Sudbury NDP MPP Joe Cimino resigns for family reasons

This is just like what happened in the NB situation with the Liberals.

Supposedly Doug Ford sees himself as someone who can appeal to blue collar union members - now is his chance!! Let him run for the PCs in Sudbury and show his stuff. If he cant win Sudbury - where can he ever win???

Yeah, Sudbury being traditionally "brown economy" and all.

Let's remember, though, that Cimino's nomination battle and victory was fraught with controversy--in a way, Paul Loewenberg might have fared better (and still could), at least in part on Vanthof-ian "victor-in-waiting" grounds.

Ciabatta2 wrote:

With nothing really hanging in the balance, this is a great opportunity for the Liberals to squeak this one out.  Olivier has announced that he'll run for the nomination.  They definitely have a good chance with a strong argument for elecitng someone within government (as much as I hate that undeocratic argument.)  Personally, I'd say they are favourites.

I don't know how well Oliver is received in the riding, but my impression is that the Liberals held on in 2011 mainly because of the popularity of Bartolucci, and this was during an election when the Liberals were sinking in the polls and lost seats overall. 2014 was a much better election for the Liberals, and yet Sudbury still fell to the NDP. Remember that the Liberals don't have the advantage of incumbency, and there's already a strong enough NDP base there that the party could realistically hold the seat.

I guess he got tired of hearing how much he looks like Rob Ford.

Whatever happens, hopefully Joe is luckier than this guy: OHIO: St Rep-elect Steve Kraus (R) was indicted on burglary and theft charges ... less than 3 weeks after winning election.

http://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2014/12/03/rookie_ndp_mpps_depart...

"NDP COST TAXPAYERS HALF A MILLION" will almost certainly dog the NDP during the by-election. 

Just months after the 2011 election the Liberals triggered a $500,000 byelection in Kitchener-Waterloo AND gave Elizabeth Witmer a lifelong $200,000/year job at WSIB all in a desperate attempt to pick up a seat in a byelection...maybe the Liberals should pay back that money - plus the $500,000 per seat price for mid-term resignations by Best, McGuinty, Broten, and the members from London West and Niagara Falls!  

Imagine - a political party and an MLA with principles as opposed to "I am entitled to my entitlements"

NDP MPP won’t take $58,000 severance

http://www.nationalnewswatch.com/2014/12/05/ndp-mpp-wont-take-58000-seve...

What Liberal would do this?

ctrl190 wrote:

While I believe he is entitled to his severance, that is a very noble gesture and could deflect some of the criticism towards the resignation.

So... why exactly do MPPs get severance when they quit or are defeated or don't run again (if that's the way it works)?

I'd love to have packages of money in my collective agreement in those events (I don't). Does anyone else here get a pot of money when they quit or are fired?

And why don't all his NDP colleagues announce that they will also forgo their severance?

That would be a noble gesture, no?

Thanks for that, sherpa-finn. I didn't realize that the Ontario MPP severance is in lieu of a contributory pension. Makes more sense now (not commenting on the quantum - just the concept), though defined-benefit pensions are of course a better approach for everyone. Especially CPP/QPP (once appropriately enhanced!).

Crisis for the Ontario Liberals - the disabled activist who ran for them in June and came close has gone public that he was forced to withdraw so that Wynne could name a candidate and he was also offered a government job if he would shut up about it. He has gone public about being shunted aside to way for Toronto's choice

https://m.facebook.com/AndrewOlivierSudbury/posts/728456320556542

Sudbury is just about the last place in Ontario where the Green party would make any impact. This is a place where the local economy revolves around mining and forestry and where people like to shoot things. 

.

Quote:

“On Friday, the head of the Ontario Liberal Party campaign, Pat Sorbara, called me to reiterate suggestions of a job or appointment. I told Pat I had a job and that I wanted to seek the nomination to be Sudbury’s MPP,” he said.

“At that point, I was informed that if I sought the nomination, the premier was prepared to bypass the nomination process and appoint their chosen candidate.”

In a brief statement, Sorbara said: “any suggestion that anything was offered in exchange for any action is categorically false.”

Wynne insisted “there was no specific promise” to Olivier, though she didn’t dispute the party would appoint a candidate instead of holding an open nomination.

“There was a discussion with Andrew Olivier,” said the premier, who repeatedly refused to say why he no longer makes the cut.

“I have had a couple of conversations with him. What we were trying to do was pay Andrew the respect of giving him an opportunity to know there was another candidate.”

Ex-Liberal candidate says Wynne’s office offered him enticement not to run in byelection

You would think that a "progressive" party would be proud to run a disabled man who performed well in the past.

... I haven't seen mentioned yet, are there any prospective ONDP candidates lined/linning up as of yet? 

terrytowel wrote:

It is obvious why Glen Thibeault has defected to the Ont Libs. He wants a cabinet post and actually institute policy in government. Rather than bang your head against the wall in opposition.

If he gets defeated provincially, will he run for the Libs federally?

Agreed that he wants a Cabinet post although any one who understands how politics works knows that a Cabinet minister's influence on policy - particularly in this day and age - is minimal.

He'll know this.  The benefit for him isn't influence on policy - that's decided centrally - but the ability to make "positive" announcements and hand over cheques which most of the opposition MPPs don't get to do.  More often than not, being an opposition MP or MPP is particularly negative and sometimes a thankless "Dr. No" type job locally.

I think a lot of Thiebault's switch has to do with the new influx of NDP MPs which has left some formerly big fish unexpectedly simming in a much larger pond, as well as Wynne's NDP-in-a-Liberal-package narrative which is very appealing to many many NDPers.

There might be something afoot locally, too.  This is a very big deal to the Sudbury NDP which were built the right way through local groundwork, with Thiebault being their big success and Loewenberg was supposed to be next.

After the Cimino issue, one has to wonder if Thiebault is moving over with any of the local organization with him.  Although these type of appointments never work well (haven't the Liberals learned this yet?) this does make it difficult for Loewenberg to run against his former buddy.

But first and foremost, this is the NDP's fault for poorly vetting Cimino.

terrytowel wrote:

It is obvious why Glen Thibeault has defected to the Ont Libs. He wants a cabinet post and actually institute policy in government. Rather than bang your head against the wall in opposition.

If he gets defeated provincially, will he run for the Libs federally?

If helping implement reactionary policies is your cup of tea, I guess that is possible.

I think a lot of factors may be involved, Mulcair raising the long gun registry issue, apparently out of the blue, the Cimino nomination, and the sidelining of Lowenberg, Andrea's less than stellar performance.

Careerism is hard to avoid.

Rokossovsky wrote:

If helping implement reactionary policies is your cup of tea, I guess that is possible.

Glenn writes "The issues the Premier is championing – retirement security, investment in the Ring of Fire, better health care – are the same issues I care deeply about and areas where the people of Sudbury rightly expect to see real progress."

terrytowel wrote:

Rokossovsky wrote:

If helping implement reactionary policies is your cup of tea, I guess that is possible.

Glenn writes "The issues the Premier is championing – retirement security, investment in the Ring of Fire, better health care – are the same issues I care deeply about and areas where the people of Sudbury rightly expect to see real progress."

Anyone can say "better health care", but if you are axing revenue streams while saying so, you are talking out of both sides of your mouth. As likely as not "investment" in the "Ring of Fire" will come at the expense of provincial revenue generating assets sold, so a net loss for the provincial government.

Right now, if you have 2 billion dollars Terry, I suggest you make a bid on Hydro One distribution, because at $311 Million a year in profit, you are looking at returning that in six years, and making a billion on top in ten years.

The Liberals aren't saying where the loss in revenue will be made up into the future, but they are selling your future, for cash on the barrel.

They are doing the job that Mike Harris couldn't. And Wynne is going down in history, not as the "Social Justice Premier", but as the "Queen of Privatization", now rolling out Tim Hudak's Million Jobs Plan, as we speak.