Leadership races are often an opportunity for a political party to start over with a blank slate, Liberals might not get that chance if a slightly hypocritical Dominic Leblanc gets his way. Liberal MP Dominic Leblanc is discouraging anyone from running for leadership who only seeks to raise their profile
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Canadian Progressive: Canadians Hang Out With Soccer Superstar Christine Sinclair (VIDEO)
Olympic soccer bronze medalist and national women’ team Christine Sinclair answers some questions from her fans and Sportsnet.ca host Gerry Dobson. After leading the Canadian women’s Olympics soccer team to a historic bronze Olympics medal during the recent London Olympics, Sincliar was chosen to carry the Canadian flag during the closing ceremony. The seven-time Canadian
Continue readingA BCer in Toronto: Liberal Party needs time to do supporter vote right
To paraphrase an old proverb, beware newspaper columnists bearing advice. That certainly applies to John Ibbitson’s column in the Globe this morning, where he takes the Liberal Party to task for setting a 41 day cutoff for supporter (and member) sign-ups to be eligible to vote in the leadership race
Continue readingmark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: Ask General Kang: How do you choose a new leader?
Well, on my home planet of Neecknaw, this is a simple affair. The new leader chooses himself. Or herself. But we haven’t had a female leader since the Gloomy Ages (the interstitial period between the Dark Ages and the Time … Continue reading →
Continue readingLeft Over: Substance or Celeb?
In HuffPost Canada today, a discussion of JT possibly running (yet another one) complete with treacly compliments from our Libera and Con controlled Press… that makes Justin Trudeau sound more celeb than wise politico…which makes lots of sense… Justin Trudeau Leadership Bid: Warren Kinsella Says He’s Running Ah, the Press,
Continue readingTHE CAREGIVERS' LIVING ROOM - A Blog by Donna Thomson: Is Caregiving Women’s Work?
Last week I had the pleasure and the privilege of speaking with a group of caregiver activists in a conference call hosted by WEGO Health, a terrific online information tool open to anyone wishing to advocate for health related causes. On our call was Wendy Kruse, founder of the Military Special
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: Christine Sinclair For Canada’s Flagbearer For London Olympics Closing Ceremony
Christine Sinclair, the captain of the bronze-winning Canadian women’s Olympics soccer team, is our choice to carry the flag during the closing ceremony of the London Olympics. That’s the word from Canadians. See the Twitter hashtag #SinclairForFlagBearer. I approve. By making Sinclair flag-bearer, Canada would honour both our gallant women’s soccer
Continue readingCalgaryLiberal.com: Politics Isn’t Complicated: It’s Not Chess, It’s Cooking
People over-complicate things. And politics is one of those things. It isn’t complicated. It’s about the sum of personal relationships between many people guided by leadership, churned by passion, and basted by endurance. It’s the furthest thing from chess. It’s more like cooking. Or, at least, good cooking. You have
Continue readingAlex's Blog: Taking Back Our Democracy: Bridging the Generational Divide
These are tough days for Canada’s parliamentary democracy. Having endured years of steady erosion, it is now under frontal attack. Journalists and public leaders, across the political spectrum, have begun to document the injuries. We are seeing stirrings of outrage. But this assault on our democracy could not be happening
Continue readingCalgaryLiberal: The Problem with #DenounceHarper: It’s about getting even
There are some major problems with the #DenounceHarper hashtag on twitter. It has been trending on twitter for the last day or so and, for all intents and purposes, it has been quite a silly affair. First of all, there have been complaints surrounding Mr. Harper’s Conservatives only winning 39%
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Canada’s Worst Senator Patrick Brazeau Disappears From Twitter
No comment yet from Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who appointed Brazeau to the Senate in 2008. On Wednesday, I blogged about the Conservative Senator, who called Canadian Press reporter Jennifer Ditchburn a “bitch” on Twitter. Senator Brazeau was mad that the reporter had highlighted his poor performance record in Canada’s appointed
Continue readingA BCer in Toronto: The case for Justin Trudeau and a two-election strategy
There are a number of interesting names floating around as possible contenders for the Liberal Party of Canada leadership, and many more less than interesting names. While I may or may not support him were he to run, I think there’s a good case to be made for Justin Trudeau.
Continue readingA BCer in Toronto: A good decision for Bob Rae and for the Liberal Party
I was out and about all day yesterday so I haven’t had a chance to weigh-in yet on Bob Rae’s announcement that he won’t seek the permanent leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada. There’s not too much to say that hasn’t been said already, and I largely agree with
Continue readingCANADIAN PROGRESSIVE WORLD: Harper v. Canada: Understanding Stephen Harper’s War Against Canada
Welcome to Harper v. Canada, a new column that digs deep to understand Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s current war against our democratic institutions, freedoms and dissent. The column uses two approaches to unravel Harper’s phony commitment to making Canada “the best country in the world: a) exhaustive excavation of Harper’s
Continue readingA BCer in Toronto: Don’t do it, Bob
A minor kerfuffle erupted in the political twittersphere yesterday evening following aCBC Power and Politics report claiming sources had told it the Liberal Party of Canada’s national executive had decided it would “allow” interim leader Bob Rae to run for the permanent leadership, and that Rae had decided to go
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week. – Robert Cross and Glen McGregor point out how “Pierre Poutine” covered his tracks in the course of sending out fraudulent robocalls to direct voters away from the correct polls. And it’s particularly worth noting how blatantly the entire scheme was planned to conceal
Continue readingThe Leadership Narrative
Way back when, a few months after the last federal election, I replied to the Susan Delacourt’s “Is the Liberal Party dead?” question, echoed ad nauseum in the nation’s press, with a warning to be wary of forcing Canadian politics to fit a certain narrative. That narrative presupposes the inevitability
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: A Healthy Society – Chapter 8 Discussion
In chapter 8 of A Healthy Society, Ryan Meili discusses how to improve our democratic system, distinguishing between the participatory action research model which is helping to drive development work in Mozambique and the top-down structures and cynical views of the political system that have all too often been the
Continue readingCalgaryLiberal: Renewing Raj’s Contract
I’ve been thinking. I want to renew Raj’s contract–for leader of the Alberta Liberals. He has a nose for politics, knows exactly what the party needs to build in terms of organization and skill sets, and he was key to the reason why the party did so well. Rather than
Continue readingImpolitical: Harper hitting new lows
The talk of the day, the Nanos poll on leadership numbers. Nice to see Canadians seem to be factoring in the major scandals of the past month or so on F35s and Robocon and Harper’s leadership numbers, that have been his strength, are taking a hit. I say “seem to
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