I think the party had a good look at Nikki (the other one) and found her ultimtaely unimpressive and lacking. She finished last, even behind Martin Singh.
NDP leadership race
Mon, 2016-04-11 10:35
#102
Mon, 2016-04-11 10:35
#103
Hopefully Brian Topp does not run again - what a disaster he was for the BC NDP in 2013! 
Mon, 2016-04-11 10:52
#104
Find it a little odd that a Canadian politician would head to different country and help a presidential candidate. Also find her very robotic. Maybe one reason she finished last in 2012. And does anyone believe she voted for Tom today? I don't. Says she did. But I digress.
I certainly found her (ETA: Niki Ashton) robotic and gratingly strident in the 2012 campaign, but she's either softened or I have, as I havent' been getting that feeling from her lately.
That said, when she was being interviewed on TV yesterday, my significant other (who doesn't know who she is) called from the other room and said, "I hate politicians who talk like that!" So, that's not a good first reaction to elicit from a random voter.
Mon, 2016-04-11 10:54
#105
Brian Topp was horrendous throughout the 2012 leadership campaign. He would be a disaster and should not run again.
Mon, 2016-04-11 11:11
#106
What about Peggy Nash running again? Considering her Huff Post piece, could she carry on with that style and frame herself as a Bernie Sanders-style firebrand?
Mon, 2016-04-11 11:28
#107
What about Peggy Nash running again? Considering her Huff Post piece, could she carry on with that style and frame herself as a Bernie Sanders-style firebrand?
She was my third ballot choice, but no. In the first place, she doesn't strike me as a "firebrand" politicain. In the second place. she is completely tone deaf to Western Canada, the only region that regularly re-elects NDP governments and where the only standing provincial NDP governments remain. When asked about Western Canadian issues here at the Winnipeg debate, she didn't even bother to mention the Canadian Wheat Board. I've long maintained that a key path to NDP success that the party ignores is to defeat Conservative MPs in large numbers out West, and Nash would come off as just another Eastern politician for the Conservatives to attack.
Mon, 2016-04-11 11:29
#108
I think the party had a good look at Nikki (the other one) and found her ultimtaely unimpressive and lacking. She finished last, even behind Martin Singh.
I was terribly unimpressed by her campaign, and yet she impresses me tremendously. If she declares again, and can avoid lapsing into robotic delivery of bland talking points, she'd deserve a second look.
I'm presuming Avi Lewis isn't bilingual. If I'm wrong, he'd probably have my support right now. At any rate, I hope at least one exceptional activist from outside parliament enters the race.
Mon, 2016-04-11 11:52
#109
Points well taken, Aristotled... I'm very interested in seeing what candidates rise from the West!
Mon, 2016-04-11 12:29
#110
Some names that I would love to see on the ballot:
Megan Leslie
Charlie Angus
Nikki Ashton
Dave Christopherson
Jagmeet Singh
Mon, 2016-04-11 12:37
#111
Has everyone forgotten what Trudeau was like when he first won the leadership contest. He didn't seem capable of forming coherent sentences without constantly, and I do mean constantly, saying "uhhh". I couldn't believe he was making money giving speeches. It was very annoying and made him seem poorly educated despite his degrees. In the back of my mind I thought that might be why they kept him quiet for a couple of years and I still think that is partly why we weren't hearing from him. Months before the election my sister said she hated listening to him, didn't like the way he came across at all, but she still voted for him. REB learned French quickly.
So what if Niki's speech is robotic. She's intelligent. All she needs is some diction and speech training. That's just grooming. No leader will be entirely without drawbacks.
Mon, 2016-04-11 12:40
#112
Peggy Nash has already told CPAC she will not be running for leader saying "Once is enough"
Mon, 2016-04-11 13:31
#113
swallow
Why not Romeo Saganash?
Mon, 2016-04-11 15:01
#114
I don't think Romeo Saganash plans to run for the leadership again, but we will see.
And although Saganash is younger than Mulcair, he is in his mid-50's and might not represent the generational change the party is looking for.
Mon, 2016-04-11 15:03
#115
So much for Cullen's firm stance:
Speaking to host Rick Cluff on CBC's The Early Edition, long-time B.C. MP Nathan Cullen said Monday he is thinking about it.
"But my initial response in the last few months, when asked, has been no, that's where my feeling is right now."
"It is a 15 - 20 year commitment, I should probably not make a decision like that in 24 hours," he said.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/ndp-nathan-cullen-leaders...
As I said, take every denial before there's actually a contest with a grain of salt.
Mon, 2016-04-11 15:04
#116
Authier @PhilipAuthier
Brian Topp confirms on Facebook he will not seek the NDP leadership
Mon, 2016-04-11 15:07
#117
That was a fast decision for Brian Topp.
Yesterday it sounded like he would at least think it over for a few months.
But it makes sense.
1) Topp already has a job working for Notley.
2) Topp doesn't have a seat and has never been elected to one.
Mon, 2016-04-11 15:09
#118
So much for Cullen's firm stance:
Speaking to host Rick Cluff on CBC's The Early Edition, long-time B.C. MP Nathan Cullen said Monday he is thinking about it.
"But my initial response in the last few months, when asked, has been no, that's where my feeling is right now."
"It is a 15 - 20 year commitment, I should probably not make a decision like that in 24 hours," he said.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/ndp-nathan-cullen-leaders...
As I said, take every denial before there's actually a contest with a grain of salt.
He told Global News Tom Clark he has no interest being Prime Minister of Canada.
Here is the video
Mon, 2016-04-11 15:13
#119
So much for Cullen's firm stance:
Speaking to host Rick Cluff on CBC's The Early Edition, long-time B.C. MP Nathan Cullen said Monday he is thinking about it.
"But my initial response in the last few months, when asked, has been no, that's where my feeling is right now."
"It is a 15 - 20 year commitment, I should probably not make a decision like that in 24 hours," he said.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/ndp-nathan-cullen-leaders...
As I said, take every denial before there's actually a contest with a grain of salt.
He told Global News Tom Clark he has no interest being Prime Minister of Canada.
Here is the video
Yeah. He had no interest at the time.
Mon, 2016-04-11 15:17
#120
In the same interview above Cullen says he likes a politician that is reluctant (whatever that means). So maybe that is a good out, he is reluctantly going into the leadership
Mon, 2016-04-11 15:19
#121
I'd prefer if he reluctantly bowed out.
Mon, 2016-04-11 15:49
#122
If the membership is truly serious about rescuing the party from irrelevance then Cullen will never be leader. So I wouldn't count him out.
Mon, 2016-04-11 16:15
#123
Notley should seriously consider throwing her hat into the ring for the leadership as she is one of the very few if any overall recent success stories for the NDP and her days may be numbered in AB.
Mon, 2016-04-11 16:17
#124
I think Notley already said earlier this morning that she won't be running for Federal Leader.
Which makes sense after the major disagreement she has with the Leap Manifesto.
Mon, 2016-04-11 16:18
#125
Pierre Ducasse says it is very unlikely he will run for the leadership:
http://ici.radio-canada.ca/regions/est-quebec/2016/04/11/009-pierre-duca...
Mon, 2016-04-11 17:03
#126
Former leadership candidate and MP Paul Dewar won't say either way if he will run again for the top job.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/paul-dewar-ndp-leader-no-answer-1.3...
Mon, 2016-04-11 17:06
#127
He told Global News Tom Clark he has no interest being Prime Minister of Canada.
Is that goal necessarily incompatible with being NDP leader?
Mon, 2016-04-11 17:08
#128
He told Global News Tom Clark he has no interest being Prime Minister of Canada.Is that goal necessarily incompatible with being NDP leader?
Cullen said at the Convention the days of being the conscience of parliment are over.
Mon, 2016-04-11 17:23
#129
I think Notley already said earlier this morning that she won't be running for Federal Leader.
Which makes sense after the major disagreement she has with the Leap Manifesto.
This would be an absolutely legendary "Hail Mary" pass, but she theoretically could:
1. declare that she personally agrees wholeheartedly with the LM
2. resign her Premiership, noting that her role is simply incompatible with the need to fight climate change, etc.
3. pitch her hat in the ring
Of course I don't know if her actual bona fides would make her a genuine contender, or whether she's already burned too many bridges, or isn't charismatic enough, or doesn't speak any French, or whatever. But it would definitely make it into the news.
Mon, 2016-04-11 17:27
#130
He told Global News Tom Clark he has no interest being Prime Minister of Canada.Is that goal necessarily incompatible with being NDP leader?
That was a good one.
Mon, 2016-04-11 17:28
#131
Former leadership candidate and MP Paul Dewar won't say either way if he will run again for the top job.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/paul-dewar-ndp-leader-no-answer-1.3...
Ugh. Just say no.
Mon, 2016-04-11 18:12
#132
Left Turn
Ugh. Just say no.Former leadership candidate and MP Paul Dewar won't say either way if he will run again for the top job.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/paul-dewar-ndp-leader-no-answer-1.3...
I don't want Paul Dewar either. For one, he's a liberal interventionist on foreign policy, plus he has no charisma.
Mon, 2016-04-11 18:15
#133
Paul Dewar told The Ottawa Citizen after losing his seat in Ottawa Centre that he wasn't planning to run for office again.
Is he changing his mind?
If he wants to run in Ottawa Centre again, he knows he will have a tough contest against Environment Minister Catherine McKenna.
Mon, 2016-04-11 18:23
#134
Left Turn
I think Kennedy Stewart would make an excellent NDP leader. He's a strong opponent of the Kinder Morgan pipeline, which is a big plus for me, being from Burnaby myself. And because Kennedy's from Burnaby, he comes from the tradition of Burnaby NDP candidates who've used locally produced materials rather than materials provided by national office -- A Kennedy Stewart run NDP migh do more to help local campaigns 'customize' their campaign literature, which would be another big plus.
Mon, 2016-04-11 18:46
#135
Left Turn
[url=https://ricochet.media/en/1073/as-mulcair-era-ends-ndp-must-stop-hugging... Mulcair era ends, NDP must stop hugging the mushy middle[/url]
Not surprisingly, the cocky know-it-alls who enthusiastically insisted the NDP and Canada would be better off with Mulcair and Harper respectively at the helm have been quick to deride the Leap Manifesto as naïve and politically dead on arrival. They have also tried, and to some extent have been successful, to define the Leap Manifesto simply as a “far left” effort to “kill” Canada’s fossil fuel industry, thus pitting one part of the country against another. For evidence of this, they pointed to Notley’s rejection of the manifesto and Mulcair’s tepid and belated embrace of it in a last-ditch bid to save his job.
This familiar media construct reads like this: division is bad politics; consensus is good politics. This simplistic calculus denigrates the kind of healthy, vigorous debate we witnessed in Edmonton around all the ingredients of the Leap Manifesto. Arriving, if possible, at a consensus about those terms is what politics is and should be about. It’s an overdue debate, I believe, that the manifesto’s authors and supporters hope to promote and, no doubt, engage in as the NDP searches for a way back to political relevance as a first step towards possible electoral victory.
Viewed in this context, the Leap Manifesto is a tangible acknowledgement that the status quo is not an option. The NDP is hovering at historically low levels of support and is saddled — as an internal NDP financial statement shows — with a large, perhaps debilitating, debt.
But the deficit the NDP is facing today is not only financial. New Democrats appear to understand that the party and its new leader must fashion a new identity far removed from Mulcair’s politics of the mushy middle.
Who emerges to help craft and steer that identity in the months ahead will be a defining moment in the NDP’s often turbulent history.
Mon, 2016-04-11 21:01
#136
Peter Mansbridge has a special report on now on the NDP, and will be featuring a Monday night At Issue, along with The Insiders.
Mon, 2016-04-11 21:23
#137
I don't think Angus speaks French, which is surprising given where he's from.
I think Megan Leslie is the best choice. The NDP needs someone for youth to get behind, much of whom went for Trudeau last time. What better way to take him on, on things like Feminism, LGBT, than Leslie. She's shown that she is liked accross all party colours, and, from what I've read, I believe she is bilingual. Please Megan, run!
Mon, 2016-04-11 21:34
#138
Megan Leslie has pretty good French, although I think she wants to bring it up another level.
The question is whether she decides to run.
Dan Leger of The Chronicle Herald says she told him that she doesn't plan to run for office again for at least several years.
Mon, 2016-04-11 22:19
#139
He told Global News Tom Clark he has no interest being Prime Minister of Canada.Is that goal necessarily incompatible with being NDP leader?
Cullen said at the Convention the days of being the conscience of parliment are over.
So he wants to stay in the mushy middle. Is that a declaration that acting in good conscience means that a party is unelectable? That is such a dismissive description of the good the NDP has done. Of course the NDP wants to be more than the conscience of parliament but that doesn't mean repudiating it or putting it down. A person's actions should always be led by their conscience and so should a country. The NDP has good reason to be proud of its history.
Mon, 2016-04-11 23:31
#140
So much for Cullen's firm stance:
Speaking to host Rick Cluff on CBC's The Early Edition, long-time B.C. MP Nathan Cullen said Monday he is thinking about it.
"But my initial response in the last few months, when asked, has been no, that's where my feeling is right now."
"It is a 15 - 20 year commitment, I should probably not make a decision like that in 24 hours," he said.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/ndp-nathan-cullen-leaders...
As I said, take every denial before there's actually a contest with a grain of salt.
He told Global News Tom Clark he has no interest being Prime Minister of Canada.
Here is the video
Yeah. He had no interest at the time.
Cullen is now the only sitting NDP MP who has shown that he can perform very well in a leadership contest so I think there will be a lot of pressure put on him to run. I voted for him in the last leadership election mostly because he had the best presence in the media. I think his optimistic personality is appealing in ways similar to Trudeau's. I also hope Megan Leslie runs but she likely won't because she doesn't have a seat in Parliament.
I think the only real way to know if a candidate can perform well in a leadership contest is to actually see how they do in such a contest as someone can seem to be a good candidate on paper but just might not have the winning personality. So I think Cullen will end up running and I think he has the best chance of winning. One advantage the NDP does have is that it will be known who the Conservatives choose before the NDP leadership election. I think Cullen would juxtapose well against someone like Jason Kenney.
Mon, 2016-04-11 23:35
#141
Notley should seriously consider throwing her hat into the ring for the leadership as she is one of the very few if any overall recent success stories for the NDP and her days may be numbered in AB.
I think Notley would not do well if she abandoned her post during Alberta's economic crisis to find greener federal pastures. I think such a move would hurt the NDP federally and provincially. I think her primary responsibility is to her position as premier of Alberta.
Tue, 2016-04-12 02:09
#142
I'm not a member of the NDP right now but I'm thinking about joining again to vote in the leadership race when it happens. It will be interesting to see what caandidates come forward. I'm thinking Niki Ashton will probably run and so will nathan Cullen but I think they'll be the only two to run this time who ran in the last leadership race. Listening to Avi Lewis makes me wish he would run but he says he's not interested and he doesn't speak French so that'd be a big problem for him. Overall I think it should be someone younger and bolder than Mulcair was as leader and firmly on the left. Also might not hurt if they're a woman.
Tue, 2016-04-12 10:05
#143
swallow
So [Cullen] wants to stay in the mushy middle. Is that a declaration that acting in good conscience means that a party is unelectable? That is such a dismissive description of the good the NDP has done. Of course the NDP wants to be more than the conscience of parliament but that doesn't mean repudiating it or putting it down. A person's actions should always be led by their conscience and so should a country. The NDP has good reason to be proud of its history.
Well said.
The goal should be making Canada better and delivering on strong principled policy - and the NDP has done that from outside government on several occasions.
Tue, 2016-04-12 10:16
#144
So [Cullen] wants to stay in the mushy middle. Is that a declaration that acting in good conscience means that a party is unelectable? That is such a dismissive description of the good the NDP has done. Of course the NDP wants to be more than the conscience of parliament but that doesn't mean repudiating it or putting it down. A person's actions should always be led by their conscience and so should a country. The NDP has good reason to be proud of its history.
Well said.
The goal should be making Canada better and delivering on strong principled policy - and the NDP has done that from outside government on several occasions.
That is what Craig Scott said. That the NDP needs to be principled and clear in its policy. And if they don't win government with that stance, then that's life.
Tue, 2016-04-12 14:02
#145
FYI, Trudeau spent a year after the 2011 swearing he would not run for the federal Liberal leadership because he needed to take care of his babies - then he changed his mind.
Tue, 2016-04-12 14:53
#146
FYI, Trudeau spent a year after the 2011 swearing he would not run for the federal Liberal leadership because he needed to take care of his babies - then he changed his mind.
The day after the 2011 elxn he said he wouldn't rule it out & was undecided
http://www.torontosun.com/2011/05/04/trudeau-undecided-on-liberal-leader...
Tue, 2016-04-12 15:36
#147
Notley's campaign motto could be nothing succeeds like success, and looking at the facts compared to anyone else who might run for the NDP leadership she has been the most successful by far. But far be it for the NDP to want consider winning I suppose.
Tue, 2016-04-12 16:33
#148
I don't think Notley wants to run for the NDP Leadership after coming out so strongly against the Leap Manifesto.
Tue, 2016-04-12 17:05
#149
Notley's campaign motto could be nothing succeeds like success, and looking at the facts compared to anyone else who might run for the NDP leadership she has been the most successful by far. But far be it for the NDP to want consider winning I suppose.
Notely got 40.57% of the popular vote and won. In BC James got 41.52% in 2005 and 42.15% in 2009% and lost both elections. Being a centrist leader is not a silver bullet your analysis is simplistic.
Tue, 2016-04-12 18:10
#150
To yearn for Bernie Sanders is to be the quintessential young Canadian lefty
By: Rosemary Westwood
Metro
Mon Apr 11 2016
Excerpt:
Our supposedly lefty champion, Thomas Mulcair, saw his leadership future end with a hollow thud this weekend (the NDP voted to replace him, which could take a few years). Sure, he had his “pitbull” moments in the house, but did anyone #feelthe… Nope.
Meanwhile, Sanders is more popular on Canadian millennial Facebook feeds than cats and puppies combined. Sure, he’s cute in that scruffy, stray-dog kind of way. But it’s not the cuddliness. It’s the honesty.
Still dreaming they’ll never turn cynical, young Canadians are primed to value not only the message of Sanders’s democratic socialism, with its focus on free universities and its rage against soulless corporate greed, but also the vessel. Here’s a man who has, for decades, been singing the same tune. Unlike the party-swapping Mulcair, Sanders is the grandpa who really DID walk to school in the snow, uphill, both ways.
It’s for others to deduce what caused the NDP’s implosion. But I spoke to enough young voters during the campaign to know their idealism was ill met in the NDP’s platform, and its portrayal of a stiff, somewhat shifty leader.
-
Full piece:
http://www.metronews.ca/views/metro-views/2016/04/11/to-yearn-for-bern-i...
Tue, 2016-04-12 18:33
#151
After saying repeatedly saying he had NO interest in a second leadership bid and telling Global News Tom Clark he has ZERO interest in being PM, BC NDP MP Nathan Cullen now says
"When asked about it over the last number of months, it was a very consistent ‘No,’ because I thought what would happen on Sunday was a continuation of Tom’s leadership so people were asking me to speculate on something that was years off,” he said.
“Now that it has been suddenly and surprisingly pushed forward, I have to reconsider my thinking on it.”
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2016/04/12/ndp-mp-nathan-cullen-mulls...
So now Nathan Cullen has left the door open for a second run at the top job.