This Week in Leadership - Wild Rose Roundup
We may not elect Liberals here, but when it comes to leadership, Alberta sure matters. So it's not surprising that the potential leadership candidates have been making pit stops in Alberta as they criss-cross the country.
Stephane Dion was in town on Tuesday, after doing a gig up in Edmonton the night before. While his Alberta organization is fairly non-existent right now, he spoke very well and impressed at all of the events he did in the province. His youth event in Calgary drew over three times what Brison's got (and that was pre "UWillBHappyG8") and he got several big ovations. Like pretty much every single candidate out there, Dion (and Brison for that matter) have been talking up the innovation agenda and environmental sustainability, which is nice to see. Dion has also played up his loyalty to the leader throughout the civil war and he certainly spent a lot more time talking about Quebec than Scott Brison did. And while I really like Dion's hard line on issues like the fiscal imbalance, a common theme on his trip out here was about the federal government getting out of provincial jurisdiction. That likely means the end of any sort of federal post-secondary education strategy and a lot of decentralization, two things I'm not overly keen about.
Dion and Brison are the first two candidates I've had a chance to see on their trips out West and I think if the LPC should seriously look into finding a way to transplant Stephane Dion's brain into Brison's body. Between Brison's speaking skills and charisma, and Dion's intellect and penchant for not leaking sensitive government information, "Brion" would be nearly unstoppable.
In Other Leadership News
The Gerard Kennedy team is quietly assembling itself together in Alberta. Obviously Kennedy won't be able to do much until the Ontario budget, but it looks like he will do well in Alberta if he declares.
The Stronach team is also building a credible organization in Alberta. Not only are they promising to "bake a bigger economic pie", but it sounds like it will include a side of "innovation ice cream".
Stephane Dion was in town on Tuesday, after doing a gig up in Edmonton the night before. While his Alberta organization is fairly non-existent right now, he spoke very well and impressed at all of the events he did in the province. His youth event in Calgary drew over three times what Brison's got (and that was pre "UWillBHappyG8") and he got several big ovations. Like pretty much every single candidate out there, Dion (and Brison for that matter) have been talking up the innovation agenda and environmental sustainability, which is nice to see. Dion has also played up his loyalty to the leader throughout the civil war and he certainly spent a lot more time talking about Quebec than Scott Brison did. And while I really like Dion's hard line on issues like the fiscal imbalance, a common theme on his trip out here was about the federal government getting out of provincial jurisdiction. That likely means the end of any sort of federal post-secondary education strategy and a lot of decentralization, two things I'm not overly keen about.
Dion and Brison are the first two candidates I've had a chance to see on their trips out West and I think if the LPC should seriously look into finding a way to transplant Stephane Dion's brain into Brison's body. Between Brison's speaking skills and charisma, and Dion's intellect and penchant for not leaking sensitive government information, "Brion" would be nearly unstoppable.
In Other Leadership News
The Gerard Kennedy team is quietly assembling itself together in Alberta. Obviously Kennedy won't be able to do much until the Ontario budget, but it looks like he will do well in Alberta if he declares.
The Stronach team is also building a credible organization in Alberta. Not only are they promising to "bake a bigger economic pie", but it sounds like it will include a side of "innovation ice cream".
posted by calgarygrit at
3:20 p.m.
25 Comments:
UWillBHappyG8!
Love it!
By
Anonymous, at 4:15 p.m.
Bob Rae (formerly of the NDP)
Stronach (formerly of the CPC)
Brison (formerly of the CPC)
The result of leaving the Liberals: cries for resignations, demands for new laws, formal ethics probes
The result of jumping to the Liberals: contention for the leadership of the party
By
Anonymous, at 4:22 p.m.
I think there has been enough Brison bashing. It is time to move on.
He has admitted an error with frankeness and apology. I don't believe his political life should be over because of this (quickly) acknowledged error.
The Liberal Party would be weaker without Scott Brison. If he left the leadership race it would be because Liberals will have forced him out. That would be sad for the Party and country. As you yourself say, he is exciting, clever and dynamic.
Yes he made an error, so have most of us atone time or another. Only the Pope is infallable.
You are well respected Calgary Grit, it is all Liberals responsibility to raise the tone of the discussion around the leadership contest.
By
Anonymous, at 4:37 p.m.
You have to love the increasing shrillness as right wingers, gutless little turds who prefer to be anonymous, carp about the number of people who find Harper wanting and the CPC a cesspool of intolerance. Boo hoo.
By
Don, at 4:38 p.m.
Sounds like no surprises, but it sounds like Dion run could be a plus for the Liberal party. We could add a level of gravitas to the whole thing and afterwards, like a Joe Clark in Mulroney's cabinet.
Don,
that wasn't shrill it was funny. You sound a little defensive.
By
Tarkwell Robotico, at 4:44 p.m.
The YLC(Q) has voted to shut Antonio down over at Fuddle Duddle it's a shame.
By
Anonymous, at 4:47 p.m.
Peter;
Brison is the best politician in the race and would make a great opposition leader. But, as Prime Minister - I have my doubts.
Yeah, he can bring a lot to the party, but this is a major scandal that might have cost us the last election. And it's funny.
By
calgarygrit, at 4:48 p.m.
Any movement on the Rae front in Alberta?
Here in Manitoba the rumor is that Axworthy likes Rae. Expect him to anounce he is running in Winnipeg on Monday at a luncheon. I'm looking foward to attending, just to see what kind of big name Manitoba Liberals that Rae will have on board.
By
Anonymous, at 5:05 p.m.
Interesting that Rae is even running. He is not well liked in Ontario. I don't think even Chretien backers can make up for his negatives.
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Anonymous, at 6:11 p.m.
Hard to imagine how Rae could finish ahead of Kennedy. I look forward to seeing Kennedy in Manitoba, where he is from and is gathering support. I think Kennedy's momentum has yet to take off. Should be interesting how it all plays out.
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Anonymous, at 6:18 p.m.
Alberta is about as important to the Liberals as Alabama is too the Democrats. Sad, but true.
By
Anonymous, at 6:39 p.m.
Why is there a Brison love-fest?
I got an idea, since he's so great, but we all know he won't be the next leader, let's compromise.
I propose we start a new blog entirely to draft Brison................... to be the next Ambassador to Antarctica. Anyone interested?
Ok come on think about it, he'd make best friends with everyone down there, and could really accomplish a lot! He's THAT talented!
By
Forward Looking Canadian, at 6:44 p.m.
We Conservatives are happy Brison is not in the Conservative Party of Canada. The old PC's may as well have been Liberals and now we are focussed on creating a REAL Conservative Party in this country. God riddance to Joe Who too. And Maureen McTeer, they were always closet Liberals.
I believe in traditional marriage, MAN + WOMAN.
I believe in letting parents decide how to raise their children, not the state.
I am happy Liberals have Brison since he provides living proof of what Trudeau and his Charter have done to this country.
By
Anonymous, at 6:54 p.m.
More Gerard news, and the reason he has not declared his candidacy: He has some important unfinished business before the Federal Liberal Leadership guidelines are released (on March 18) and the Ontario Liberal budget is tabled (on March 23).
March 12: TORONTO Speech at the annual Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association general meeting.
Read:
http://ogov.newswire.ca/ontario/GPOE/2006/03/10/c1234.html?lmatch=&lang=_e.html
March 13: NIAGARA FALLS Speech at the annual Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation general meeting.
Read
http://ogov.newswire.ca/ontario/GPOE/2006/03/10/c1230.html?lmatch=&lang=_e.html
March 14: OTTAWA IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT and Speech (YES IN FRENCH, SINCE HE IS BILINGUAL) at the annual Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens general meeting.
Read
http://ogov.newswire.ca/ontario/GPOE/2006/03/10/c1233.html?lmatch=&lang=_e.html
Gerard (with support from McGuinty) has done more for francophone education in Ontario than any previous Ontario Minister of Education.
Expect many of these teachers to offer their support when/if Gerard announces his leadership run.
Unlike other present or former provincial politicians who may or may not run for leadership of the federal Liberals, Gerard is very highly regarded by the residents of Ontario. I challenge SES or any other organization to poll Gerard's support!
By
Anonymous, at 8:05 p.m.
Why Bob Rae Could Make A Formidable Candidate for Liberal Leader
These are some of the reasons in favour of his throwing his hat into the ring:
• He is left-centre in social terms, close, in my view, to the real social political critical mass of the Liberal Party.
• His raw intelligence would make Harper – the man who never needed a mentor because he never found anyone smarter than him, so reports said – squirm. There is no way Harper could pull a fast one on Rae.
• He is a consummate politician. Unlike Harper, who seems to be sending out signals that he has a political tin ear, Rae’s antennae are attuned to the average voter.
• He has a political philosophy which is closer to the holistic one Harper has, but with a far more liberal view of the world.
• He would probably attract enough NDP votes in BC, Ontario and the Maritimes, to lead the Liberals to a majority government.
• Fluent in French.
• A man Canadians could be proud of (a nice change from earlier Liberal leaders). He would lead Canada into taking active steps to bring positive solutions to the problems facing so many people in the world (poverty, the disruption caused by globalization, the destruction of the international comity by Bush and his neocons).
• Certainly no fan of being Bush’s lapdog; he would leave it to Tony and Stephen to fight for the place on Bush’s lap.
• He would not try to foist a subterranean theocracy on to Canada’s political contours.
What are some of the major disadvantages?
• He proved massively economically when he ran Ontario, paying little heed to the results of some of the NDP programs he implemented.
• Could he maintain a centre-right economic policy?
• Does he still have the passion to make Canada a better place?
My basic requirements before I would consider supporting Rae for Liberal Party leader revolve around his view on certain major issues, including:
• Has he a detailed formulation for resolving the “democratic deficit”? We say Martin champion it as a flavour-of-the-day but do very little to remedy the deficit. If Martin had tackled this deficit as fiercely as he tackled the economic deficit years ago, he would be Prime Minister of a majority Liberal Party today.
• Is he prepared to make a reasonable form of proportional representation (PR) a major plank in the Liberal platform? It so obviously meets many of the deep needs of Canadian voters, that it has to be addressed by any serious candidate for leadership of the Liberal Party and potential Prime Minister.
• Would be commit in his program not to change the nature of the Canadian confederation in the stealthy way which Harper is promising, with his “new federalism” and “fiscal imbalance” coded framing.
So, let’s have a look at your program, Mr Rae; then we can judge whether you are the person we wish to be the next Prime Minister of Canada.
By
Anonymous, at 9:51 p.m.
Rae is a non-starter. He is not even a Liberal. We have enough Liberal talent in the leadership race. I have not heard one good reason as to why we should allow our leadership to be hijacked by an NDP. He has no qualities that are superior to those in the current list of leadership hopefuls.
By
Anonymous, at 10:22 p.m.
Gerard|Kennedey has not step foot in Quebec (despite living next door) in over a decade.
He is so out of touch with Quebec that he has not a hope in hell to elect more than a dozen delegates here.
By
Anonymous, at 11:15 p.m.
I'm not from Ontario - but I get the impression that Rae is about as popular as Mulroney is in Ontario.
When your brand is that tarnished (if it's as tarnished as I've been led to believe) how on earth can we even consider him when what the Liberal Party needs is a fresh start?
By
Anonymous, at 11:22 p.m.
The result of leaving the Liberals: cries for resignations, demands for new laws, formal ethics probes
The result of jumping to the Liberals: contention for the leadership of the party
I'm not going to bother arguing about Brison and Stronach, since there are so many points of contention that are ultimately about opinion, but Rae:
1) Has already publicly broken with the NDP.
2) Is not holding any elected office that he ran for as a member of the NDP.
That's a world apart from David Emerson.
Getting someone who plays well in Alberta (and not just Edmonton) will be important; not to get people to vote for us (because, outside of Edmonton, that's a fool's errand), but to get people comfortable with him in office (ie, "I didn't vote for him, but he seems like a good enough Prime Minister").
By
IslandLiberal, at 11:47 p.m.
Raymonde,
You are obviously supporting a different candidate than Mr. Kennedy. Do you really feel that you are making gains for your candidate by spreading lies about Mr. Kennedy?
This is not going to help you or your candidate. There are plenty of Quebecers that do not agree with you. He is not out of touch with Quebec and he has been there many times. He also has a growing campaign team there. I would be more concerned with your candidate getting any delegates with someone like you as their representative.
If Kennedy declares, we will hear plenty from him and the others in and about Quebec. In the meantime, show some respect for the candidates and stick to the facts.
By
Anonymous, at 12:23 a.m.
David McGuinty
By
Anonymous, at 8:25 a.m.
Cat:
Harper's code word for his decentralization agenda is "open federalism".
By
Anonymous, at 12:23 p.m.
With all due deference, Mr. Rae left Ontario in one big mess.People remember it well. The business communtiy everywhere would be loathe to support the Liberals if Rae were the leader.
As for me and my house,if I had wanted an NDP leader, I would have voted for the NDP.I firmly believe that Bob Rae would not sit well with the electorate of Canada. We have one NDP leader already leading the NDP .
By
Anonymous, at 3:21 p.m.
Yay Rae and Kennedy,
Boo Brison and Stronach!
By
John Murney , at 2:00 a.m.
To CuriosityKilledTheCat,
I agree, Bob Rae would be a great leader for you guys. Picking him would be a wise decision. (Smirk)
By
Michael Fox, at 8:05 p.m.
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