Tag: Ignatieff
The Scott Ross: Less Liberal, Less Canadian
In 2006 Howard Dean spoke at the Liberal Leadership convention. In 2008 many Liberal organizers went to the United States and worked for the Democrats. In that same year many Liberals attempted to draw similarities between Liberal Leadership candidate and longtime American resident Michael Ignatieff with Barack Obama. In 2009
Continue readingDo We Need More Proof That Harper Doubts Global Warming?
First we had the cuts to ozone monitoring that saw the shuttering of 17 ozone monitoring stations across Canada. The reason? Ozone apparently wasn’t a concern anymore (see Canada’s newest Ozone hole here). Then we had the sudden (and somewhat expected) cut of 700 jobs from environment Canada (which included Meteorologists, scientists, chemists and
Continue readingBlunt Objects: Maybe We Should Have Gone in 2009
I’ve been thinking aloud recently about whether or not the Liberal Party would have been put into a better position post-election if said election was held during the fall of 2009, rather than the spring of 2011.You of course remember what that was, ri…
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Our Conservative Supreme Court, courtesy of Michael Ignatieff
If Michael Ignatieff had not allowed himself to be spooked by Harper’s fearmongering in early 2008, we would have had a chance to implement the Coalition Agreement between the NDP and the Liberal Party, and for the next 18 months a progressive governme…
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: After an election about personalities, not policies, we can and must do better
We have just witness an election which while historic in many ways was not one of any significance in terms of a discussion of actual issues or policies. The political choices of all four major leaders – and we the audience who responds to them – focus…
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: The Liberal party needs to play a long game on leadership
After its crushing defeat on May 2nd, the Liberal party has some considerable soul searching to do. Not least among its problems is the task that has recently proved most difficult for them: choosing a leader. How it accomplishes this task will be of c…
Continue readingPop The Stack: Hobbits for Electoral Reform
Dear Wise Races of the United Kingdom of Middle Earth, Please forgive a humble Hobbit for bothering you but I just wanted to write about an urgent matter of democracy. Here in Hobbiton we have just had a Shire-wide election. Let’s just say that I’m fairly miffed about the results.
Continue readingPolygonic: A future Liberal Party may want to consider…
There’s a lot of personal tragedy in elections, and it couldn’t get any worse for Michael Ignatieff. He’s finally succumbed to wounds meted out by the most vile, relentless attack ad machinery Canada’s ever seen. Shamefully, a huge hunk of the electorate swallowed it all hook, line and sinker – so much for our compassionate […]
Enormous Thriving Plants: Election thoughts.
I haven’t yet seen the popular vote counts, but my initial impressions from last night are:-It is possible to attract progressive voters to the polls.-It is possible to find success running as the anti-Harper.-Ignatieff wasn’t able to shepherd the left…
Continue readingEnormous Thriving Plants: Election thoughts.
I haven’t yet seen the popular vote counts, but my initial impressions from last night are: -It is possible to attract progressive voters to the polls. -It is possible to find success running as the anti-Harper. -Ignatieff wasn’t able to shepherd the left’s “herd of cats”. Layton now has 4
Continue readingEnormous Thriving Plants: Election thoughts.
I haven’t yet seen the popular vote counts, but my initial impressions from last night are: -It is possible to attract progressive voters to the polls. -It is possible to find success running as the anti-Harper. -Ignatieff wasn’t able to shepherd the left’s “herd of cats”. Layton now has 4
Continue readingFederal Election Prediction
With the 41st Canadian General Election Day arriving tomorrow, it seems that it is time for me to get my election prediction on the record. I am predicting a Conservative minority government with the New Democratic Party holding the balance of power. At this point, those two predictions are not
Continue readingOne Vote
Strategic voting is an interesting animal. When applied to the left, the idea is that you should vote for the candidate that stands the best chance of defeating a Conservative. Afterall, any Liberal would be better than a Conservative, and we must all work together to avoid a Conservative majority, right? Bullshit! Tomorrow is the […]
Pop The Stack: Canadian Election: Fringe Edition
Warning: This post will only make sense to you if you follow the recurring adventures of the characters discussed in it as they try to save our nation and the world as we know it from imminent destruction…it will also help if you watch Fringe. I’m watching Fringe tonight and we
Continue readingWhy Ignatieff will have his ass handed to him on Monday
Yes, we all know that the only poll that counts is the one on election day. However, after #elxn41 wraps it up, _if_ the results are merely in the same ballpark as the polls, then the Liberals are going to be handed ther worst defeat, EVAR! Everyone knows this. While there are many opinions on […]
Progressive Proselytizing: The NDP surge and its consequences
The largest political story of the week has nothing to do about policies, it is about the fact that after months of poll numbers that stubbornly refused to budge the NDP has actually experienced a considerable surge in popularity confirmed by a half do…
Continue readingTattered Sleeve: French Debate Kicked Ass (mostly Harper’s)
I hope people were watching, because tonight’s French-language leaders’ debate was lively, passionate and substantive. After fighting sleep at about the half-way point in yesterday’s English-language debate, tonight I found myself riveted. This is in no small part due to Gilles Duceppe’s fiery energy tonight, after being content to sit
Continue readingTattered Sleeve: French Debate Kicked Ass (mostly Harper’s)
I hope people were watching, because tonight’s French-language leaders’ debate was lively, passionate and substantive. After fighting sleep at about the half-way point in yesterday’s English-language debate, tonight I found myself riveted.
This is in no small part due to Gilles Duceppe’s fiery energy tonight, after being content to sit quietly on the side-lines for much of the previous night. But also, because Ignatieff really came across, and contrasted strongly against Harper, who himself seemed unsure of his French, and off his game generally. I found Harper did not seen strong tonight, which is the worst thing for the guy who is the current PM to convey.
Layton was taken off his game again by Duceppe’s jabbing on the Bill 101 question. Harper’s only really good moment was when he pointed at the two of them and asked the audience to imagine them working together in a coalition. That’s not saying all that much.
Duceppe went whole-hog on his separatist cred tonight, and that is perhaps a sign he may be setting down some touchstones for a potential jump to provincial politics. He may be positioning himself to take the Parti-Québecois mantle from Pauline Marois, who appears weak going into a confidence vote among the party faithful in coming weeks.
Back to Ignatieff. He looked tough, secure and in charge. His French was generally good, and when it wasn’t, his obvious passion made up for it. That is key for the Québec population, so good on him. He can ride this into a lead in coming days.
Again, that’s if he plays his cards right.
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Continue readingTattered Sleeve: Ignatieff: I hear a statesman
This piece by Jane Taber of the Globe and Mail harangues Michael Ignatieff for his lack of specifics, but I think he sounds pretty reasonable here: There was no mention of the hydro mega-project in the Liberal platform, released Sunday. But when asked about it Monday, Mr. Ignatieff spoke about
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