Wednesday, April 12, 2006

And then there were 17...

John Godfrey pulls out of the leadership race, due to health issues.

This is really too bad and I hope John's health concerns aren't major. He was probably one of the most impressive candidates from last weekend in Edmonton and we got to talk a fair bit in the hospitality suites (I'll give him credit for actually having a beer in his hand). He also performed very well during the "debate" on Saturday, so it would have been a big plus to have a candidate of his caliber in the race.

posted by calgarygrit at 10:38 a.m.

42 Comments:

  • I am dissapointed about this as well. Godfrey was very good on the weekend, he walked around with only 1 aide and asked everyone very humbly and politly for their signatures on his nomination forms. He was very open and freindly in his suite as was his aide. I hope he did not make this decision based on a perceived lack of support at the convention as I know he moved up the ladder in a lot of peoples opinions.
    Very, very classy, civilized decent man, I hope his health improves and nothing serious occurs. I drank his liquor and will lift a class to him the next time I hoist one. The race is weaker with him leaving.

    Neil

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:15 a.m.  

  • I went into the weekend not knowing anything about him, and came out with him in my top 4 choices.
    It is too bad secondary concerns have led to this, but I hope this has raised his national profile enough that he continues as a front bench first tier liberal.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:15 a.m.  

  • The health card is just a cover for him.

    Don't buy it.


    Godfrey knows he won't even pick up a single delegate from his own home riding cause Joe Volpe has Toronto locked up.

    Look for Godfrey in a month or two to announce he is suporting Joe Volpe for Leader.


    P.S

    To all the haters.

    You will be surprised.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:23 a.m.  

  • I have to admit that Toronto Liberal is either a great on-line character that should have his/her own blog to countinue to poke fun at the sterotype of T.O. Liberals, or else he/she is the real thing and than that is a little bit scary, but still funny.

    CalgaryGrit,

    I think you and TorontoLiberal should have some kind of online debate.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:29 a.m.  

  • Isn't it obvious? Toronto Liberal is Joe Volpe!

    Joe, it's Fort McMurray not Fort McMurtry.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:44 a.m.  

  • "To all the haters"

    LOL!

    Joe is going for the Young Liberal voters with his hip and cool slang.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:54 a.m.  

  • I mentioned it in the last thread, but might as well mention it here: is anybody not aware that TL is a troll, and quite possibly a plant? It's so obvious it hurts. I have no idea why anybody would be so desperate to try to ruin Volpe's run, but there it is, plain as day.

    By Blogger Demosthenes, at 12:08 p.m.  

  • What no comments about how its good for the party that he pulled out of the race? Nope, no sexism in this party, none at all.

    By Blogger S.K., at 12:30 p.m.  

  • This is an incredible loss; though many candidates have presented themselves as left-of-center, Godfrey was the real deal. He has promoted environmental sustainability and social justice through the course of his parliamentary career -- he is an exemplary politician who cares about long-term gain over short-term fame. This is a very sad day for the Liberal Party and Canadian politics.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:34 p.m.  

  • So toronto liberal either is Joe Volpe, or is part of a great conspiracy to ruin Volpe's good name (hard to write that with a straight face). I am glad to see we have the entire spectrum of possibilities covered.

    I too am sad to see Godfrey out of the race. The Godfrey-Milliken bill remains one of the finest pieces of legislation ever proposed in our fair land. The 60 minutes piece on it was hysterical. I would have given Godfrey a serious look for leader.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:39 p.m.  

  • S.B wrote:

    "What no comments about how its good for the party that he pulled out of the race? Nope, no sexism in this party, none at all."

    I presume this is a reference to all the 'thank-you-for-NOT-running-Belinda' comments.

    Let's see.. Godfrey has a string of letters after his name, was a university professor & editor of the Financial Post, & has been an MP since 1993 (which makes him one of the 'veterans' among the hopefuls). He's an accomplished individual, and his gender is irrelevant.

    When people criticise, say, Belinda for being an unaccomplished plutocrat, it's no more sexist than it was for people to criticise Stockwell Day as a latter-day caveman in his social views. It might be a bit mean-spirited, but it's not 'sexist'.

    On a somewhat related note, I'd say Martha Hall Findlay is the most overlooked candidate in the race. I think she will surprise a lot of people - both party members & observers - with her contribution to the debate. Watch & see.

    The Last Trudeaumaniac

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:58 p.m.  

  • s.b.,
    you might need to adjust that tin-foil hat of yours. godfrey, unlike belinda has been a lifelong liberal, can actually speak french and isn't an intellectual lightweight.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:59 p.m.  

  • Thoughts from a non-Liberal

    1. Having more respect for Godfey than Belinda does not mean you are sexist, it means you are sentient.
    2. Joe Volpe's people are starting to scare me--I'm serious.
    3. I am not sure I see a leader yet, but some serious front bench material is getting positive exposure, which is good for both the party and the country.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:40 p.m.  

  • I was hoping he would stick around and contribute to the debate. Too bad, really, but the field is going to narrow pretty rapidly in the next couple of months, I'd say to around eight.

    By Blogger IslandLiberal, at 1:46 p.m.  

  • 8 would be a good guess. Many candidates such as Zed, Fontana, and Frey won't actually follow through with a bid, but will play major roles in one of the campaigns.

    I'm sad to see Godfrey leave though. Look to him to throw his support behind Dion or Ignatieff. They both mirror his policies in some ways - plus the Ph.D's stick together, I guess.

    By Blogger Zac, at 2:07 p.m.  

  • I have my doubts about Godfrey going with Ignatieff. His people were so obnoxious at the LPCA convention this weekend that I'd be surprised if there's any love left for Iggnatieff...unlike Dion - now there's a classy guy.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:29 p.m.  

  • Bekinda is young, extremely popular, has massive fundraising capacity, and has massive influence in arguable the most important manufacturing sector in the country, autos. She would have finished well ahead of Godfrey, who had very little support and is too old. The sexist comments about Belinda were rampant ignored her own statements about why she isn't running and were completely unmoderated by this and other websites. The comments about her were a discrace to this party and they were sexist.

    And don't tell me I'm ageist. Old is old, hence the health problems. And it's not what we need for party renewal.

    By Blogger S.K., at 2:41 p.m.  

  • Bob Rae is your best bet.

    By Blogger Joanne (True Blue), at 2:49 p.m.  

  • I expect Godfrey will endorse Dion; they talked about the same kinds of issues in their speeches.

    By Blogger IslandLiberal, at 2:57 p.m.  

  • Can someone please tell me how I can get involved in the giant online effort to discredit the good name of Joe Volpe?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:16 p.m.  

  • s.b.:

    One, just one, example of a sexist comment against BS please to back up your claims. As most of the papers pointed out with direct quoatations, she said many positive things about the rules when they came out. To claim, that is the reason now? sounds like sour grapes or trying to make excuses.

    She didn't go to the Sheila Copps even, she didn't go to the NS AGM, she didn't want to debate the others at the Alberta AGM, she had no real web presence. Sounds to me her heart wasn't in it. But she clearly had no chance, biggest reason: not being a Liberal for all that long, not being a good public speaker, not being bilingual. And that's before we get to her ideas, which were...???

    And "massive influence in the automotive sector"???? Dollars to donuts, daddy would listen to her quietly, pat her on the head and say "good girl, now go get me or my clients like GM another corporate subsidy".

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:36 p.m.  

  • haha ageist?? WTF?? you crazy liberals always coming up with new and trendy "isms" to crusade against. Whats next, shapeism? heightism? weightism? scentism?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:37 p.m.  

  • S.B: though Belinda might have finished ahead of many of these older (more experienced candidates), she essentially stands for nothing. You can certainly be young and have developped and concrete policies. She however only brought (as you yourself stated) popularity and fundraising sources. The party's renewal must be about more than image! And the reasons she gave for dropping out of the race were laughable. Of course she doesn't like the convention system; it encourages collective-decision making and compels people to reflect over who has cross-national appeal. Belinda, whose French is horrific, certainly does not.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:38 p.m.  

  • Anon,
    Well, I suppose if Iggy's supports were looking to quash all debate, they could call everyone who didn't support him xenophobic.

    By Blogger Leny Vilekoskytch, at 3:47 p.m.  

  • S.B.
    blessed with considerable wealth she managed to
    1. not graduate from college
    2. not learn a second langauge
    3. not have a job with a company her family didn't own
    4. seemingly not have any meaningful experience abroad or even outside of the GTA before she wanted to run the country.
    She has the resume of a sales clerk
    Please compare with Dion, Iggy, Godfrey, F-Hall etc..

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:49 p.m.  

  • Is Joe Volpe actually going to run?

    Where will his support come from outside of a few Toronto ridings where he is owed favours and can get the Mafia to help him scare delegates?

    He has no Western or Atlantic or Quebec presence. Only if Paul Martin personaly campaigned for him would he be able to lift himself to the level of also-ran.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:50 p.m.  

  • Paul Martin personally camapigning for any of the candidates would be a kiss of death.

    You would get Jason Cherniak and a few other die hard kool-aid drinkers that still get wet panties over the thought of PM PM, but most people in the party would run away from Martin at this point.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:53 p.m.  

  • I am no Volpe fan, but...
    Volpe will have some support in BC where Suhk Dhalliwal is supporting him and he has a lot of connections across the country in some of the minority communities. He would actually have a decent show of support on the first ballot. No one will come to him after that and he is certainly not about to win on that first ballot but my guess is if he runs he will not come in last. I think he would beat Martha Findlay Hall on the first ballot and I want to stress that is no way reflective of his quality vs hers. She surprised a lot of people at the ALPC AGM and is a very good candidate. Volpe just has more juice in the party.
    God forbid he won or anything.
    Guess we could have a western 24 sussex in Fort Mcmurtry.
    SB: No one is being sexist MFH is a good candidate, credit to the race, BS was just media BS.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:11 p.m.  

  • Whatever is done, something needs to be done about the fact Liberals are running fourth in Quebec, not just in the province but in Montreal as well:
    http://erg.environics.net/news/default.asp?aID=603

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:19 p.m.  

  • 4th in Alberta (3 points behind "Other") ain't good either, although when one is that low the injury is more to the pride than to missing a close seat.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:22 p.m.  

  • Suhk Dhalliwal is just one part of Volpe's lower mainland team. I expect Volpe to be one of the stronger candidates out of B.C, thanks to his popularity in the Indo-Canadian and Chinese community. He can easily carry a ton of B.C delegates. Also don't count him out in pockets of Alberta and Winnipeg.

    As a proud Volpe fan I will admit that he does not have a lot of strength in the rural, backwards part of the country, but among the urban centre's with diverse populations you will see Volpe come in strong.

    On a multi-tiered ballot, Volpe's loyality to the party will allow him to pick up support over new comers and quasi-NDP'ers like Kennedy and Rae.

    Volpe is going to surprise so many of you.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:28 p.m.  

  • Well, Volpe has said some pretty shocking stuff...so I suppose it is entirely possible he will continue to suprise us...as far as support goes, are you including "worse than expected" as something that would be suprising?

    By Blogger Leny Vilekoskytch, at 4:33 p.m.  

  • "Rural, BACKWARDS parts of the country"

    Yeah.

    Toronto Liberal is now without a doubt Joe Volpe himself.

    Only an arrogant prick from the centre of the universe would write off every part of the country without a Starbucks as "backwards"

    If I was not a die-hard Liberal, who hates Harper, I might almost wish for Volpe to win the leadership cause I would love to see just how the Liberal Party did under him.

    Would we even get offical party status?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:35 p.m.  

  • IGNORE TORONTO LIBERAL!


    HE IS CLEARLY A PLANT FROM ONE OF THE OTHER CAMPAIGNS THAT IS BEING USED TO SOW ILL WILL ON BLOGS AND TARNISH HON. JOE VOLPE'S GOOD NAME IN THE PARTY.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:45 p.m.  

  • Once again. Joe Volpe would have to have a good name in the party to begin with in order for someone to tarnish it.

    I can't think of Liberal, outside of maybe Tony Valeri that is loathed more than Volpe.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:59 p.m.  

  • Ignore Toronto Liberal!

    He is clearly a plant used to...
    tarnish Hon. Joe Volpe's good name in the party.

    I laughed heartily at this. Almost as much as the line: "To all the haters"

    Volpe Mania is alive and well.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5:36 p.m.  

  • As a decidedly non-Volpe supporter, I do think Volpe will surprise a lot of people. With 12 delegates from each riding and 308 ridings, he only needs to pick up 2 or 3 here or there to have a fairly substantial block of delegates. Certainly not second or third last. Given that he's not going to win and most of those delegates know that, I suspect that they will stick with him through multiple ballots and not bleed to other candidates.

    Where does he get his support?

    First, the Italian communities in all of the major cities. Marizio will steel some of that but Joe's supporters are very hardnosed, experienced campaigners and has been working them hard. Ianno would have taken even more.

    Second, other immigrant communities such as the Indo-Canadian and other east Asian communities which he has been working at hard for years.

    Third, social conservatives. He may be the only more socially conservative candidate to go all the way to the convention with a full campaign organization.

    Fourth, MPs. He'll pull in a few from caucus out of personal loyalties or prior "favours". He's calling in all debts.

    Fifth, organization. Don't underestimate the fact that he has a team that has been organizing for over a year and that will give him money and legs when he finally officially announces.

    It's enough to get him a significant chunk of delegates. I don't know whether he thinks he can win or not, but at the very least, it's enough to make him king (or maybe prince) maker.

    Ted
    Cerberus

    By Blogger Ted Betts, at 6:04 p.m.  

  • Where do you get 17 from?

    My list is slightly bigger. I have it at rabble, but I can't update there as we're all (almost all anyway) on strike :D

    M.Ps
    1.Joe Fontana
    2.Ralph Goodale (not likely to run, but he hasn't said 'no' yet)
    3.Joe Volpe
    4.Michael Ignatieff
    5.Dan McTeague (haven't heard about him running in several weeks. I'm surprised about this because he would be the most socially conservative candidate)
    6.Ken Dryden
    7.John McCallum
    8.Maurizio Bevilacqua
    9.Scott Brison
    10.Denis Coderre
    11.Stephane Dion
    12.Hedy Fry
    13.Ruby Dhalla
    14.David McGuinty
    15.Carolyn Bennett
    non M.Ps
    16.Dennis Mills (rumors now he will run for mayor of Toronto, good luck!)
    17.Bob Rae
    18.Gerard Kennedy
    19.Martha Hall Findley
    20.David Orchard
    fringe
    21.Ashley McIsaac
    22.Clifford Blais

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:04 p.m.  

  • Now if only that hypocrital whackjob Carolyn Bennett would pull out. She should prescribe herself a Valium and a reality check but unfortunately she's too trapped up in the crapulence of her own ego.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:18 p.m.  

  • I think Joe Volpe having anything more than a handful of delegates is going to be the strongest arguement that one could make in favour of getting rid of a delegated convention in favour 1M1V.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:20 p.m.  

  • Well, this is interesting. When, exactly, did a John Godfrey posting somehow become a heated debate on Joe Volpe, of all people?

    I fervently hope it wasn't the "troll" posting, as I was only intended to note the transparency of the trolling, not its source or nature. I haven't the faintest clue what Toronto Liberal is up to, and neither, I imagine, do the anonymous hordes lining up to take their shots.

    (Nor do I have a dog in this race, aside from a dislike for Ignatieff's cowardice and hypocrisy. I do have to admit to an interest in Kennedy, from what I've seen of him.)

    The thread ended up in an interesting position now, though: apparently Volpe is both so beneath contempt as to rule out the kind of anonymous trolling that was common on liberal blogs during the 2004 American primaries and, at the same time, so dangerous as to prompt a powerful reaction to one purported "supporter" that completely hijacks a thread.

    If this keeps up, the liberal leadership race will make the battle over Dean seem genteel.

    By Blogger Demosthenes, at 3:46 a.m.  

  • PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE elect Joe Volpe as the next Lieberal leader. I can't think of anyone who is more loathed across this country. Everyone knows that he is a mafia ring leader and that ape's like Sukh Dhalliwal are his kind of henchmen. I can inform you that Dhalliwal can barely speak english and is a complete bone head. Joe Volpe is the most unprincipled, unscroupulous person in the Lieberal ranks. Good luck to him!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:20 p.m.  

Post a Comment

<< Home