I haven't written anything about the NDP leadership review, because I know some of my NDP friends are still hurting from their disastrous election result. And I didn't want to re-open any wounds.And also because I think Justin Trudeau is the be…
Continue readingTag: Tom Mulcair
Eh Types: NDP Resolution? Shave the Beard
On January 1st, many greet the New Year armed with a resolution meant to improve themselves. As people are creatures of habit they often fail, but there is surely merit in recognizing where you can improve. In that spirit, I decided to s…
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: What do the federal election results mean for Edmonton and Alberta?
With the excitement of the 2015 federal election one week behind us, now is a good time to take a look at how the results of the election could impact Edmonton and Alberta. The reality of a majority Liberal government in Ottawa… Continue Reading →
Continue readingLeDaro: LeDaro 2015-10-20 11:45:00
Finally, Stephen Harper is gone – an end to a decade-long nightmare for our country. His politics of control, fear, and division finally caught up to him. We got our country back, an end to scapegoating religious minorities, an end to the war on science, and hopefully the return to
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Trudeau Liberals crack Conservative “Fortress Alberta” in nationwide sweep
The dust has yet to finally settle on tonight’s election night results but we know that the Liberal Party led by Justin Trudeau will form a majority government with more than 180 seats in the next parliament. Conservative Party leader Stephen… Continue Reading →
Continue readingAlberta Politics: Brothels? Neighbourhood injection sites? Have the Cons jumped the shark? Or is the nightmare just beginning?
PHOTOS: Trashy bars like this with free-injection sites and illegal card games out back could soon start popping up in cities like yours if we don’t re-elect the sternly upright Stephen Harper. Really! And if you think this story was easy to illustrate without straining the limits of good taste,
Continue readingdaveberta.ca - Alberta Politics: Mulcair and Trudeau show Alberta some love in the final days of Election 2015. Where’s Harper?
There is no longer any doubt that Alberta is an important battleground in this federal election campaign. While Conservatives will dominate in the provincial seat count, the Liberals and NDP believe they are in a position to win competitive races in Edmonton… Continue Reading →
Continue readingCuriosityCat: The Debates: Who won, who lost, and why
Trudeau: The Fighter Let’s start with the view of how Tom Mulcair behaved in the Munk foreign policy debate, from Gerald Caplan: But if I remove my mask of detachment, I must report that it was not at all the night the NDP needed to recover its faded lead. But
Continue readingCuriosityCat: The Debates: Who won, who lost, and why
Trudeau: The Fighter |
Let’s start with the view of how Tom Mulcair behaved in the Munk foreign policy debate, from Gerald Caplan:
But if I remove my mask of detachment, I must report that it was not at all the night the NDP needed to recover its faded lead. But there’s still three weeks left – a lifetime in politics. We have the most polarizing and, yes, dangerous, government in Canadian history and we have the NDP positioned to take advantage of it. Yet the NDP focuses its attacks far more on Mr. Trudeau and gives the government almost a free pass. A huge mistake, in my view. And not too late to change, by any means. It ain’t over till it’s over, in baseball or politics.
Each of his debates have proved disappointing, when they were supposed to seal his deal with the electorate. I fear the deal is almost becoming null and void.
This time, there was political blood in it.
Then, close on his heels, came Mulcair.
And Trudeau? Most thought it would be a victory for him if he did not fall flat on his face while walking to the podium; once there, if he did not collapse like a squeaky and ill-tied birthday balloon; and during the one-on-one segments, if he could snatch a small portion of the air time away from the two debatemeisters.
Trudeau has the luck of being underestimated, like Jean Chrétien was, and the intelligence to turn to experienced people the way Pierre Trudeau and Lester B. Pearson did. Perhaps like all Liberals, there is the will to win in his blood. Given his family pedigree, perhaps the will to win is not only powerful but predestined. Yet if he achieves victory, it will not be just because of his last name, but because he works hard, performs well, knows his weaknesses, and plays to his strengths.
Speaking to the Globe and Mail’s editorial board on Wednesday, Mr. Mulroney said he believes Mr. Trudeau is a strong candidate who shouldn’t be underestimated. “He’s a fine young man, he’s going to do well,” he said. “And I’ll tell you: People who underestimate him, they do so at their own peril.”
He said he considered Mr. Trudeau’s father to be a “very tough, able man,” adding, “You know, the apple sometimes doesn’t fall far from the tree. He certainly has some of the grit of his dad, and he’s obviously got, as well, he obviously has some of the qualities required to win an election.”
“Let’s be very clear. My fists will be up. I am a boxer,” he said.
CuriosityCat: Is an anti-Orange Wave rising in Quebec?
Abacus has a poll out on September 27 that has very bad news for Mulcair’s NDP. The NDP support in Quebec, its heartland, has plunged over the past week, dropping like a stone, while the other parties are ticking upwards: And this anti-Orange Wave has dragged the NDP down nationally
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Is an anti-Orange Wave rising in Quebec?
As the 1980s gave way to the 1990s and the defeats kept coming, I became ever more convinced that there were crucial bits of a governing coalition missing for Labour. Where was our business support? Where were our links into the self-employed? Above all, where were the aspirant people, the ones doing well but who wanted to do better; the ones at the bottom who had dreams of the top? … Where were those people in our ranks? Nowhere, I concluded…But it seemed that the party and the voters were in two different places, and so the party had to shift against its will. My own feeling, however, was: the voters are right and we should change not because we have to, but because we want to. It may sound a subtle difference, but it is fundamental.
Clause IV was hallowed text repeated on every occasion by those on the left who wanted no truck with compromise or the fact that modern thinking had left its words intellectually redundant and politically calamitous. Among other things, it called for “the common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange.” … At a certain level, it meant a lot and the meaning was bad. Changing it was not a superficial thing; it implied a significant, deep and lasting change in the way the party thought, worked and would govern.
I always remember him saying, “Don’t forget: communication is fifty per cent of the battle in the information age. Say it once, say it twice and keep on saying it, and when you’ve finished, you’ll know you’ve still not said it enough.”
The pathfinder was already switched on: growth was the key; investment, not tax cuts; redistribute, but carefully and not touching income tax; keep the middle class onside, but where growth and redistribution allowed, focus on the poorest; then, in time, you could balance tax cuts and spending.
CuriosityCat: The Biggest Wedge Issue in the 2015 Canadian election campaign
When Canadians reflect on the success of the Liberal Party in gaining power in the October 19 election, many will not know how important one issue was in gaining that victory. Nor will many Canadians know who was the mastermind behind that winning issue. Thanks to one of the masterful
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Stephen Harper Prepares to Play the Bigot Card in Quebec
It couldn't be a more horrible sight. For me it is the ultimate nightmare. The grubby Stephen Harper, the political porn peddler, in my own province of Quebec.The province that adopted me, and that I love so much.Preparing for tonight's French-language TV debate, and a last desperate effort to claw his
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Tom Mulcair says Not a Snowball’s Chance in Hell he will prop up a Harper minority government
The end of the Harper era Tom Mulcair has firmly rejected any chance that the NDP would support Stephen Harper’s government in any confidence votes after the October 19 election: Earlier Wednesday, Mulcair was also asked whether he would support a Conservative minority government. “There isn’t a snowball’s chance in
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Tom Mulcair explains how the NDP Swiss Cheese Plan came about
Dramatic disclosures on the campaign trail today! A respected numbers man has called the campaign plan prepared by Tom Mulcair for the NDP, a “Swiss cheese plan.” He likes it, but thinks it’s a bit skimpy: Even though Canada’s former budget watchdog called the NDP’s fiscal plan “Swiss cheese,” leader
Continue readingCuriosityCat: Post-debate poll: Liberals swamping Conservatives in Ontario 41% to 31%
Stephen Harper has to move the needle substantially if he wants to retain his job as prime minister. He needs to increase his support amongst voters by between 15% and 25%, to move it up from the low nationwide 32% or so, to majority-seat territory of 37% to 40%. The
Continue readingPushed to the Left and Loving It: When is a Dynasty Not a Dynasty?
There has been much talk during this election campaign, about Justin Trudeau’s famous father, and a notion that he believes that becoming prime minister is his birthright. There were similar attacks on Michael Ignatieff, because he descended from Russian royalty on his father’s side and the famous Grant family of Canada on his mother’s.
Apparently being born into prominent families means that you cannot possibly lead this country. You’re an “elite” and “out of touch”.
However, has anyone addressed the political dynasty of Thomas Mulcair? He likes to portray himself as just a regular guy, one of ten children, in a family struggling to get by. However, the reality is much different.
Before pretending to be “middle class”, he loved reminding people that he was a descendant of Honore Mercier, a former premier of Quebec. (1)
He was right. He is a descendant of the ninth premier, but the lineage goes much further and family connections, run much deeper.
His mother was the daughter of Pierre Hurtubise and Jeanne Mercier. Jeanne Mercier was the daughter of Paul-Emile Mercier and Marie-Louise Tache. Paul-Emile Mercier was the son of Premier Honore Mercier and his second wife, Virginie St. Denis.
These are the things named after Honore Mercier:
-The Mercier Bridge that links the western part of the Island of Montreal with the South Shore;
– The town of Mercier, Quebec;
– Avenue Mercier, located in downtown Shawinigan, Quebec, Canada;
– The provincial electoral district of Mercier.
– The Mercier neighbourhood in Montreal.
– An elementary school named Honoré-Mercier in Montreal
– A high school named Honoré-Mercier in Montreal
– A hospital in Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec is named Hôpital Honoré-Mercier.
– Honoré Mercier Boulevard, located in the Quebec city center.
He also had a son Honore, who was the godfather of Tom Mulcair’s mother; a cabinet minister and multi-term MNA in the Quebec Assembly. His son followed suit.
A daughter of Honore’s, Eliza Mercier, married Sir Jean Lomer Gouin, who became the 13th premier of Quebec and 15th Lietenant Governor. He also served as Justice Minister under William Lyon MacKenzie King.
He had these things named after him:
– Gouin Boulevard, the longest street on the Island of Montreal;
– Gouin Reservoir (In French: Réservoir Gouin), a man made collection of lakes in the center of the province of Quebec;
– Rue Gouin (Gouin Street) and Place Gouin, located in Shawinigan, Quebec, Canada;
– Rue Gouin (Gouin Street), located in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada;- The provincial district of Gouin;
– Lomer-Gouin, intra-provincial ferry services between Levis to Quebec City operate by Société des traversiers du Québec.
Sir Jean and Eliza had a son Paul who would also join the Quebec Liberal Party before leaving and forming his own. Mulcair also belongs to the Chaveau line, making him a great-great-great-grandson of Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveau, the 1st Premier of Quebec.
The list goes on. He was a member of the Quebec elite and as such had many doors opened for him, and he expected them to be. One of his mentors, and a person who had a great deal to do with advancing Mulcair’s career, was Claude Ryan, former director of Le Devoir newspaper, and head of the Quebec Liberals. He also knew how to use the press to his advantage. Apparently, it was Ryan who got Thomas Mulcair his position with the Quebec Justice Department.
Thomas Mulcair did not come from humble beginnings. Politics were in his DNA, along with a sense of privilege Below is a screen shot of a story that appeared in The Daily in 2005, describing the experience of a stakeholder who had requested a meeting with Mulcair, when he was Minister of Environment. He speaks of Mulcair’s arrogance, demanding a clean limo and his continued sense of superiority.
When you watch those videos of Mulcair promoting private healthcare or espousing the virtues of Margaret Thatcher, he does not come off the smiling grandfather, but as someone who clearly feels above his listeners. Reading transcripts of debates in the NA, you also get that sense. He was the closest thing to noble birth that you can get in this country, and he wanted to make sure that you never forgot that.
So when is a dynasty, a dynasty? I guess only when it’s linked to a Liberal leader.
1. Community Besieged: The Anglophone Minority and the Politics of Quebec, By Garth Stevenson, 1999, Mcgill-Queens University Press, 0773518398
Pushed to the Left and Loving It: When is a Dynasty Not a Dynasty?
There has been much talk during this election campaign, about Justin Trudeau’s famous father, and a notion that he believes that becoming prime minister is his birthright. There were similar attacks on Michael Ignatieff, because he descended from Russian royalty on his father’s side and the famous Grant family of
Continue readingPushed to the Left and Loving It: When is a Dynasty Not a Dynasty?
There has been much talk during this election campaign, about Justin Trudeau’s famous father, and a notion that he believes that becoming prime minister is his birthright. There were similar attacks on Michael Ignatieff, because he descended from Russian royalty on his father’s side and the famous Grant family of
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Noisy But Not So Great Globe Economic Debate
OK. Before I write about my impressions of last night's Globe debate.I feel I need to make some things clear, in the interests of full disclosure.I've never been very good at numbers, and I'm not much interested in economics. I took a lot of classes at university but I slept
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