Let me start by making one thing perfectly clear: there is no rule that prevents interim Liberal leader Bob Rae from deciding to seek the permanent leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada. Once again, THERE IS NO RULE! I resort to repetition and bri…
Continue readingTag: Liberal Party
David Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Can Canada’s Conservatives truly become our ‘natural governing party’? Maybe
Prime Minister Stephen Harper tries just to stifle his worst instincts. Warning: Canadian prime ministers may not be exactly as illustrated. If you’re too young to get this, just don’t worry about it. It’s pretty obscure anyway. Below: Richard…
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Liberal Riding Associations: Will you take up this torch?
We are entering the time of conventions, when new policies will be discussed as part of the Liberal Party renewal process.I extend the invitation to Liberal riding associations to talk to each other about one of my pet ideas, and to combine with othe…
Continue readingThe Progressive Right: Tory Syndrome
Four years ago this month, a sizeable chunk of Ontario’s Progressive Conservative supporters already had their knives out and sharpened for John Tory. This was based upon the belief that Tory was not a true conservative like Tim Hudak and tha…
Continue readingTHE FIFTH COLUMN: Realigning Canada’s Political Spectrum
Canadians have traditionally held social democratic values while supporting centrist political parties. Canadians support universal single payer public health insurance, public pensions and a social safety net, all of which, at the federal level, have …
Continue reading264MHz: NDP and Liberal Should Cooperate to Bring in PR, Not Merge
There has been talk of the Liberals and NDP merging. The justification for this is that the split in the progressive vote allows the Conservatives to form a majority with 40% of the vote. This is a legitimate concern but the splitting of the vote is only a problem because of our First Past the […]
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Liberals: Ask your NDP friends to vote for Pat Martin as next NDP leader
Liberals have a golden opportunity to shape the contours of our politics for the next decade by involving themselves in the NDP leadership selection process.They can do this by talking to their NDP friends and trying to persuade them to vote for an N…
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Bob Rae and the Iffy Question of Merger with the NDP
Summer nonsense spilled over into the press conference held today with Bob Rae. One of the questions dealt with a possible merger between the Liberal and NDP parties. Rae was forthright, and quoted FDR in his answer.Like Roosevelt, Rae said he saw the …
Continue readingThe Sir Robert Bond Papers: Uniting the Left: a reminder
So with the Liberal meeting in Ottawa, the idea of uniting the left is coming back around again. Not surprisingly, Liberal leader Bob rare is pissing on the idea. Now Bob’s reasoning may be somewhat different than the one your humble e-scribbler of…
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: All options should be discussed at least – not thrown away arbritarily.
I see that we have some stories in the media about “merger talk growing” between the Liberals and NDP again after the funeral of Mr. Layton. We even had a couple of Liberal MP’s come out (Justin Trudeau notably) saying that while he wasn’t convinced it was the way to go, he was willing to listen or be convinced otherwise. There was then others such as Mr Rae flatly rejecting it.
Some say this is just media driven, and perhaps it is. Personally though, when you’re a party that has been losing votes over the last three elections, and losing seats, including your worst showing ever in the […]
Continue readingRedBedHead: After Jack: Three Bad Ideas & One Good One For The NDP
The weeklong outpouring of mourning, love and solidarity after the passing of NDP Leader Jack Layton has now subsided. The sense of optimism that Jack insisted upon and the hunger for change that he not only represented but fanned to flame with the fun…
Continue readingA BCer in Toronto: There can be no shortcuts for the Liberal Party
The Liberal Party of Canada’s summer caucus meetings begin today in Ottawa, and I’ve already heard some rumblings and musings from those quarters that give me pause, and cause for concern. When I read comments about how the passing of Jack Layton and t…
Continue readingthe reeves report: Jack Layton: Our Politics are Poorer for the Loss
The unthinkable happened twice this year for the federal New Democrats: their charismatic leader Jack Layton took them as close to the Holy Grail of Canadian politics as you can get as a ‘third party’ in doubling their historic seat count to form the official opposition. And then, as the euphoria proved short-lived, the NDP … Continue reading »
Impolitical: The lifeblood of parties
What a great blog post at digby’s tonight. The post was about intra-party critics and their usefulness, in light of much of the Democratic generated criticism of Obama of late. These two last paragraphs in particular were notable, on a grassroots group…
Continue readingCanadian Progressive World: Double Standards And Chauvinism In The Nycole Turmel Affair
For over a week now, politicians, the media and pundits have relentlessly sniped interim NDP leader Nycole Turmel for her past association with the Bloc Quebecois. To them, it’s not enough Turmel canceled her membership with the Quebec separatist…
Continue readingA BCer in Toronto: We need generational change in the Liberal Party
There have been a few articles recently about the emerging race for the presidency of the Liberal Party of Canada. A number of interesting names have emerged, from party veterans like Sheila Copps, recently former MPs like Siobhan Coady and Mark Hollan…
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Martha Hall Findlay for Liberal President
Martha Hall FindlayI wish to go on record that I would support Martha Hall Findlay for Liberal Party president, should she run / be drafted / be persuaded to run.Findlay has paid her dues in the trenches, and would add youth, experience and vigour to…
Continue readingthe reeves report: Are the NDP too dependent on Jack Layton?
I’ll be brief this time, because I know every pundit and their brother will be covering this story and making this speculation. But it’s worth asking – are the NDP too dependent on Jack Layton for their success? True, this success has been incredibly recent, and it is an exception in Canadian politics that the … Continue reading »
the reeves report: Out on a Limb: In Defence of the (Political) Moral High Ground
This may be terribly naive of me (and I’m not ruling out that possibility, to be fair), but I am going to go out on a limb and make the following two statements: 1) the (political) moral high-ground is (often) worth defending; and 2) two wrongs do not make a right. I know, I know. … Continue reading »
Impolitical: Liberals will never be lonely
Not when Conservatives keep writing nitpicky, protests-too-much columns like this. Beardsley is probably right about the summer travelling being about staying in the media eye. Why not? It is important for Liberals right now. And really? Liberal plans …
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