Peter Penashue campaign took in 28 ineligible contributions

Mar 15, 2013 5:07 PM ET

Peter Penashue's campaign had to settle up after taking 28 illegal contributions in his 2011 federal election campaign, including more than $18,000 from Provincial Airlines and $5,500 from construction company Pennecon, newly released records show.

Penashue resigned his seat in the House of Commons Thursday, as well as his role as intergovernmental affairs minister, in the wake of controversy over taking corporate donations and going over his election campaign spending limit.

Revised campaign spending records published Friday show:

• Penashue's campaign accepted 28 ineligible, or illegal, donations.
• The illegal monetary donations totalled $27,850, with an additional $18,710.54 in in-kind contributions from Provincial Airlines.
• The donations included money from Provincial Airlines andPennecon Ltd., two companies whose contributions were revealed last fall by CBC News.

Penashue's campaign wrote two big cheques to the federal government through the Receiver General of Canada to cover the ineligible contributions.

• $26,850 was paid on Nov. 28, 2012 to cover the monetary contributions (one ineligible contribution had been paid off shortly after the 2011 election, for a total of $27,850).
• The in-kind contribution of $18,710.54 was paid March 4, 2013, a week-and-a-half before Penashue resigned.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2013/03/15/pol-penashue-28-ineligi...

Rebecca West wrote:

Stockholm wrote:

kropotkin1951 wrote:

 are you complaining about his salary as a Inuit official?

Not at all. If he gets a good salary as an Inuit official I'm happy for him. maybe he should go on collecting that good salary rather than trying to go back to parliament just so he can work for 22 more days and then get his lifelong pension.

And we have how many FN senators now?

Actually the Senate has nothing to do with my quote or Stock's answer it was about Todd not Peter.  Please maam will explain why you asked about FN's Senators when I am talking about a job as a Metis leader?  You have me confused and a little bit worried.

I have to agree with Boom Boom.

Yvonne Jones is widely respected for her tremendous courage with the many challenges she has faced, while still doing her best to represent her constituents and province.

I don't know as much about Todd Russell, but I have not heard a lot of bad things about him.

I think to take some cheap shots at them and try to imply sinister motives to their actions is really poor unless those making the comments have something substanial to back those statements up.

Surely we can just judge good people as good people, regardless of what party or background they are from.

On an equal playing field, I think either Jones or Russell could take down Pensashue. We all know, though, that the Cons will try to lie, cheat, steal, and otherwise take the election away unfairly - as they did the first time. And, then there's the NDP. A strong NDP challenger could change the whole game.

AO:

OK, so then I guess we should all shut up huh? I heard the guy speak on As it Happens with my own two ears. I said he was not being honest when asked directly 4 times if he was going to run and refusing to answer. He is gong to, period. I can't comment on that? Your comment is fair, but I think you ought to be a little more careful how broadly you stoke with your brush? That's MY opinion, no one else's, and certainly not the NDP's. It doesn't matter what I post here anyway, and you know it. This is a basically anonymouse forum that is unknow to the general public. I use my real name. If I can't at least write what I think in this forum, then were else exactly am I supposed to?

As I said, I think your's is a fair remark and my reply is not an attack. All I am saying is how I feel based on what you said, and what my take of what you said is. That's all.

Art

Stockholm wrote:

Yippee! that means she'll resign her seat in the House of assembly and the NDP can win the byelection and take over as official opposition in Newfoundland!

The NDP got 2.06% in 2011 in that riding.  Don't count the chickens before they hatch.

It kils me how we get Jack's (blessed be his memory) words thrown in our face over and over whenever someone goes after a Lib. I have said it before, and I'll say it again, if Jack was such a great man, why didn't all these Libs vote for him? They didn't. So, I simply don't understand why we have to be throttled in our committment to social democracy because of the words of a former leader. Not only that, it has always puzzled me why social advocates of repute run as Libs. They join a party that talks and runs in one direction, and then governs in another, and say nothing. I don't know much more about Mr. Russel other then what I have read here. However, his advcoacy, his postion of respect in the community, and his reputation doesn't put him above challenge. If he runs, he will run as a Lib, then sit if elected and watch his party govern from the right as all these former Lib social advocates have ALWAYS done once elected to governance. No one is above challenge and everyone is accountable. Mr Russel is accountable for his choice to run for a party which has a long established history of Corporatist governance benefitting the elite at the expense of the very people he claims to represent. That smacks of hypocracy and those of us who express our committment to Social Democarcy by our membership in the NDP  and our work to elect NDP candidates have nothing for which to apologize. I don't see what the issue is here frankly, and I don't feel inclined to apolgize for feeling as I do. Frankly, I don't think anyone else should have to either way as well. I would be more impressed with Mr. Russel if he ran as a New Democrat. If he won't, then those of us committed to the NDP have a MORAL obligation to work for his DEFEAT, period.