The right thing appears to have been done in the case of Saulie Zajdel, the ‘Shadow Tory MP’ who ran against Irwin Cotler in Mount Royal but who nevertheless gained a job in the Heritage minister’s office and who proceeded to act like a shadow MP in Cotler’s riding: An
Continue readingTag: Democratic Deficit
CuriosityCat: The Council of Canadians’ Magnificent Seven
Canada’s Woodward & Bernstein, Stephen Maher and Glen McGregor, of Postmedia News, today bring us news about The Council of Canadians’ Magnificent Seven. In the 1960 western The Magnificent Seven, based on the 1954 Japanese film Seven Samurai, seven gunmen are hired to protect a small village in Mexico from
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Liberal blogger CalgaryGrit makes persuasive argument for Cullen as NDP leader
WesternGrit ranks the top NDP leadership candidates through the prism of what is best for the Liberal Party, and, while expressly not endorsing any candidate, outlines a very strong case for Nathan Cullen as the best NDP choice for Canada (my underlining): How would Cullen affect the LPC? Well, if
Continue readingCuriosityCat: NDP Members: You can guarantee that an NDP MP will be our next prime minister IF …
… IF you make your decision to listen to the massive outpouring of views by NDP supporters and Liberal Party supporters, the bulk of whom favour electoral cooperation and post-election cooperation, designed to oust the Harper Tory government and put in place a government more in tune with the 60%
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Ten thousand Canadians on electoral cooperation
The online activist group Leadnow.ca surveyed its members and found this result: This could be the start of something big. Last Thursday, we sent a message to the whole Leadnow community. We asked if you would support political cooperation between the NDP, Liberals and Greens to defeat the current government
Continue readingImpolitical: Sure looks like a shadow MP from here
My, it was just a few short weeks ago that Heritage Minister James Moore was making a windy case in defence of his department’s hiring of Saulie Zajdel, the Conservative candidate who lost in the riding of Mount Royal in the May election. Here was Moore: But Moore bristled at
Continue readingCuriosityCat: The C-word: Refreshing honesty from NDP’s Nathan Cullen
Remember when Michael Ignatieff turned himself into a pretzel while trying to respond to the simple question whether he would or would not enter into a coalition with other parties if the Tories did not get a majority? It seemed that every day he had another answer, with the latest
Continue readingCuriosityCat: The Most Logical Structure for NDP-LPC Cooperation
Those who favour a merger of the NDP and Liberal Party should not hold their breath. These two parties have values systems that are significantly different at the moment, and each brings to the table baggage which would make a hippopotamus choke. Harper united the right wing parties (with a
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Cooperation: Nathan Cullen on same page as Jack Layton while Mulcair goes his own way
On the single most important issue facing the opposition parties in the next 3 years or so, Thomas Mulcair has come down strongly on one side of the issue, with both Jack Layton and Nathan Cullen clearly on the other. Both Jack and Nathan believed in cooperation to remove a
Continue readingCuriosityCat: The Root of the Conflict between NDP’s Ed Broadbent and Thomas Mulcair
Canadians can be excused for feeling a bit out of touch with the squabble that has engulfed the NDP. Ed Broadbent, the old warhorse with a long record of service to the NDP, has come out swinging at the upstart Thomas Mulcair, who has overshadowed Broadbent’s preferred candidate for new
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Robocon: Was there a conspiracy and who conspired? The wide net of the law
So far we have 700 clear cases of complaints to Elections Canada about voter suppression acts in the May 2011 election. And we have 77 ridings identified where voter suppression complaints have surfaced. And now we have the CBC identifying 31 ridings where there were complaints of voter suppression: CBC
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Justin Trudeau believes the centre-left will cooperate in 2015 to replace Harper’s Tories
Trudeau speaking about cooperation in 2015 Hat tip to Kinsella for flagging this! We can place Justin Trudeau in the ranks of the politically astute. He shares with Nathan Cullen a clearsighted view of the realities of a divided opposition facing a tightly controlled, highly disciplined Stephen Harper ruling it
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Robocon: Bob Rae has one week to protect Canada’s democracy by stopping the clock
Bob Rae – one week to go And a study by a Simon Fraser professor finds that the robocalls could have affected the result of the May 2 2011 election: In a new paper, a Simon Fraser University economist finds that robo-calling, if the phenomenon did occur, could have significantly
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Why Thomas Mulcair is not good for Canada
Mulcar: Not good for Canada at this time I have liked Mulcair’s energy, his fighting spirit, his presentation of his arguments, and his willingness to mix it with those who oppose him. However, I do not believe that having Mulcair as the next leader of the NDP is in the
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Robocon: Bob Rae has only 9 days left to defend our democracy by stopping the clock
And a study by a Simon Fraser professor finds that the robocalls could have affected the result of the May 2 2011 election: In a new paper, a Simon Fraser University economist finds that robo-calling, if the phenomenon did occur, could have significantly influenced voter turnout and ballot results in
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Why the ‘Two Punch’ plan of Nathan Cullen will unseat the Harper Tory government in 2015
Just been watching the last NDP leadership debate on CBC, and it is blindingly apparent that there is only one person on that stage who really understands the reality of the Canadian political lineup. Cullen has called for a change in thinking by the NDP to allow progressives from both
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Liberals should use this method to select new leader in 2013
The NDP is experimenting with a novel election method to select their new leader. The Liberal Party of Canada should consider using the same method when we select our new leader in 2013, using one-time voting as well as multiple turns to vote. This is how the NDP system works:
Continue readingCuriosityCat: How the ordinary NDP member can save Canada
There are barely 2 weeks left before Canada knows who will be the next leader of the NDP. There are 130,000 members of the NDP entitled to make this decision; and some 60,000 plus One hold the future of Canada in their hands. Your choice – as one of those
Continue readingCuriosityCat: NDP Leader: Nathan Cullen is the best choice for Canada
The biggest problem facing Canada right now is the apparent contempt for upholding our democratic rights that the current Harper new Tory government has. This contempt is shown in the prorogations of the recent past; the attacks upon the independence of civil servants; the evasion shown in question period in
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Robocon: Were our laws broken?
Misinformation is in the air, from the Tory front and back benches to journalists. Some is deliberate, designed to distract the public’s attention from misdeeds; others are perhaps simply mistakes. Take this opinion in the Montreal Gazette: Many of the complaints are about calls that were simply annoying and deceitful,
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