Since last week, we’ve seen the NDP’s leadership campaign win plenty more attention in the media. But has any of the news managed to change the positioning of the candidates? 1. Thomas Mulcair (1) Well, we’ve certainly seen Thomas Mulcair under the microscope more than he’s ever been. But while
Continue readingTag: leadership 2012
Accidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 Questionnaire Response – Niki Ashton
Finally, Niki Ashton had this to offer in response to my party organization questionnaire: 1. As leader, what changes (if any) would you seek to make to the NDP’s:(a) caucus management and discipline? Caucus members are elected as New Democrats, and I believe that, where there is a clearly established
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 Questionnaire Response – Paul Dewar
While noting the resources involved in responding to a request for information delivered late in the NDP’s leadership campaign, I have to be impressed when a candidate who could easily enough have pointed to a well-publicized platform plank instead deal directly with the specific issues raised in a questionnaire. And
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 Questionnaire Response – Thomas Mulcair
Here’s Thomas Mulcair’s response to my leadership questionnaire on the NDP’s party organization: 1. As leader, what changes (if any) would you seek to make to the NDP’s:(a) caucus management and discipline?(b) membership engagement and organizational structure?(c) policy development process?(d) candidate recruitment and nomination process?(e) relationship to other political parties?(f)
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 Questionnaire Response – Peggy Nash
Last week, I crowdsourced some questions to the NDP’s leadership candidates about their plans for party organization. (Unfortunately the comments have disappeared, and I’m still working on getting them to reappear – but as you’ll see I incorporated changes into my draft version.) Obviously it’s been a busy time for
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 Roundup
The latest couple of days worth of news as the NDP’s leadership campaign enters its final week – aside from multiple candidates including Niki Ashton, Paul Dewar and Peggy Nash all taking the opportunity to call for unity in the wake of the continued overreaction to Ed Broadbent’s latest comments.
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On saintly proclamations
Ed Broadbent’s recent foray into the NDP’s leadership campaign has certainly attracted plenty of media attention. But it’s worth taking a skeptical look as to why the story has been such a media favourite – and why we should resist the temptation to focus our discussion of the race on
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 Roundup
A couple more days’ worth of developments in the NDP’s leadership campaign… – Niki Ashton argued that Canada’s grain supply should be considered a strategic resource in evaluating takeover bids for Viterra, and earned a glowing profile from Carol Goar. – Nathan Cullen unveiled another caucus endorsement from Bruce Hyer
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 Roundup
Followup commentary from the final NDP leadership on Sunday, as well as a couple more days worth of developments in the campaign. – Most of the post–debate coverage focused on a Thomas Mulcair-vs-the field contrast, while Quinn and Adventures in Socialism offered a few more interesting observations. – Niki Ashton
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On shifting alliances
Having pointed out the effect of Peggy Nash’s willingness to consider cross-party cooperation in my rankings post, I’ll double back to one of the other noteworthy developments today – as Thomas Mulcair may have utterly reshaped the expected movement of down-ballot support. Since the start of the campaign, plenty of
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 Candidate Rankings – March 11, 2012
Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve seen what look to be a couple of noteworthy efforts among the NDP’s leadership candidates to reach out to other campaigns’ supporters in order to win over the down-ballot support that will likely decide the outcome of the campaign. So how have those
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 Roundup
Assorted news and notes from the NDP’s leadership campaign as we approach today’s final debate… – Niki Ashton pointed out how the NDP should be able to tap into the desire for democratic decision-making that once motivated the Reform Party before it was turned into a top-down organization under the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On risky business
Michael Den Tandt suggests that the Cons’ budget later this month will be “revolutionary” – which fits the conventional wisdom that a majority government will try to get its most controversial moves out of the way at the earliest opportunity in order to seem less dangerous by the time the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Open questions
As discussed in some of the comments to this post, there seems to be plenty of room for the NDP’s leadership candidates to provide much-needed information on how they want to see the party develop in the years to come. And I’ll plan to contact each of the campaigns this
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 Roundup
A few days worth of news from the NDP’s leadership campaign… – Niki Ashton appealed to NDP members to consider the need to build among younger voters. – Co-campaign manager Jamey Heath took to the opinion pages in defence of Nathan Cullen’s joint nomination proposal. But I seem to recall
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On best-case scenarios
Any organization faces questions in trying to make the best use of the resources available to it. And in most cases, a deliberative body should be able to consider who might contribute what to the organization’s goals, and ensure that power and responsibility are allocated accordingly. In principle, there’s no
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 Roundup
As we enter the last few weeks of the NDP’s leadership race, we’re of course seeing loads of attention. But what from the flurry of activity might actually affect the results of the leadership race as well as the party’s future development? – Niki Ashton took questions at Rabble, including
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 Candidate Rankings – March 4, 2012
With the voting window open and the second-last debate having just finished, we’re into the home stretch of the NDP’s leadership campaign. I’ve posted on the outcomes I’d like to see – but since that’s a separate question entirely from how I think matters actually will play out, let’s see
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Leadership 2012 Roundup
I haven’t done a roundup post in quite some time (having focused instead on candidate analysis and preliminary endorsement posts over the past week). But in advance of today’s Montreal debate, let’s take a look at some of the noteworthy developments from the week. – Niki Ashton spoke to the
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: On non-factors
Having raised what I see as significant issues for Thomas Mulcair’s NDP leadership campaign, I’ll take a moment to contrast those against the trumped–up story that’s become the latest shiny object to catch the media’s attention in the race. Simply put, we don’t trust Con spin or leaks generally because
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