Liberal Bits and Bites
I've been out of town for a few days, so here's a quick run-down on some Liberal Party goings-on:
1) The Liberals have appointed Mauril Belanger and Navdeep Bains as platform/policy co-chairs. Nav is also heading out the Renewal Committee...or is it the Change Commission? or the Party Growth Group? or the Rejuvenation Task Force? Regardless, the point is that this bright young MP is being used by Ignatieff, despite it initially looking like he was snubbed by Iggy when the shadow cabinet was named.
2) The LPC nomination rules have been changed so that incumbent MPs will only be appointed if they have 400 members in the riding, and 40 Victory Fund donors. I really like this move - it protects incumbents from takeovers and, truth be told, if you can't sign up a few hundred Liberals and raise 5 grand in a Liberal-held riding, you have no business being handed the party's nomination. In fact, I wouldn't even mind it if they raised the fundraising threshold a bit higher.
3) I received my permanent Liberal membership card in the mail today. And, while I hate to sound like a cheerleader for the third straight point, I've got to give the party some credit on this one. Once integrated in with a solid database, this should let the party track it's members better, and it opens up a lot of possibilities for the LPC to use technology more effectively than they currently do.
4) Both the Liberal and Conservative websites currently have pictures of Barack Obama up on their front page, which you can be sure will piss the heck out of Jack Layton. Quite the change from the past few years when George Bush was the photo-op equivalent of a hairnet.
1) The Liberals have appointed Mauril Belanger and Navdeep Bains as platform/policy co-chairs. Nav is also heading out the Renewal Committee...or is it the Change Commission? or the Party Growth Group? or the Rejuvenation Task Force? Regardless, the point is that this bright young MP is being used by Ignatieff, despite it initially looking like he was snubbed by Iggy when the shadow cabinet was named.
2) The LPC nomination rules have been changed so that incumbent MPs will only be appointed if they have 400 members in the riding, and 40 Victory Fund donors. I really like this move - it protects incumbents from takeovers and, truth be told, if you can't sign up a few hundred Liberals and raise 5 grand in a Liberal-held riding, you have no business being handed the party's nomination. In fact, I wouldn't even mind it if they raised the fundraising threshold a bit higher.
3) I received my permanent Liberal membership card in the mail today. And, while I hate to sound like a cheerleader for the third straight point, I've got to give the party some credit on this one. Once integrated in with a solid database, this should let the party track it's members better, and it opens up a lot of possibilities for the LPC to use technology more effectively than they currently do.
4) Both the Liberal and Conservative websites currently have pictures of Barack Obama up on their front page, which you can be sure will piss the heck out of Jack Layton. Quite the change from the past few years when George Bush was the photo-op equivalent of a hairnet.
Labels: Liberal Party
posted by calgarygrit at
9:29 p.m.
11 Comments:
Our love for Obama, is this a sign that we're finally getting over our adolescent anti-Americanism?
By
Robert Vollman, at 11:19 p.m.
Wait, are permanent Liberal membership cards becoming the norm?
By
Johnny, at 11:58 p.m.
By permanent card, do you mean it will always be the same card but members still have to renew their memberships? Or is this a once a member always a member?
As for incumbent MPs not being reappointed if they have less than 400 members and 40 victory fund members, is it that they just won't be automatically reappointed and will have to go through the nomination process, or do you mean the party will not allow them to run again?
By
Denny, at 12:14 a.m.
Our love for Obama, is this a sign that we're finally getting over our adolescent anti-Americanism?
Or that charges of anti-Americanism for opposition to Bush and his PNAC buddies were nothing but a cheap deflection much the same way anti-semitism gets thrown at people who disagree with Israel's illegal occupation and apartheid policies.
By
Anonymous, at 2:31 a.m.
"is this a sign that we're finally getting over our adolescent anti-Americanism?"
Not at all. Our anti-Americanism has always been reserved for adolescent Americans.
By
JimTan, at 4:05 a.m.
Denny wrote:
"By permanent card, do you mean it will always be the same card but members still have to renew their memberships? Or is this a once a member always a member?"
Have to renew your membership every year. Permanent as in you only get the 1 card from now on.
By
penlan, at 7:04 a.m.
Permanent, as in, it's a plastic card with a bar code...like a Blockbuster or Bay card or something like that.
Membership is still yearly.
By
calgarygrit, at 10:35 a.m.
"Our love for Obama, is this a sign that we're finally getting over our adolescent anti-Americanism?"
I argue that there are two strains of anti-Americanism in Canada.
One is from the cosmopolitan left, and is largely opposition to Republicans, but not American influence in general. They would get along just fine in Connecticut, but can't fathom people from outside the coasts. Of course these are also people that can't imagine anybody supporting the Tories either. They are not really concerned with the decline of Canadian identity, and indeed, have spent the last 50 years making Canada more cosmopolitan and less distinct.
The second strain of anti-Americanism was embodied by the PC party, and reflects both economic interests opposed to Canada-US integration and fears of cultural assimilation by the US. Today it is largely dead, its opinions voiced primarily by David Orchard.
By
french wedding cat, at 1:40 p.m.
I was always highly amused by Canadians (and others) who claimed that Bush was increasing the amount of anti-Americanism. But then they'd turn around and and insist that, no sir, they weren't anti-American, they were just anti-Bush.
Anti-Americanism didn't start with George Bush, and it won't end with Barack Obama.
By
Anonymous, at 12:35 a.m.
The new membership rules for Members of Parliament are very good...at least now there is a method to ensure those in "safe" ridings stop being so complacent.
By
Anonymous, at 9:25 p.m.
It will not succeed in reality, that's exactly what I think.
By
www.navarra-3d.com, at 5:56 a.m.
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