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 readingTag: Liberal Party
Calgary Grit: An update on all the people MAYBE running for Liberal leadership
The expectation is that rules for the Liberal leadership race will come down in June, setting the stage for a summer of getting to know the men and women wanting to lead Canada’s third party. But while we won’t know the rules of the race for another month or two,
Continue readingCalgary Grit: The Race for Third
Back in February I asked readers of this blog who they thought would run for Liberal leader, and who they’d consider voting for. Admittedly, this is as far from a scientific poll as you’ll ever get, and I won’t pretend that the 500+ voters in this straw poll are all
Continue readingPop The Stack: Time to Drop Left, Right and Centre
Words have power. Canadian politics is undergoing a realignment and the old words we use to describe the ‘political spectrum’ are becoming more a hinderance than a help in trying to understand the change and what can come next. There is an idea that all political ideas all fit neatly in
Continue readingPop The Stack: Time to Drop Left, Right and Centre
Words have power. Canadian politics is undergoing a realignment and the old words we use to describe the ‘political spectrum’ are becoming more a hinderance than a help in trying to understand the change and what can come next. There is an idea that all political ideas all fit neatly in
Continue readingCalgary Grit: Happy Anniversary!
One year ago today, Stephen Harper turned an “unwanted election” into his first majority government, Jack Layton and the NDP soared to never before seen heights, and Liberals spent the evening curled up in a fetal position sobbing in the corner. On political anniversaries, it’s tempting to give each party
Continue readingFrom Orangutan: Dear Line "The Godfather" Beauchamp,
Well, isn’t it ironic that while you have stated that you won’t sit at the same table with the student organization La CLASSE because the latter supposedly does not respect the values of your Quebec Liberal government, you did, in fact, sit at a table of 15 to 20 people,
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: The more (choice), the merrier
I sincerely hope this is true: At least a half dozen Liberal leadership candidates could be gearing up their campaigns as soon as this summer. Liberal party president Mike Crawley says he knows of about “six or seven” people who are thinking of entering the contest, which he expects to
Continue readingWomen in politics: the “squeeze” factor
As any student of Canadian politics knows, Ellen Fairclough was Canada’s first female cabinet minister, appointed by Diefenbaker in 1957 and serving until her defeat as MP for Hamilton West in 1963. I have mixed feelings about Fairclough’s politics: she did good work on the immigration file, but she was
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: The Bullshit Vision Thing #nlpoli
Dean MacDonald, the undeclared leader of the provincial Liberal Party spoke to a crowd in Port de Grave district on Saturday night. There’s an account of his speech in the Telegram’s Monday edition. Dean crapped on the provincial Conservatives for all sorts of things. Most of all, he seemed to
Continue readingcenterandleft: I Am Not Afraid of an Abortion Debate
If we, as Canadians, believe a woman ought to have the right to choose whether to terminate a pregnancy, why are we so afraid of having our views challenged? Why is it so frightening to open up debate on this socially contentious issue? If we are an open, democratic society,
Continue readingA BCer in Toronto: If the Liberals want to stand up for reproductive rights, they should stop pretending and whip the dammed vote
Today Parliament will debate a “private members” motion from Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth that would effectively re-open the abortion debatein Canada, and put the reproductive rights of women at risk. In the last 24 hours I’ve received two e-mails from the Liberal Party of Canada on this topic, both eager
Continue readingThe Progressive Right: Whip the Vote, Mr. Rae (#lpc #prochoice)
Citation: R. v. Morgentaler, [1988] 1 S.C.R. 30 Date: January 28, 1988 State interference with bodily integrity and serious state-imposed psychological stress, at least in the criminal law context, constitutes a breach of security of the person. … Liberty in a free and democratic society does not require the state
Continue readingSong of the Watermelon: Stephane Dion’s Shiny New Voting System
Did I read that right? Did Stephane Dion, former head of the Liberal Party of Canada, just come out in favour of proportional representation? Better late than never! Well, that’s not entirely fair. Dion has shown a willingness to consider electoral reform in the past, as he did by backing
Continue readingThe Progressive Right: Ontario Budget Consensus : Ontario Wins, Ontario’s Conservatives Lose
If you’re from Ontario, you have to agree that all the political discussions taking place to prevent an election are a welcome relief. The deal of course reached between the Ontario Liberals and New Democrats is to include a surtax on those in Ontario earning more than $500,000 per year.
Continue readingPop The Stack: Dion Proposes New Voting System
Monday’s election results in Alberta demonstrate once again the strange outcomes that our First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) voting system can create. A difference in vote percentage between 43% and 34% leads to 61 vs 17 seats for the PCs. Meanwhile the remaining parties which received about 10% of the vote each get
Continue readingPop The Stack: Dion Proposes New Voting System
Monday’s election results in Alberta demonstrate once again the strange outcomes that our First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) voting system can create. A difference in vote percentage between 43% and 34% leads to 61 vs 17 seats for the PCs. Meanwhile the remaining parties which received about 10% of the vote each get
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Standing In a Policy Desert
I was born into a politically useless family. When voting day rolled around the only thing certain was that my mother and my father would always vote. They’d get in the car, drive to the poll and cast their ballots. They made a point of never discussing who they
Continue readingA BCer in Toronto: Liberals need to rethink their Quebec approach
Since the election of former Quebec cabinet minister Thomas “Tom” Mulcair as leader of the NDP last month, much attention has been paid to the political situation in Quebec and the consensus seems to be the Liberals are screwed in the province. Consolidating NDP gains in Quebec is certainly a
Continue readingFrom Orangutan: Bonjour Line Beauchamp,
Yet again, you continue to make strange political decisions. First, on Sunday afternoon, you gave media outlets less than an hour’s notice of a press conference that you wanted to hold. Next, at the press conference, you proposed to meet with certain, but not all, Quebec student federations. And then,
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