Oh boy. Sometimes it’s not easy to be a Canadian eh?There I was this afternoon at the old farm, enjoying a quiet moment with the ducks, and thinking: Oh how lucky I am to live in sleepy old Canada.Even if now it’s a dictatorship, and we’…
Continue readingTag: Liberal Party of Canada
Montreal Simon: The Liberals and the Clouds of Spring
Look I realize it’s been a wet Spring eh? There has been a cloud hanging over all our heads since Stephen Harper won his majority. And that if you’re a Liberal that cloud is even bigger than the one that floated over my house the other day.I …
Continue readingLeDaro: Bob Rae Named Interim Leader of the Liberal Party
I hope Bob Rae will do a great job until the new permanent leader is selected. I feel Bob Rae will make a great interim leader given his lengthy public service. I admit too, I think it is good that he is out of the race for permanent leader. Bob Rae…
Continue readingCalgaryLiberal: Building the Iceberg — New Liberals, Clear Grits, and Phoenixes
Almost two weeks ago I wrote a blog post about the challenges that face the Liberal Party of Canada. It received a small bit of media attention and more. In particular, I wrote about building the party outside of it (or, in fact, ‘behind’ i…
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: The Church of the NDP is closed, and good riddance!
Typical NDP meeting in days of yore. Below: Jack Layton.In the last hours of the 2011 federal election campaign, as word of Jack Layton’s Orange Wave spread to a wondering Canada, a longtime New Democrat supporter of my acquaintance made the followin…
Continue readingThe Equivocator: The Liberal Party and Service
On Tuesday, May 17th I attended the “Liberal Renewal Dinner” in Toronto hosted by the Edward Blake Society. You could feel the energy and excitement in the room. People were pragmatic about the work that has to be done, but … Continue reading →
Liberal Arts and Minds: Me, Myself and Aye
While it has been interesting to read the various post-mortems of the election and the pages and pages of advice being offered to the Liberal Party, my mind keeps drifting back to some reading I was doing pre-election. It started with some of Susan Delacourt’s writing, (and her links to
Continue readingA Blog By James Curran: Hey, Alf Apps, Here’s Another Letter Calling for Your Resignation
The delusional Apps maintains only 8 or 10 people have called for his resignation. Well, I know different. So does he. But the truth never really mattered to Alf Apps. Here’s one from The Sun todayDunn: Apps dooms Grits The inside story of the destruct…
Continue readingeaves.ca: TorStar Op-ed: Liberals have to create a next political centre
This past Saturday the Toronto Star published the following piece by Taylor Owen and myself on its op-ed page. Thought I’d put it here for those who might have missed it. Liberals have to create a new political centre Canadians may have once valued the Liberal party, but they reject what it has become. The […]
Continue readingThe Equivocator: After a jump to the left, the Liberal Party needs to take a step to the right.
Though I disagree with the notion that under Stephane Dion & Michael Ignatieff, the Liberal Party has moved ideologically to the left, I do believe that both leaders seemed to write-off the idea of appealing to centre-right Canadians. In this post, … Continue reading →
Akaash Maharaj - Practical Idealism: Akaash Maharaj: A Party of the Many
As long as I have been involved in the Liberal Party, it has been my conviction that for all its strengths, its one fundamental weakness has been an unhealthy obsession with the identity of its leader. This impulse has taken us from being a party of th…
Continue readingCalgaryLiberal: Why “Centrism” doesn’t quite work for us and needs to be adjusted for
Over the last week I have gotten a lot of rather angry emails and notes speaking in opposition to my thoughts written about in my blog post last week on the Liberal Party of Canada. It has to do with the issue of centrism in Canadian politics and I do …
Continue readingCalgaryLiberal: So, I’m in the Toronto Star…
Susan Delacourt of the Toronto Star has quoted my blog post. What is a political party anyway? Given that there are so many ways for politicians to connect directly with citizens, many wonder why people need the brokerage role of political parties in t…
Continue readingDemocratic Progress: Adults Are Listening
In 2005, Andrew Potter wrote (in what happened to be a piece discussing pitfalls Michael Ignatieff might face as Liberal Leader) that “Canadians are incapable of having an adult discussion”. Isn’t it time for the Liberals to become that party?
With wh…
Continue readingThe Equivocator: Ceci n’est pas un député.
I have no problem with Ruth Ellen Brosseau, she is probably very nice. However, I strongly dislike almost everything she represents. The argument that the NDP have been using to defend their accidental MP is that “she will just work … Continue reading →
The Equivocator: Some post-election thoughts.
Some articles with better insight than I can provide: The Liberal 34. Renewing the Liberal Party: Leadership. The Liberal Party: What went wrong and where to next? Election Post Mortem: The Liberals Some post-election thoughts: Despite the results, the Liberal … Continue reading →
Democratic Progress: Come Back
Thanks to everyone who read my last piece, by the way (even if you didn’t leave comments).
Here’s what I have to add today.
The way for the Liberal Party of Canada to return to relevance is to work on small-L liberalism. I fervently believe that’s wh…
Continue readingCowboys for Social Responsibility: In which it is possible that David Herle may be wrong
A couple of days ago, former Liberal organizer David Herle was asked by the CBC to set down his views on the desirability of a merger between the Liberal Party and the NDP. He doesn’t much like it. That column can be found here.
As a Liberal Party…
Continue readingCalgaryLiberal: The wider spirit of Liberal reform
I think I may have struck a chord. In the last day or so I have receive 1,200 pageviews (this is a lot for me) on my blog posting and numerous outlets have broached the topic of reforming the Liberals, and with particular reference is the creation of a…
Continue readingDemocratic Progress: Where I Am Now
Here’s what I’m thinking right now about the election that just was, and the future. If I continue to blog going forward, I’ll probably try to expand and improve on it from time to time.
Far More Than “Centrist”
Having watched Michael Ignatieff
Continue reading