Tag: Tom Mulcair

The Liberal Scarf: "Stephen Harper’s climate-change record can’t be ignored anymore" – because it’s putting Canadian jobs and our economy at risk

Worthwhile article from Chantal Hebert here. She’s not the first to link Harper’s gutting of environmental regulations, skeptical attitude towards climate change and attacks on the environmental movement to other countries (particularly our major trading partner south of the border) reluctance to embrace Canada’s natural resources, but in just two

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Driving The Porcelain Bus: Latest Ipsos-Reid Poll Shows NDP Rising At The Expense of The Liberals

Ipsos Reid just released new federal poll numbers.
Their latest poll was conducted between Oct. 25 and 28, 2013. Their previous poll covered Oct. 16 to 20, 2013.

Here is a comparison between their 2 polls

            Oct. 20       Oct. 28
NDP      27%            31%   up 4%
Lib         33%            31%  down 2%
Con       31%            30%   down 1%
Grn          2%              2%
Blc           6%              6%

With the Senate scandal being front and centre in the news for the past couple of weeks, and with the performance of Thomas Mulcair hammering away at Harper in Question Period, I think we can see Canadians once again taking notice of Mulcair and the NDP.
Mulcair is reminding Canadians that he is the one standing up for Canadians and asking the tough questions in Parliament. The honeymoon is over for Trudeau and Liberals (In May 2013, Ipsos Reid pegged the Liberals at 36%), and the NDP is rising back towards where they were in support before the Liberal leadership race.
The Conservatives have remained, in Ipsos Reid polls, between 30% and 32% for the past year. It seems that they will have to look a lot worse before their base starts to really crumble.
In the Spring and Summer, while the Liberals were riding high, the Bloc and the Green party also rose slightly, while the NDP dropped. They have dropped back down since, and now we see the Liberal numbers dropping as the NDP numbers rise.
It will be interesting to see if the NDP continue to rise and the Liberals drop, or if things level off like this for a while. I can’t see the Conservatives gaining any ground in the next while with the current political climate. 
One significant point for the NDP is that they are leading in Quebec and BC and tied for the lead in Ontario. They have been in the lead in Quebec and BC in the recent past, but they haven’t had so much support in Ontario until now. If they hope to form the next government, Ontario is the one area where they need to shore up support. Ontario seems to be warming up to the NDP.

See also:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/senate-scandal-hasnt-hampered-tories-support-poll-says/article15174731/
   “The major beneficiary of the scandal seems to be the NDP so far. Tom Mulcair’s party, the Official Opposition in the Commons, has gained four percentage points since last week to sit at 31 per cent in the polls.”
– and –
   “He said the NDP’s persistent strength in the polls makes the party a factor to watch. “The only thing we’ve seen that I think is of particular interest in all of this is the NDP strength hanging in there. The fact the NDP has got a new floor that is at least 25 [per cent] makes them definitely a spoiler in whatever goes on in the future.”

News release from Ipsos Reid including tracking graph:
http://www.ipsos-na.com/news-polls/pressrelease.aspx?id=6302
Of particular note is the movement of the NDP over these two weeks, which gained 4 points from the first week of polling to the second. Most of that movement can be explained by gains made in Alberta (26%, up 9 points), Saskatchewan and Manitoba (39%, up 6 points), Ontario (33%, up 6 points) and British Columbia (36%, up 5 points). 

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Driving The Porcelain Bus: Latest Ipsos-Reid Poll Shows NDP Rising At The Expense of The Liberals

Ipsos Reid just released new federal poll numbers.Their latest poll was conducted between Oct. 25 and 28, 2013. Their previous poll covered Oct. 16 to 20, 2013. Here is a comparison between their 2 polls             Oct. 20       Oct. 28NDP      27%            31%   up 4%Lib         33%            31%  down 2%Con       31%            30%  

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Driving The Porcelain Bus: Latest Ipsos-Reid Poll Shows NDP Rising At The Expense of The Liberals

Ipsos Reid just released new federal poll numbers. Their latest poll was conducted between Oct. 25 and 28, 2013. Their previous poll covered Oct. 16 to 20, 2013. Here is a comparison between their 2 polls             Oct. 20       Oct. 28 NDP      27%            31%   up 4% Lib         33%            31%  down

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Impolitical: Restore our anthem politics

I support the “Restore our Anthem” initiative to replace the words “in all thy sons command” to the gender neutral “in all of us command.”

The reactions early on to this latest initiative in the letters to the editor sections of the National Post and Globe were fairly supportive, sometimes a little silly but definitely not reflective of a major backlash of the variety that was seen in 2010 following the Harper government’s effort to take this step.

The Harper Throne Speech of early 2010 came following Harper’s second prorogation of Parliament, both viewed as illegitimate. The second was to avoid accountability on Afghanistan and torture allegations. Harper’s second prorogation was lengthy and provoked large street demonstrations that many of us attended. Harper justified that prorogation with the claim that he needed to “recalibrate” his government’s agenda. Yet what he brought forth, proposals such as Seniors Day and the national anthem lyric changes, wasn’t viewed as substantive enough to have shut down Parliament for the sake of his “recalibration.” This may have had something to do with the disapproval of the proposed lyric changes to the anthem expressed at that time. That and the Olympics buzz.

And who wants the Prime Minister, who is widely viewed as the lone gun leader of this government, re-writing the words of the national anthem in any event? Better that it come from a popular movement to test the waters and let support build. That’s what this new initiative is doing.

Flash forward to today, a political point. Peggy Nash’s office responded earlier today to someone I know on the anthem change with this email:

From:
Date: October 9, 2013 at 3:07:30 PM EDT
To:
Subject: RE: Attention: This issue is important to me as a Canadian

Thank you for contacting our office to share your opinion on our national anthem. We welcome the debate, and as NDP leader Tom Mulcair has said, we feel that the anthem can always be improved.

Unfortunately, under the Conservatives gender equality in Canada has significantly eroded. They shut down Status of Women Canada offices, weakened its mandate and flatly ignored the Pay Equity Task Force’s recommendations to promote fairness in Canadian workplaces. They also made no improvement to programs that can best support women’s equality—such as affordable child care, Employment Insurance, home care for loved ones and affordable housing.

Once again, thank you for your sharing your view on gender inclusive language in the national anthem. New Democrats will continue to support and push for gender equality.

Peggy Nash
Member of Parliament – Députée | Parkdale – High Park (emphasis added)

Except, that is not what Tom Mulcair said at all. He did not leave any doors open to improve the words of the anthem:

“I think that when you start tinkering with an institution like a national anthem, that you’re looking for problems,” Mulcair said when asked about the proposal.

“We seem to have agreed on the English and French versions as they are and I think that’s probably a good thing.”

I searched but could not find any modification of the Mulcair statement in any subsequent comments by him. 

2013 is not 2010. And this movement to change the words comes from a multi-partisan group of individuals who seek to garner support. They should be encouraged to do so by those who care about gender equality.

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